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Secret Canary

by chris

Screams when AWS keys, GitHub tokens, or private keys escape into your clipboard or staged git diffs. One key to redact.

GitHub

Security review

Potentially dangerous behavior detected · 9 findings

Deterministic scan — not a security guarantee

High
Risk level
High
Analyzed commit
33042be
Scanned
1 month ago
  • high decode_and_execute compat/canaryd.sh:50

    Interpreter evaluated with an execution builtin.

    python3 -c '
  • medium package_manager …/workflows/release.yml:51

    System package manager operation.

    apt-get install -y musl-tools
  • medium sudo …/workflows/release.yml:51

    Command runs with sudo, elevating the process beyond the plugin environment.

    sudo apt-get install -y musl-tools
  • low obfuscation tests/run.js:113

    Augments a command with octal/hex escape sequences.

    \0AIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", { rules }).length, 0)
  • low obfuscation …/workflows/release.yml:76

    Augments a command with octal/hex escape sequences.

    \x7fELF"; m=struct.unpack_from("<H",d,18)[0]; assert m==183, m' "$bin"
  • low obfuscation …/src/detect.rs:375

    Augments a command with octal/hex escape sequences.

    \0AIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE").is_empty());
  • low obfuscation …/src/clipboard.rs:8

    Augments a command with octal/hex escape sequences.

    \x1eCANARY_EOR\x1e\n";
  • low obfuscation …/src/clipboard.rs:131

    Augments a command with octal/hex escape sequences.

    \x1eCANARY_EOR\\x1e\\n'",
  • low obfuscation …/src/clipboard.rs:331

    Augments a command with octal/hex escape sequences.

    \0world").is_none());

Automated analysis only — not a security guarantee.

AI advisory review

No obvious issues detected

Language-model assessment · ~deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-latest — advisory only

Low
AI risk level
Low
Recommendation
install
Model
~deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-latest
Analyzed commit
33042be
Reviewed
1 month ago

The plugin is a local secret-detection tool that watches the clipboard and staged git diffs. The deterministic scan's high-risk finding is a false positive: the `python3 -c` in compat/canaryd.sh is used only for JSON escaping, not arbitrary code execution. The other findings are benign (hex escapes in string literals, CI-only sudo/apt usage). The code is transparent, well-tested, and performs only user-initiated actions like redacting the clipboard or unstaging files, with no network or persistence of secret plaintext.

  • The plugin runs a daemon that reads clipboard content and can modify the clipboard and git index; this is its intended function and requires user action to trigger redaction.
  • Hotkey installation writes to ~/.config/hypr/bindings.lua, but only on explicit user opt-in and only modifies its own marked block.
  • The shell fallback (compat/canaryd.sh) uses python3 for JSON handling; this is not obfuscation or code execution, just standard utility use.
How this check works

This review combines the deterministic scan (the rule-based results above) with an independent look at the plugin's code by a language model. The model reads a trimmed sample of the repository's files, the manifest, and the README, then gives a plain-language risk level and a recommendation: install (no notable danger), review (look closer first), or avoid (clearly dangerous).

It runs on the same analyzed commit as the deterministic scan and is strictly advisory — it is not a security guarantee and never blocks a plugin by itself. A human moderator still reviews plugins before they are listed.

AI advisory only — automated analysis, not a security guarantee.

Install
$ omarchy plugin add https://github.com/ccdwyer/omarchy-secret-canary --enable
Developer Tools #bar #quickshell #security

Secret Canary

The screen floods red the instant an AWS key, GitHub token, or private key escapes into your clipboard or a staged git diff. One key redacts it.

This is an Omarchy shell plugin (service + overlay + bar-widget). It runs inside the long-lived omarchy-shell process. It does not start a second Quickshell instance. Detection is offline: no accounts, no network.

Install

omarchy plugin add https://github.com/ccdwyer/omarchy-secret-canary.git --enable

Then install canaryd (recommended). QML falls back to compat/canaryd.sh if bin/canaryd is missing or is not a compiled helper — that path is poll-only and does not do surgical git redaction (see limitations). build.sh only writes bin/canaryd after a successful cargo release build; a missing toolchain does not copy the shell fallback into bin/ (that would make the plugin think the surgical helper is present).

