tusosos/sanitize

AgentWard Sanitize

Detect and redact personally identifiable information (PII) from text files.

IMPORTANT — PII Safety Rules

• Do NOT read the input file directly. It may contain sensitive PII.
• ALWAYS use --output FILE to write sanitized output to a file.
• Only read the OUTPUT file, never the raw input.
• Only show the user the redacted output, never the raw input.
• --json and --preview are safe — they do NOT print raw PII values to stdout.
• The entity map (raw PII → placeholder mapping) is written to a separate sidecar file (*.entity-map.json) only when --output is used. Do NOT read the entity map file.

What it does

Scans files for PII — credit cards, SSNs, emails, phone numbers, API keys, IP addresses, mailing addresses, dates of birth, passport numbers, driver's license numbers, bank routing numbers, medical license numbers, and insurance member IDs — and replaces each instance with a numbered placeholder like [CREDIT_CARD_1].

Usage

Sanitize a file (RECOMMENDED — always use --output)

python scripts/sanitize.py patient-notes.txt --output clean.txt

Preview mode (detect PII categories/offsets without showing raw values)

python scripts/sanitize.py notes.md --preview

JSON output (safe — no raw PII in stdout)

python scripts/sanitize.py report.txt --json --output clean.txt

Filter to specific categories

python scripts/sanitize.py log.txt --categories ssn,credit_card,email --output clean.txt

Supported PII categories

See references/SUPPORTED_PII.md for the full list with detection methods and false positive mitigation.

| Category | Pattern type | Example | |---|---|---| | credit_card | Luhn-validated 13-19 digits | 4111 1111 1111 1111 | | ssn | 3-2-4 digit groups | 123-45-6789 | | cvv | Keyword-anchored 3-4 digits | CVV: 123 | | expiry_date | Keyword-anchored MM/YY | expiry 01/30 | | api_key | Provider prefix patterns | sk-abc..., ghp_..., AKIA... | | email | Standard email format | [email protected] | | phone | US/intl phone numbers | +1 (555) 123-4567 | | ip_address | IPv4 addresses | 192.168.1.100 | | date_of_birth | Keyword-anchored dates | DOB: 03/15/1985 | | passport | Keyword-anchored alphanumeric | Passport: AB1234567 | | drivers_license | Keyword-anchored alphanumeric | DL: D12345678 | | bank_routing | Keyword-anchored 9 digits | routing: 021000021 | | address | Street + city/state/zip | 742 Evergreen Terrace Dr, Springfield, IL 62704 | | medical_license | Keyword-anchored license ID | License: CA-MD-8827341 | | insurance_id | Keyword-anchored member/policy ID | Member ID: BCB-2847193 |

Security and Privacy

• All processing is local. The script makes zero network calls. No data leaves your machine.
• Zero dependencies. Uses only Python standard library — no third-party packages to audit.
• PII never reaches stdout. The --json and --preview modes strip raw PII values from output. The entity map (containing raw PII to placeholder mappings) is only written to a sidecar file on disk when --output is used.
• Designed for agent safety. The skill instructions above tell the agent to never read the raw input file or the entity map file — only the sanitized output.

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• No external dependencies (stdlib only)

About

Built by AgentWard — the open-source permission control plane for AI agents.