Stop Leaking Secrets to AI: Why We Built PriviPaste

Your team is probably pasting sensitive data into AI tools already. Logs, customer emails, API keys, internal configs. It happens every day. Not maliciously, but simply because engineers are trying to move faster with ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and other LLM tools.

Many larger companies already use AI gateways, enterprise AI plans, and internal security controls around AI usage to prevent data spillage. However, most startups and smaller teams do not have those guardrails yet. So teams end up with two bad options:

• Ban AI tools entirely and lose out on massive productivity gains.
• Ignore the risk and hope nobody accidentally leaks secrets or customer PII.

Neither of these is an acceptable long-term strategy. We built PriviPaste to solve this exact problem without slowing developers down.

What is PriviPaste?

PriviPaste is a free VS Code extension that redacts sensitive data locally before it ever reaches AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot.

Under the hood, PriviPaste runs OpenAI’s Privacy Filter model entirely on-device for context-aware PII and secret detection. This means your sensitive data is sanitized before it ever leaves your machine.

It can automatically detect and redact:

• API keys
• JWTs
• Emails
• Phone numbers
• Database URLs
• Access tokens
• Internal identifiers
• Secrets hidden in logs and configuration files

How It Works

Developer tools only work if developers actually use them. If a security tool adds friction to the workflow, engineers will find a way around it. That is why PriviPaste is designed to be completely unobtrusive.

The workflow is intentionally simple:

1. Copy content (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C)
2. Redact (Alt+P or Option+P)
3. Paste into your AI tool (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V)

There is no telemetry, no cloud scanning, and no workflow disruption.

Built for Speed and Security

PriviPaste was designed for startups, solo developers, and small engineering teams that want AI productivity without the constant fear of accidental leaks. By running the model locally in VS Code, we ensure zero latency from network calls and total data privacy.

You can install PriviPaste directly from the VS Code Marketplace today for free.

If you have feedback, bugs, or feature requests, feel free to check out the GitHub repository.

How are your teams approaching AI privacy and secure prompting workflows? Let us know!