sanitize

name	sanitize
description	Detect and redact PII from text files. Supports 15 categories including credit cards, SSNs, emails, API keys, addresses, and more — with zero dependencies.

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	[e-mail]
phone	US/intl phone numbers	[phone]
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.