Source (any machine with Rust):

~/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.chris.secret-canary/build.sh

Linux artifact (after a git tag): GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/release.yml) smoke-tests and publishes canaryd-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl and canaryd-aarch64-unknown-linux-musl plus SHA256SUMS-*. This tree does not contain those binaries (it was authored on macOS). Download from the Release, verify the checksum, and copy onto bin/canaryd:

install -m 0755 canaryd-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl \
  ~/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.chris.secret-canary/bin/canaryd

Put the chip on the bar if --enable did not:

omarchy bar put io.github.chris.secret-canary --section right

Reload plugins if the shell was already running:

omarchy-shell shell rescanPlugins

60-second demo

  1. Left-click the canary chip → Test the canary. The overlay floods.
  2. Press Enter. Paste somewhere: [REDACTED by Secret Canary].
  3. Optional git path — from this plugin:
cd ~/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.chris.secret-canary/demo
git init
# add that directory as a watched repo in the popup, then:
git add .env

With the Rust helper (bin/canaryd), Enter reverse-applies only the secret hunk so KEEP_ME stays staged. A cold install that is still on compat/canaryd.sh unstages the whole incident file and labels it file unstaged (all hunks). On a fresh git init with no HEAD that unstage is git rm --cached -- <file> (worktree kept); after the first commit it is git restore --staged. Neither path touches the working tree.

Copy a random UUID. Nothing happens.

What it watches

Path How Alarm
Regular clipboard wl-paste -w child, plus a startup wl-paste -n. If the watcher cannot spawn, 500 ms wl-paste -n poll (clipboard: poll) Tier-1 overlay, tier-2 amber chip
Staged diffs Explicit git roots only; git rev-parse --git-path index Tier-1 overlay. Tier-2 is log-only

Primary selection (middle-click paste) is not watched. Terminal scrollback is not read. The public claim is clipboard + staged diffs.

Git roots are an explicit add in the bar popup. Nothing under ~/Developer is scanned unless you say so.

Overlay keys

The alarm is a real overlay with exclusive keyboard focus.

Key Action
Enter Redact clipboard, or surgically unstage the secret hunk
R Restore the pre-alarm clipboard (held in memory only)
A Allowlist this value (SHA-256 stored, never plaintext)
Esc Dismiss (30 s auto-dismiss)

Super+Ctrl+X is Omarchy dictation and Super+Ctrl+C is the capture menu, so Canary prefers Super+Alt+X (redact) and Super+Alt+Shift+C (summon). Hotkeys are opt-in from the bar: if none is installed, the chip shows Set hotkey. That writes a marked o.bind block to ~/.config/hypr/bindings.lua (Hyprland reloads on save). Occupied shortcuts are skipped; Super+Alt+X falls back to Super+Shift+Alt+X, and summon falls back to Super+Alt+C only if that combo is free (Chroma may already own it). The plugin never auto-assigns on first load and never hl.unbinds someone else's key. When a hotkey is set, the bar and settings show it; Change hotkey rewrites this plugin's block, Remove hotkey deletes only that block.

bind = SUPER ALT, X, exec, omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary redact ''
bind = SUPER ALT SHIFT, C, exec, omarchy-shell shell summon io.github.chris.secret-canary '{}'

omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary installBinds ''
omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary installBinds change
omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary removeBinds ''

Left-click the chip for settings (Test the canary, mute, watched repos, hotkey). Right-click tests immediately. A red chip opens the alarm overlay.

Tiers

Tier 1 (overlay): AKIA… keys, GitHub ghp_ / gho_ / ghs_ / github_pat_, PEM private-key headers, sk- API keys, Slack xox[baprs]-.

Tier 2 (amber chip only, and log-only in git): JWTs, and high-entropy tokens (Shannon > 4.2 over 24+ chars) sitting near secret|token|password|api_key.

