How to redact / sanitize JSON before sharing

Secrets: API keys, OAuth tokens, session IDs, cookies
Credentials: passwords, private keys, connection strings
Personal data: email, phone number, address, names, device IDs
Internal info: private hostnames, IPs, account numbers

When you paste JSON into a ticket, chat, or public issue, remove secrets and personal data first. Keep the structure so others can still debug.

What to redact

Use consistent placeholders:

{
  "email": "REDACTED_EMAIL",
  "token": "REDACTED_TOKEN",
  "address": {
    "line1": "REDACTED",
    "zip": "REDACTED"
  }
}

If you need the same value to match across multiple places, use stable placeholders:

{
  "userId": "USER_001",
  "ownerId": "USER_001"
}

If a field is numeric, keep it numeric if the type matters:

{
  "accountId": 123456,
  "accountId_redacted": 111111
}