How to Integrate Gitleaks in a .NET Project 

Managing secrets in .NET projects is crucial, but let’s be honest—we’ve all seen API keys, database credentials, or tokens hardcoded in repositories. Maybe you’ve done it yourself (no judgment here 😆), or maybe you inherited a project full of hidden security risks.

That’s where Gitleaks comes in. It’s an open-source tool designed to detect secrets inside Git repositories before they become a problem. In this guide, we’ll go straight to the point:

✅ How to install Gitleaks in a .NET project
✅ How to configure it to detect secrets
✅ How to automate it in CI/CD pipelines

But here’s the catch: Gitleaks only finds secrets—it doesn’t secure them. By the end, we’ll also look at a smarter, AI-powered alternative built specifically for .NET developers: ByteHide Secrets.

Let’s get started!

Installing Gitleaks in a .NET Project

Gitleaks is an open-source tool that scans for hardcoded secrets in Git repositories. It works by using pattern-based detection to find API keys, database credentials, and other sensitive information before they accidentally make it into production.

Let’s install it and get it running in your .NET project.

Installing Gitleaks on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Gitleaks can be installed using package managers or downloaded manually.

• For Windows (via Chocolatey):

choco install gitleaks

• For macOS (via Homebrew):

brew install gitleaks

• For Linux (via Snap):

sudo snap install gitleaks

Once installed, verify that Gitleaks is working by running:

gitleaks version

You should see output showing the installed version. If you get an error, make sure Gitleaks is added to your system’s PATH.

Installing Gitleaks via Docker

If you don’t want to install Gitleaks directly on your system, you can run it using Docker.

• Pull the latest Gitleaks image:

docker pull ghcr.io/gitleaks/gitleaks:latest

• Run Gitleaks inside a container to scan your project:

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/path ghcr.io/gitleaks/gitleaks:latest detect --source="/path"

This command mounts your current directory ($(pwd)) inside the Docker container and runs a Gitleaks scan on it.

Downloading Gitleaks Manually

If you don’t want to use a package manager, you can download the latest release from the official Gitleaks GitHub repository.

1. Download the latest release for your OS.
2. Extract the binary and move it to a folder in your system’s PATH (e.g., /usr/local/bin/ on macOS/Linux or C:\Program Files\ on Windows).
3. Run gitleaks version to confirm the installation.

Now that Gitleaks is installed, let’s configure it to scan your .NET project for secrets.

Configuring Gitleaks for a .NET Project

By default, Gitleaks uses pattern-based detection to find secrets in your repository. However, to fine-tune its accuracy and reduce false positives, we need to create a custom configuration file.

Create a Gitleaks Configuration File

Inside your .NET project root, create a .gitleaks.toml file:

title = "Custom Gitleaks Config"

[[rules]]
id = "custom-password"
description = "Detects hardcoded passwords in .NET projects"
regex = '''(?i)(password|pwd|token|key)\s=\s['"][A-Za-z0-9@#$%^&+=]{6,}['"]'''

What This Configuration Does

• Custom Rule for .NET Secrets – Detects password, pwd, token, and key patterns.
• Case-Insensitive Matching – Ensures detection works regardless of variable casing.
• Flexible Secret Formats – Matches a wide range of credential formats.

This rule scans for hardcoded passwords, API keys, and tokens in your code. If needed, you can add more patterns to detect other sensitive information like database credentials or private keys.

Pro Tip: Explore More Gitleaks Rules

Gitleaks supports predefined rules and allows you to create custom patterns for different types of secrets. To explore built-in rules and how to define your own, check out the official documentation:

📖 Gitleaks Rules and Pattern Configuration

Running Gitleaks to Detect Secrets in Your .NET Project

Now that Gitleaks is installed and configured, it’s time to scan your .NET project for exposed secrets.

Basic Scan of Your .NET Project

To perform a manual scan of your repository, navigate to the root of your .NET project (where your .csproj or .sln file is located) and run:

gitleaks detect --source .

The --source . flag tells Gitleaks to scan the current directory and all subdirectories recursively.

