Weekly AI-context hygiene research

AI coding tools can read everything in your repo

Offsend Radar scanned 494 open-source projects this week. 1247 sensitive files — Log Files, .env files, and certificates — were committed to 133 of them, in plain sight for any AI assistant with repository access.

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Radar #16

Oct 5–11, 2026 · Published Oct 5, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

Fleet snapshot

Anonymous counts across all complete scans this week. No repository names are shown.

494 repositories were scanned for AI-context hygiene.

1247 AI-context risk signals matched 21 sensitive path categories.

0% of scanned repos use a dedicated AI exclude file (2 types in use).

How to read this report

These are not confirmed leaks.

Radar uses path-level checks to detect files and folders that may become visible to AI coding tools if they are not covered by AI-specific ignore rules.

A risk signal is a file committed to the repository whose path matches a sensitive category (for example .env or *.pem). Counts are file matches at the path level — Radar never opens the files.

  • No file contents were read.
  • No secrets were collected.
  • No repository names are published without opt-in.
  • Repositories are a manually curated cohort, not a random sample — read these as directional signals, not population-level statistics.

Scanned

494
repos in this week's stats

AI-context risk signals

1247
sensitive path matches

Repos with risk signals

27%
133 of 494 repos

AI exclude-file coverage

0%
repos with a dedicated AI exclude file
Scan details
Targeted
500
Scanned
494
Scan complete
494
Skipped
0
Errors
6
Repos with risk signals
133
Generated
Oct 5, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC
Tool version
0.21.0–0.21.0
Ruleset
e634955c141dcfc6

Main takeaway

27% of scanned repos had AI-context risk signals — mostly lower-severity path categories.

Far fewer repos use a dedicated AI exclude file (0%) than show risk signals (27%). Start by excluding Environment files (.env) and Log Files from AI context.

AI-context risk signal categories

Aggregated path pattern counts — not tied to any named repository.

  • Environment files (.env)Required50 repos · 303 matches
  • Key material (.pem, .key)Required25 repos · 170 matches
  • Key FilesRequired19 repos · 63 matches
  • Credentials JsonRequired3 repos · 3 matches
  • Secrets YamlRequired3 repos · 3 matches
  • Kubernetes configRequired1 repo · 1 match
  • npm credentials (.npmrc)Recommended28 repos · 41 matches
  • Auth JsonRecommended2 repos · 21 matches
  • Android KeystoreRecommended10 repos · 16 matches
  • Pgp KeysRecommended3 repos · 11 matches
  • Yarn ConfigRecommended4 repos · 8 matches
  • Firebase Client ConfigRecommended4 repos · 7 matches
  • Docker configRecommended1 repo · 2 matches
  • Spring Local ConfigRecommended2 repos · 2 matches
  • Ssh FilesRecommended1 repo · 2 matches
  • Terraform VarsRecommended1 repo · 2 matches
  • Log FilesInfo30 repos · 510 matches
  • Local DatabasesInfo5 repos · 62 matches
  • Backup FilesInfo5 repos · 11 matches
  • Data ExportsInfo2 repos · 8 matches
  • Db DumpsInfo1 repo · 1 match

Trend

AI exclude files

0% of repos use a dedicated AI exclude file

These actually keep matching files out of AI context — and they are still rare.

.cursorignore
0%
.claudeignore
0%
.aiexclude
0%
.geminiignore
0%
.copilotignore
0%
.llmignore
0%
Show 9 more exclude file types (2 in use overall)
.aiderignore
0%
Claude Project Rules
0%
.clineignore
0%
.codeiumignore
0%
.codyignore
0%
.continueignore
0%
.cursorindexingignore
0%
.rooignore
0%
.zedignore
0%

AI context files

30% of repos ship an AI context file

Files like AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md give AI tools project instructions — theyadd context, they do not exclude anything. They are not a substitute for an exclude file.

AGENTS.md
25%
CLAUDE.md
15%
Cursor project rules
0%

Fix the top risks

Patterns covering this week's most widespread categories (Environment files (.env), npm credentials (.npmrc), Certificates and PEM keys (.pem), Private keys (.key)). Add them to a dedicated AI exclude file (for example .cursorignore or.claudeignore) — and to .gitignore so the files are never committed.

AI exclude rules
.env
.env.*
!.env.example
.npmrc
*.pem
*.key
certs/
secrets/

Per-category guidance lives in the risk pattern guides.

Compared with previous report

MetricRadar #15Radar #16
Repositories scanned496494
AI exclude-file coverage0%0%
Repos with risk signals29%27%
AI-context risk signals (absolute)36681247
Risk signals per scanned repo7.42.5
Top categoryDocker configLog Files

Named participants

Per-repository reports for maintainers who opted in. Fleet counts above stay anonymous; each card below is that repo's own scan.

No named listings this week. Maintainers can opt in via radar registry.

View all-time participants →

Check your own project

133 of 494 repos this week exposed sensitive paths to AI tools. Check yours in seconds:

Run the same local check with Offsend CLI:

brew install --cask offsend/tap/offsend-cli
offsend show
offsend prepare --dry-run

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