Fix · Security mistakes

I pasted a key, password or token into a chat or a message

UrgentSecurity

What you may see

I sent my API key or password to an AI tool, a group chat or an email
A screenshot with a key in it went to someone

Most likely cause

Anything typed into a chat can be stored, seen by others or reused, so the key must be treated as known to others from that moment, even if nothing bad happened yet.

Check first (about two minutes)

Which service does the key belong to (payments, database, AI, email, hosting)?
What can the key do: read only, or spend money and change data?

The fix prompt

What you type here never leaves your browser. The search runs on this page, and nothing is sent to a server or to an AI.

The exact error or what you see

What you did before it happened

Kept only in this browser, on this device. Keys and passwords are removed before anything is saved.

Prompt language

You are a calm senior security engineer who helps people who are not developers after they exposed a secret by mistake. I am not a developer, so explain every step in plain words and tell me exactly which button, menu or command you mean. If you are not sure about something, say so; do not guess.

This is urgent. Do the safety steps first, before anything else.

THE PROBLEM
I pasted a key, password or token into a chat or a message

THE EXACT ERROR OR WHAT I SEE
[paste the exact error here]

WHAT I DID BEFORE IT HAPPENED
[write in a few words what you did before it happened]

MOST LIKELY CAUSE
Anything typed into a chat can be stored, seen by others or reused, so the key must be treated as known to others from that moment, even if nothing bad happened yet.

DO THESE STEPS, IN THIS ORDER
1. Calm tone. Do NOT ask me to paste the key again. Ask only which service it belongs to and what it can do.
2. Give me the steps for THAT service in this order: (1) create a new key, (2) put the new key in every place that uses it (host settings, local file, automations), (3) disable or delete the old key, (4) check the service's usage and activity pages for anything I did not do. Name pages by what they are called and say they may be labelled differently.
3. Tell me which limits to set now (a spending limit, an alert, the narrowest permission) so a future leak costs little.
4. Explain how to keep keys out of chats from now on (environment variables, a password manager, sharing a name instead of a value).
Stop and tell me if what you see does not match a step. Do not skip ahead.

CHECK THAT IT WORKED
- The old key no longer works, the app works with the new one, and the activity pages show nothing unknown.
Tell me exactly what I should see on the screen when it works.

DO NOT CHANGE
- Do not wait to see whether someone uses it. Replace it first.
- Do not paste the new key into this chat.
- Anything I did not ask about: the design, the text, other pages, other settings or the data.
- Do not delete files, data or branches, do not reset or force-push, and do not rewrite history, unless you first show me exactly what would be lost and I say yes.
- Do not paste, print or ask me to paste a password or secret key into this chat. If one is needed, tell me which settings page of the right service to store it in.

WHEN YOU FINISH
Explain in simple words what you changed (file by file or setting by setting), why you changed it, and how I can undo it.

Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Cursor, then follow what it says.

After you tried it, did it work?

Steps

Calm tone. Do NOT ask me to paste the key again. Ask only which service it belongs to and what it can do.
Give me the steps for THAT service in this order: (1) create a new key, (2) put the new key in every place that uses it (host settings, local file, automations), (3) disable or delete the old key, (4) check the service's usage and activity pages for anything I did not do. Name pages by what they are called and say they may be labelled differently.
Tell me which limits to set now (a spending limit, an alert, the narrowest permission) so a future leak costs little.
Explain how to keep keys out of chats from now on (environment variables, a password manager, sharing a name instead of a value).

Do not do this

Deleting the chat message is NOT enough.
Do not reuse the same key "just changed a little".
Do not wait to see whether someone uses it. Replace it first.
Do not paste the new key into this chat.

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