If you want to scan a specific folder, provide the full path instead:

gitleaks detect --source ./MyProject/

If secrets are found, Gitleaks will output a JSON report showing:

• The file where the secret was found.
• The line number containing the potential leak.
• A description of the detected secret.

Scanning a Specific Branch in a Git Repository

If your project is inside a Git repository, you can scan a specific branch (e.g., main or develop):

gitleaks detect --source . --branch=main

This ensures that only the latest code in the main branch is scanned, avoiding unnecessary checks in old commits.

Scanning a .NET Project’s Git History for Past Secrets

Secrets may have been hardcoded in previous commits, even if they are no longer present in the latest version of your code. To scan the entire Git history, run:

gitleaks detect --source . --log-opts=--all

This will search for exposed credentials in all past commits of your repository.

Exporting Results to a Report

If you want to save the results for later analysis or auditing:

gitleaks detect --source . --report=gitleaks-report.json

This will generate a gitleaks-report.json file containing all detected secrets in structured JSON format.

Ignoring False Positives

Gitleaks might flag some non-sensitive values as secrets. To ignore specific files or patterns, create a .gitleaksignore file in your project root and list them inside:

secrets.config.json
dummy-api-key.txt

This tells Gitleaks to skip these files in future scans.

Pro Tip: Scan Only Specific File Types

If you want Gitleaks to only scan .cs files inside your .NET project, you can filter by file extensions:

gitleaks detect --source . --redact --path ./*/.cs

The --redact flag hides the actual secrets in the report while still showing where they were found.

What’s Next?

Now that we’ve scanned our .NET project, let’s automate this process using CI/CD pipelines to prevent future leaks.

Automating Gitleaks in CI/CD Pipelines

Running Gitleaks locally is useful for detecting hardcoded secrets during development, but automating it in a CI/CD pipeline ensures that secrets never make it to production.

By integrating Gitleaks into GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, or other DevOps workflows, we can block commits containing exposed credentials before they are merged.

GitHub Actions Example: Running Gitleaks on Every Push and PR

To automatically scan your repository with Gitleaks on every push or pull request, create a workflow file in .github/workflows/gitleaks.yml:

name: Gitleaks Secret Scan

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
scan:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps:  
  - name: Checkout code  
    uses: actions/checkout@v3  

  - name: Install Gitleaks  
    run: |  
      curl -sSL https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks/releases/latest/download/gitleaks-linux-amd64 -o gitleaks  
      chmod +x gitleaks  

  - name: Run Gitleaks Scan  
    run: ./gitleaks detect --source . --exit-code 1

How This Works:

• Runs on every push and PR – Ensures secrets are never merged into the repository.
• Fails the pipeline if secrets are detected – The --exit-code 1 flag makes the job fail if any secrets are found.
• Lightweight and simple – Does not require additional configuration beyond installing Gitleaks.

Running Gitleaks in CI/CD Using Docker

If you don’t want to install Gitleaks manually in your pipeline, you can use Docker instead:

name: Gitleaks Secret Scan

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
scan:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps:  
  - name: Checkout code  
    uses: actions/checkout@v3  

  - name: Run Gitleaks with Docker  
    run: |  
      docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/repo ghcr.io/gitleaks/gitleaks:latest detect --source=/repo --exit-code 1

Advantages of Running Gitleaks in Docker:

• No need to install Gitleaks – The latest version is always pulled from the Docker registry.
• Works on any CI/CD system – Can be used in GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, etc.
• Isolated execution – Runs in a container, preventing dependencies from affecting your build environment.

Estimated Hosting Costs for Running Gitleaks in CI/CD

Running Gitleaks frequently in a CI/CD pipeline can incur compute costs, especially for self-hosted runners or cloud-based CI services.

Here’s an estimation of costs based on GitHub Actions and AWS/GCP cloud instances:

💡 Key Takeaways:

• For small projects, CI/CD costs are minimal (often free).
• For large projects, frequent scans on every commit may add extra hosting costs.
• Self-hosted runners (AWS/GCP) require provisioning and maintenance, increasing operational overhead.

Now that we’ve automated Gitleaks in CI/CD, let’s analyze its limitations and explore a better Gitleaks alternative for .NET developers.

