gitleaks protect: leaks found, aborting commit"

TL;DR

The pre-commit hook found something that looks like a secret in your staged changes. Inspect the finding, remove the real credential or allowlist the false positive, then commit again. Do not commit with the hook disabled as a habit.

Error

"gitleaks protect: leaks found, aborting commit"

Steps

1. Run gitleaks protect --staged --verbose to see the finding with file and line. Expected: the exact staged content that matched.
2. If it is a real credential, unstage the file, remove the credential, and rotate it if it was ever committed or pushed anywhere. Expected: no live secret in the change.
3. If it is a test fixture, add a narrow allowlist rule for that path or fingerprint in the gitleaks config. Expected: the hook passes for that fixture only.
4. Re-stage and commit. Expected: the hook runs clean and the commit lands.
5. If the hook keeps flagging generated files, exclude those paths in config instead of fighting per commit. Expected: the hook stays useful instead of being disabled.

When to use

• git commit aborts with the gitleaks protect message.
• You want the sanctioned fix rather than --no-verify.

When not to use

• CI scan failures on already-merged code (triage as a leak, not a hook issue).
• You are configuring the hook for the first time (see the setup skill).

Tool compatibility

• Gitleaks v8 protect mode; pre-commit framework or native hooks.

Variant phrasings

pre-commit gitleaks hook failed

Same flow, whatever hook runner you use.

gitleaks blocked my commit

Same; read the finding first.

Why it happens

protect scans staged changes before the commit is created, catching secrets at the earliest point. It is deliberately strict because this is the cheapest place to fix a leak.

Edge cases

• --no-verify skips the hook; using it for a real finding just moves the leak to the push, where protection blocks it anyway.
• Staged generated files (lockfiles, bundles) often trip entropy rules; allowlist by path.
• The hook scans what is staged, not what is in the working tree; unstage-then-fix ordering matters.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_CgJX1jJKZPSGy4WakSvg

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_CgJX1jJKZPSGy4WakSvg

Thread query: "gitleaks protect: leaks found, aborting commit"

TL;DR: The pre-commit hook found something that looks like a secret in your staged changes. Inspect the finding, remove the real credential or allowlist the false positive, then commit again. Do not commit with the hook disabled as a habit.