Your coding agents and your keys: Claude Code secrets hit the news, ChatGPT Desktop questioned
Follow-up to Sunday Nov 8: Claude Code's "Don't Ask Again" linked to passwords in 1,122 public GitHub filesLast Sunday we covered Apiiro's report linking Claude Code's "Don't Ask Again" option to passwords in 1,122 public GitHub files. Now Ars Technica has picked it up. It says these settings files are exposing "thousands of secrets": passwords, API keys and more. API keys are like passwords that let software use a paid service.
A second worry got 209 points on Hacker News. A post says ChatGPT Desktop forwards your SSH agent to remote machines. SSH keys are what developers use to log into servers. Forwarding means a remote machine can borrow your login while it is connected. This is a user report, and our sources have no reply from OpenAI.
One small help is trending on GitHub. devvm gives each project its own isolated virtual machine, a sealed box where you or a coding agent can work without touching the rest of your computer.
In one week, we have seen agents send email addresses, leak passwords and reach for API keys. These tools get deep access by default, and the problems surface after the damage. Bon, take ten minutes today: check what your agent can read, change any key that sat in a settings file, and keep agents in a sandbox.