The Problem with Gitleaks in .NET Projects

While Gitleaks is a useful tool for detecting secrets in Git repositories, it has serious limitations, especially for .NET developers working in production environments.

Let’s break down why Gitleaks alone isn’t enough for secure secret management in real-world .NET projects.

1. Gitleaks Only Detects Secrets, It Doesn’t Manage Them

Gitleaks is great at finding secrets, but after detection, it’s still up to you to fix the issue manually.

❌ No Secure Storage – Gitleaks won’t store or manage secrets; you still need a secrets manager.
❌ No Automatic Remediation – If a secret is found, developers must rotate and remove it manually.
❌ Secrets Remain Exposed – Until manually removed, detected secrets still exist in the repository and could be exploited.

In contrast, a complete secret management solution would not only detect secrets but also securely store, rotate, and protect them.

2. Regex-Based Detection is Limited and Error-Prone

Gitleaks relies on regular expressions (regex) to scan for patterns that match API keys, passwords, and other secrets.

❌ False Positives – Gitleaks might flag non-sensitive values as secrets, causing unnecessary noise.
❌ False Negatives – Secrets hidden in obfuscated code, JSON files, or dynamically generated content may go undetected.
❌ Constant Maintenance – You must constantly update regex rules to cover new secret patterns.

Modern security tools leverage AI-powered analysis to detect contextual secrets beyond simple regex matching, reducing false positives and negatives.

3. Gitleaks Doesn’t Analyze Compiled .NET Binaries

While Gitleaks scans .cs files and repositories, it does not analyze compiled .NET executables (.exe) or libraries (.dll).

❌ Secrets Injected at Build Time Go Undetected – If a secret is added dynamically during compilation, Gitleaks won’t find it.
❌ Doesn’t Scan IL Code – Any secrets embedded in compiled IL code are completely invisible to Gitleaks.

A comprehensive security tool should be able to scan both source code and compiled binaries to ensure no secrets are leaked at any stage of development.

4. No Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for Teams

In large development teams, secret management requires granular permissions to control who can access, modify, or revoke secrets.

❌ No User Access Control – Gitleaks lacks RBAC, meaning every developer has equal access to detected secrets.
❌ No Audit Trails – You can’t track who accessed or modified sensitive data.
❌ Not Enterprise-Ready – Security policies often require fine-grained permission control, which Gitleaks doesn’t support.

RBAC is essential for enterprise applications, ensuring that only authorized personnel can manage secrets.

5. High Maintenance & Configuration Overhead

Gitleaks doesn’t work out of the box—it requires manual configuration for every project.

❌ Requires a .gitleaks.toml per repository – Every app needs a custom config file with specific rules.
❌ Not Scalable Across Multiple Apps – If you have many repositories, updating rules across all of them becomes a nightmare.
❌ Only Developers Can Maintain It – Since it relies on regex and CLI tools, non-technical teams (like security or DevOps) may struggle to maintain it.

In contrast, a centralized secret management solution should provide a unified configuration across multiple projects without manual setup.

6. CI/CD Costs and Scalability Issues

Running Gitleaks in CI/CD pipelines can drastically increase build times and hosting costs, especially in large projects.

❌ Consumes Compute Resources – Every pipeline execution scans all files, which can slow down builds.
❌ Paid CI/CD Minutes Add Up – Services like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and Azure DevOps charge for extra build time.
❌ Limited Scalability for Large Teams – In organizations with dozens of repositories, running Gitleaks frequently can strain resources.

A scalable solution should integrate seamlessly into your workflow without adding build-time overhead.

So, Is Gitleaks Enough?

Gitleaks is a useful first step for detecting secrets, but in large-scale .NET applications, it falls short in several key areas:

🚨 It only finds secrets, it doesn’t protect them.
🚨 Regex-based detection is unreliable and requires constant updates.
🚨 It doesn’t analyze compiled .NET binaries, leaving gaps in security.
🚨 It lacks essential team management features like RBAC and auditing.
🚨 Scaling across multiple repositories is difficult and time-consuming.
🚨 CI/CD costs can quickly add up, making it inefficient for large teams.

