Protect My Env

Keep your .env secrets hidden on screen — without compromising your workflow.

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🔐 Privacy & Security

Your secrets never leave your machine.

✅ Zero data collection — no environment variables, keys, or values are ever recorded, stored, or transmitted anywhere.
✅ No remote calls — the extension works entirely offline, with no telemetry, no analytics, and no external servers.
✅ Total privacy — everything happens locally inside your VS Code editor.

⚠️ Disclaimer: This extension does not protect your .env files from AI agents (such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar tools) that have direct access to your workspace files. We do not encrypt or obfuscate file contents on disk — the data remains readable by any process with file system access. Protect My Env is designed solely to prevent accidental exposure during screen sharing, recordings, live coding sessions, and pair programming. It is not a security tool for AI context isolation.

Why Protect My Env?

Every time you open a .env file in VS Code, your secrets are visible in plain text — in editor tabs, during screen shares, in recordings, and in pair-programming sessions. Protect My Env solves this by rendering secrets as masked characters from the very first frame, with zero workflow disruption.

Features

Feature	Description
🔒 Secure Editor	`.env` files open masked by default — no plaintext flash
👁️ Per-key Reveal	Reveal or hide individual values with row action icons in the secure editor
🌐 Reveal All / Hide All	Toggle all masked values from the secure editor header
🔍 Search & Sort	Filter by key or comment; sort by key column without touching file order
🎭 Two Masking Modes	`all` masks every key; `pattern` masks only keys matching glob patterns
💬 Comment Protection	Optionally mask full-line and inline comments in the secure editor
✏️ Inline Editing	Edit values directly in the secure view
📝 Open as Text	Fall back to the standard VS Code editor without masking overlays

Preview

Protect My Env in action

Installation

From the Marketplace

Open VS Code.
Press Ctrl+Shift+X (or Cmd+Shift+X on macOS) to open the Extensions panel.
Search for Protect My Env.
Click Install.

From VSIX (manual)

npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package

Then in VS Code: Extensions → ··· → Install from VSIX… and select the generated .vsix file.

Quick Start

Open any .env, .env.local, .env.production, or similar file.
The file opens automatically in Secure .env Mode — values are masked from the first render.
Use each row's action icons to reveal, copy, edit, add, or delete values.
Use the secure editor header to reveal or hide all masked values at once.

Secure .env Mode

The custom editor opens .env files in a table view where secrets are masked before any rendering occurs — eliminating the "decoration flash" you get with text-editor overlays.

Search filters keys and comments in real time.
Click the Key column header to sort the view without altering the file.
Full-line comments appear as comment rows; inline comments show in a separate column.
Row action icons let you reveal, edit, add, or delete values (hover for tooltips).
Click Open as text at any time to switch to the regular VS Code editor without Protect My Env CodeLens or masking decorations.

Configuration

Add any of the following to your settings.json:

{
  "protectMyEnv.obfuscationMode": "all",
  "protectMyEnv.patterns": [
    "*_SECRET",
    "*_KEY",
    "*_PASSWORD",
    "*_TOKEN",
    "PASSWORD",
    "SECRET",
    "TOKEN",
    "KEY"
  ],
  "protectMyEnv.rules": [],
  "protectMyEnv.maskCharacter": "•",
  "protectMyEnv.maskLength": 8,
  "protectMyEnv.protectComments": false
}

Setting Reference

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`obfuscationMode`	`string`	`"all"`	`"all"` masks every key; `"pattern"` masks only keys matching `patterns`
`patterns`	`string[]`	see above	Glob patterns applied in `pattern` mode (case-insensitive)
`rules`	`string[]`	`[]`	Exact key names that are always masked regardless of mode
`maskCharacter`	`string`	`"•"`	Character used to render masked values
`maskLength`	`number`	`8`	Fixed mask length; set to `0` to match the original value length
`protectComments`	`boolean`	`false`	When `true`, masks full-line and inline comments

Development

Prerequisites

Node.js ≥ 18
VS Code ≥ 1.75

Setup

git clone https://github.com/marcuspmd/protect-my-env.git
cd protect-my-env
npm install
npm run compile

Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.

Testing

npm test                  # Run all unit tests
npm run test:watch        # Watch mode
npm run test:coverage     # With coverage report

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.

License

Publishing

npm run vscode:prepublish

Scripts

npm run compile
npm run esbuild-base
npm run esbuild
npm run watch
npm run vscode:prepublish
npm test
npm run test:watch
npm run test:coverage