🔒 Whiteout

Keep Your Secrets Secret

A Git filter tool that keeps sensitive code local while committing safe alternatives to your repository.

Features • Installation • Quick Start • Usage • How It Works • Contributing

---

🎯 Problem

Ever accidentally committed an API key? Hardcoded a password for testing? Left debug code in production?

Whiteout solves this by letting you maintain local-only code that never reaches your Git repository, while preserving safe alternatives in commits.

// What you see locally:
const apiKey = "process.env.API_KEY"; // @whiteout: "sk-proj-SUPER-SECRET-KEY-123"

// What gets committed:
const apiKey = "process.env.API_KEY";

✨ Features

• 🔐 Secure by Design - Secrets never touch Git history
• 🎨 Flexible Decorations - Multiple ways to mark sensitive code
• ⚡ Fast - Written in Rust for optimal performance
• 🔄 Seamless Integration - Works transparently with Git workflows
• 🌍 Language Agnostic - Works with any text file or programming language
• 💬 Multi-Comment Support - Works with //, #, -- comment styles
• 🛡️ Safe Defaults - Requires explicit marking to prevent accidents

📦 Installation

Prerequisites

• Git (version 2.0 or higher)

Install via Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew tap bytware/tap
brew install whiteout

Install via Cargo (All platforms)

cargo install whiteout-cli

Install from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/bytware/whiteout.git
cd whiteout

# Build and install
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/whiteout /usr/local/bin/

# Verify installation
whiteout --version

🚀 Quick Start

1. Initialize in Your Project

cd your-project
whiteout init

This automatically:

• Creates .whiteout/ directory for local storage
• Configures Git filters in your repository
• Adds necessary .gitattributes entries

2. Mark Your Sensitive Code

Choose from multiple decoration styles that work with any comment format:

Inline Decoration

Works with any comment style (//, #, --):

// JavaScript
const apiKey = "sk-12345"; // @whiteout: "process.env.API_KEY"

# Python
api_key = "sk-12345"  # @whiteout: "os.environ['API_KEY']"

-- SQL
SELECT * FROM users WHERE key = 'sk-12345'; -- @whiteout: 'REDACTED'

Block Decoration

Hide entire code blocks between markers:

// @whiteout-start
const DEBUG = true;
const SECRET_ENDPOINT = "http://localhost:3000";
console.log("Debug mode active");
// @whiteout-end
const DEBUG = false;  // This line stays in commits

Simple Decoration

For markdown or documentation, hide content after a marker:

# Public Documentation

This content is committed.

\@whiteout
This content stays local only.
It won't appear in commits.

Back to public content.

Partial Replacement

For configuration values within strings:

const url = "https://[[localhost:3000||api.example.com]]/v1";
// Locally: uses localhost:3000
// Committed: uses api.example.com

3. Work Normally

# Edit your files with secrets
vim config.js

# Commit as usual - secrets are automatically removed
git add .
git commit -m "Add configuration"

# Your local files keep the secrets
cat config.js  # Still shows your secret values

🎭 Decoration Patterns

Inline Pattern

Syntax: <code> // @whiteout: <replacement>

Note: When documenting examples, escape the @ with backslash: \@whiteout

# Local version:
password = "getpass.getpass()"  # @whiteout: "admin123"

# Committed version:
password = "getpass.getpass()"

Block Pattern

Syntax: @whiteout-start ... @whiteout-end

# @whiteout-start
debug_mode: true
verbose_logging: true
test_endpoints:
  - localhost:8080
# @whiteout-end
production_mode: true  # This stays in commits

Simple Pattern

Syntax: @whiteout (hides everything until blank line)

Normal content here.

\@whiteout
Secret information.
More secrets.

Public content resumes.

Partial Pattern

Syntax: [[local||committed]]

[database]
host = "[[localhost||db.production.com]]"
port = [[5432||3306]]

📝 Documentation Escape Sequences

When writing documentation about Whiteout (like this README), use backslash to escape decorators:

# To show the literal text in docs:
\@whiteout           # Shows as @whiteout
\@whiteout-start     # Shows as @whiteout-start
\@whiteout-end       # Shows as @whiteout-end

# These are treated as actual decorators:
@whiteout           # Would hide content (without backslash)

🔧 Commands

Initialize Project

whiteout init [--path <dir>]

Manual Operations

# Apply clean filter (remove secrets)
whiteout clean < file.txt

# Apply smudge filter (restore secrets)
whiteout smudge < file.txt

🔄 How It Works

Whiteout uses Git's clean/smudge filter mechanism:

1. Clean Filter (Working → Repository): Removes decorated local values before commit
2. Smudge Filter (Repository → Working): Restores local values after checkout

graph LR
    A[Working Directory<br/>with secrets] -->|git add<br/>clean filter| B[Staging Area<br/>secrets removed]
    B -->|git commit| C[Repository<br/>safe version]
    C -->|git checkout<br/>smudge filter| A

Loading

Local values are stored in .whiteout/local.toml (gitignored) and restored automatically.

🆚 Whiteout vs .env Files

Both Whiteout and .env files solve secret management, but with different approaches:

Key Differences

Aspect	Whiteout	.env Files
Where secrets live	Inline with code	Separate file
What you can hide	Values, code blocks, files	Environment variables
Git safety	Automatic via filters	Manual via .gitignore
Use case	Development & debugging	Configuration management

Whiteout is Great For

• Inline secrets - See actual values where they're used
• Debug code - Hide entire blocks that shouldn't reach production
• Mixed visibility - Public and private code in the same file

.env Files are Great For

• Production config - Standard for deployment platforms
• Team workflows - Everyone knows how they work
• Docker/CI - Built-in support everywhere

They Work Well Together

Use each tool for what it does best:

// Production config from .env
const dbHost = process.env.DB_HOST;

// Development secrets inline with Whiteout
const apiKey = "process.env.API_KEY"; // @whiteout: "sk-dev-12345"

// Debug code that stays local
// @whiteout-start
console.log("Debug mode: connecting to local services");
const DEBUG = true;
// @whiteout-end

🔒 Security Considerations

• Never commit .whiteout/ directory (ensure it's in .gitignore)
• Local values are stored in .whiteout/local.toml
• Backup your local values separately
• Use environment variables for production secrets
• Review commits before pushing to ensure secrets are removed
• Test filters work correctly before committing sensitive data

🧪 Testing

# Run all tests
cargo test

# Run specific test
cargo test test_inline_parser

# Run with output
cargo test -- --nocapture

# Run integration tests
./tests/git_integration_test.sh

📋 Known Limitations / TODO

• Smudge operation after marker removal: When @whiteout markers are removed during the clean operation, the smudge filter cannot currently restore the hidden content when checking out files. This is a planned feature for a future release.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

Development

# Build
cargo build

# Test
cargo test

# Format code
cargo fmt

# Lint
cargo clippy

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

📚 Resources

• Git Attributes Documentation
• Git Filters Explained