For individual developers or small projects, Gitleaks may be enough.
But for serious .NET applications, a smarter, more automated solution is needed.

A Smarter Alternative – The Best Gitleaks .NET Alternative

While Gitleaks is a useful tool for detecting secrets in Git repositories, it has serious limitations, especially for .NET applications.

So, what’s a better alternative that provides not just detection but also protection, automation, and AI-driven security?

Meet ByteHide Secrets, the best Gitleaks .NET alternative for developers who need real secret management beyond basic regex scanning.

1. AI-Powered Secret Detection vs. Regex-Based Scanning

🚀 ByteHide Secrets: Uses AI-powered detection combined with pattern-based scanning, offering the best of both worlds.
🐍 Gitleaks: Relies solely on static regex rules, which require constant updates and miss obfuscated secrets.

But here’s the game-changer:

ByteHide is a cybersecurity company that prioritizes security without compromising privacy.

• Zero-Knowledge Architecture – All secret analysis happens locally or in an isolated environment.
• No External Access – Not even ByteHide has access to your data or code—ensuring total privacy.
• Security Without Vendor Lock-in – Unlike cloud-based managers, your secrets remain independent of AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

A company’s source code and data are its most valuable assets, and ByteHide ensures that your sensitive information remains under your full control.

2. Scans Both Source Code and Compiled .NET Binaries

🚀 ByteHide Secrets: Analyzes .cs files, Git repositories, and compiled .exe/.dll binaries, ensuring no secrets remain.
🐍 Gitleaks: Only scans text-based files, ignoring secrets injected during compilation or through dynamic content generation.

Secrets that don’t exist in the source code but are added at build time?
ByteHide detects them before they reach production, even inside obfuscated or protected code.

3. Not Just Detection—Complete Secret Management

🚀 ByteHide Secrets: Detects and manages secrets automatically in a secure vault with multi-environment support.
🐍 Gitleaks: Only finds secrets—you still need a separate secrets manager to store them.

With ByteHide Secrets, detected credentials are automatically secured, and you can easily switch between Development, Staging, and Production environments without worrying about misconfigurations.

4. No CI/CD Hassle – Simple NuGet Integration

🚀 ByteHide Secrets: Works inside your .NET application via a simple NuGet package, requiring no CI/CD setup.
🐍 Gitleaks: Requires Docker, GitHub Actions, and CI/CD configurations to automate scanning.

With ByteHide Secrets, you don’t need to modify pipelines, configure containers, or set up external tools—you just install it like any other .NET dependency.

5. Seamless Integration with Other Security Tools

🚀 ByteHide Secrets: Works alongside ByteHide Shield, ensuring that even protected or obfuscated secrets remain safe.
🐍 Gitleaks: Has no integration with other security layers, leaving secrets vulnerable after detection.

ByteHide offers a full security suite, meaning you can:

• Detect secrets → Manage them securely → Protect them in compiled code → Monitor their usage

This holistic approach makes it the most complete solution for .NET developers.

So, why Bytehide Secrets is the best Gitleaks .NET Alternative for Real-World Security?

Gitleaks is a good start, but not enough for serious .NET security.

ByteHide Secrets provides:

✅ AI-powered secret detection for higher accuracy
✅ Analysis of both source code and compiled binaries
✅ Secure secret management, not just detection
✅ RBAC, team collaboration, and audit logs
✅ Zero maintenance, no CI/CD overhead, and instant setup
✅ Multi-environment support (Dev, Staging, Prod) out of the box
✅ No vendor lock-in—works across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and on-premises

If you’re ready to move beyond basic regex scanning, try ByteHide Secrets today.

Happy Coding – Stay Secure!

Keeping your secrets safe is a crucial part of modern development, and Gitleaks is a great tool to help you catch hardcoded credentials before they become a problem. If you’re setting up basic secret scanning in your .NET projects, I hope this guide has made the process easier for you.

That said, security is always evolving, and as your project grows, you might find yourself needing something more flexible, automated, and built for .NET developers. When that time comes, I’d love for you to give ByteHide Secrets a try.

Until then, happy coding and stay secure! 🚀