Honest limitations

  • Detection + fast remediation, not prevention. Between the copy and Enter, another app can still read the clipboard. The README will not pretend otherwise.
  • Clipboard managers. Canary cannot delete entries from a third-party history. If a manager re-injects the secret within 60 s of a redact, you get a follow-up warning ("your clipboard manager restored it").
  • Git redaction is surgical first, honest always — in canaryd. The Rust helper reverse-applies only secret added lines with git apply --cached -R. If that fails, the file is unstaged wholesale and the UI says file unstaged (all hunks). The worktree is never modified. compat/canaryd.sh cannot do the surgical path; it unstages the incident file wholesale (git restore --staged, or git rm --cached on a fresh git init with no HEAD) and labels it file unstaged (all hunks).
  • No terminal scrollback. Anything copied from a terminal transits the clipboard watcher; anything staged transits the git watcher.
  • Regular clipboard only. Primary selection is a v1.1 gap.
  • Helper binary. bin/canaryd is built by build.sh (no prebuilt Linux musl binaries in this tree). If it is missing, QML runs compat/canaryd.sh: clipboard polled at 500 ms, git polled every 5 s, tier-1 grep only (no JWT, no entropy), no inotify. Allowlist hashes and watched-repo lists still persist (allow.json mode 0600, watch.json, 64-repo cap, targeted unwatch). After three daemon deaths the chip goes amber degraded — it will not silently claim it is watching.
  • Sound is off. The visual flood is the alarm. Chime is an opt-in on the chip (and the sound bar-widget setting).
  • Keybinds are opt-in from the bar. Overlay keys work while the alarm is up. Occupied combos are skipped. Never hl.unbind. No first-load auto-assign.

Threat model (the watcher)

canaryd sees clipboard bytes. It is engineered as the least-trusted component:

  • Content is scanned in a streaming buffer and dropped. No clipboard content is ever persisted or logged.
  • Events carry a preview truncated to the first 4 characters (AKIA…) and nothing else.
  • The allowlist stores SHA-256 of values, never plaintext (~/.config/secret-canary/allow.json, mode 0600).
  • Raw matches never appear in logs or argv.
  • The redaction string's hash is permanently suppressed, so overwriting the clipboard never re-triggers the scanner.

Settings

Bar-widget settings arrive inline on the shell.json layout entry. There is no plugin settings file for those.

Key Default Meaning
sound false Play a theme-ish chime on tier-1 alarm
hideUntilEvent false Hide the chip until the first event

Watched git roots are operational state (~/.local/state/secret-canary/watch.json), not widget settings. Allowlisted hashes and disabled rule ids live in ~/.config/secret-canary/allow.json (mode 0600). Settings can toggle each rule on/off via allow-rule / enable-rule.

Mute 1 hour is a runtime action on the settings overlay.

IPC

shell summon / hide show the overlay. Service verbs (redact, status, …) live on the keep-loaded service IpcHandler. omarchy-shell shell call <id> hits the overlay loader only (open/close/toggle), so it cannot redact. Always pass the string argument, even when unused:

omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary redact ''
omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary allowRule jwt
omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary enableRule jwt
omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary restore ''
omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary test ''
omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary mute ''
omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary status ''
omarchy-shell shell summon io.github.chris.secret-canary '{}'
omarchy-shell shell hide io.github.chris.secret-canary

Tests (off-device)

node tests/run.js
bash tests/fallback.test.sh
# helper, if you have cargo:
cargo test --manifest-path src/canaryd/Cargo.toml

Remove

omarchy plugin remove io.github.chris.secret-canary

If you used Set hotkey, also delete this plugin's marked block from ~/.config/hypr/bindings.lua (Hyprland reloads on save):

-- BEGIN io.github.chris.secret-canary
o.bind("SUPER + ALT + X", "Secret Canary redact", "omarchy-shell io.github.chris.secret-canary redact ''")
o.bind("SUPER + ALT + SHIFT + C", "Secret Canary", "omarchy-shell shell summon io.github.chris.secret-canary '{}'")
-- END io.github.chris.secret-canary

Or click Remove hotkey on the bar / in settings before uninstalling. That script only strips this plugin's BEGIN/END block — it never hl.unbinds someone else's shortcut.