The canonical .dockerignore was three lines -- .git, node_modules, .DS_Store
-- while the canonical Dockerfile does `COPY . .`, so a developer's local
.env, *.pem or *.key was shipped into the build context and could land in an
image layer. Nothing surfaced it because .gitignore covers those patterns, so
the files are invisible to every git-based check.
The obvious repair, copying .gitignore's secret patterns across, is worse than
the gap it closes. .dockerignore does not use .gitignore semantics: Docker
matches with Go filepath.Match, `*` does not cross `/`, and a pattern without
a leading `**/` is anchored at the build-context root. A file listing .env,
*.pem and *.key therefore reads as solved, reviews as solved, and protects
only the repository root, while config/.env and certs/server.key still ship.
The three-line file at least invited scrutiny; the transplanted form
manufactures confidence and stops anyone looking.
So every depth-independent pattern here carries the `**/` prefix and only
genuinely root-anchored entries stay unprefixed. `**/node_modules` fixes a
defect the three-line file had today for any nested node_modules,
independently of the secret exposure.
Coverage is not limited to the three patterns the issue names, because the
enumeration found more shapes reaching the image. `**/*.env` covers the
prod.env / local.env convention, which the .env and .env.* spellings miss
entirely; `**/.envrc` is a secrets file by direnv convention; `**/*.p12` and
`**/*.pfx` are bundles carrying private keys; and `**/id_rsa`, `**/id_dsa`,
`**/id_ecdsa`, `**/id_ed25519` are the extensionless SSH keys that were
covered before only when someone happened to append a .key suffix.
Matching is case-sensitive, so `**/*.key` does not match certs/SERVER.KEY,
which is reachable on the case-insensitive filesystems most laptops use.
Doubling each pattern with an ALL-CAPS twin is not the fix: measured against
the planted set it still ships certs/Server.Key and certs/Ca.Pem while reading
as though case were handled, which is this issue's failure mode restated in a
new place. filepath.Match supports character ranges, so the secret-material
extensions use `**/*.[kK][eE][yY]`, `**/*.[pP][eE][mM]`, `**/*.[pP]12` and
`**/*.[pP][fF][xX]`, covering every capitalisation in one line each. Names
that exist in exactly one spelling because a tool writes them -- .env, .envrc,
id_rsa -- stay literal.
Deliberately not covered: bare `key` and `pem` filenames, which no tool
produces and which collide with legitimate paths (a `**/key` pattern would
delete an internal/key/ package directory from the context); `**/id_*`, which
would match ordinary source such as id_generator.go; and *.crt and *.cer,
which are public certificates rather than secrets and are sometimes a
legitimate build input. Each of those is planted as a positive control and
verified present in the image after the change.
The OS and editor patterns are included on their own merits rather than by
mirroring .gitignore. None of them is ever a build input, and editor state in
particular churns under a developer's hands, so each one is a source of
`COPY . .` invalidation carrying no information about the source tree. Now
that the checks are keyed on CHECK_EPOCH rather than on accidental context
churn, there is no reason left to keep churn in the context. Language build
artifacts are deliberately absent: they are per-repo, and the file's header
comment tells consuming repos to add their own host-built binaries, which is
the case that actually bites -- a host `make build` drops a multi-megabyte
artifact into the context where .gitignore hides it from every git-based
check. That comment gives the anchored form explicitly, `/myapp` rather than
`**/myapp`, because the prefixed spelling also matches cmd/myapp/ and deletes
the package directory. The header comment is the only part of this guidance a
consuming repo actually receives, since it is vendored with the file.
.gitignore is untouched. Its semantics are the inverse: an unanchored pattern
already matches at any depth, so `**/`-prefixing it produces a file that is
wrong in a way that looks careful. That asymmetry is why "derive one from the
other" was the wrong instruction, and it is now written down in
REPO_POLICIES.md in both directions, together with the case-sensitivity rule
and the requirement to verify by enumerating the image rather than by reading
the patterns. Every consuming repo inherits .dockerignore by copy, so the trap
has to live where the next person looks, not only be fixed once here. Both
repo checklists gain the same requirements, since they are what an agent reads
while extending the file.
Verified by planting twenty-eight secret shapes at the root and up to three
directories below it -- including CA.PEM, SERVER.KEY, Server.Key, Ca.Pem,
config/prod.env, config/local.env, deploy/secrets/.envrc, extensionless SSH
keys and PKCS#12 bundles -- alongside seven positive controls, then building a
standalone probe image doing `COPY . .` and listing what actually landed
inside it. Before: nineteen of the twenty-eight in the image. Against three
naive forms: unprefixed leaks twenty-one, `**/`-prefixed lowercase-only leaks
six, ALL-CAPS-doubled still leaks two. After: zero, with all seven controls
still present, including internal/key/key.go, pkg/pem/decode.go,
internal/id_generator.go and certs/ca.crt.
Transferred-context size is recorded but load-bearing on nothing, and the runs
show why: a build reported 2.18kB transferred while 43 files, five of them
secrets, were in the image. BuildKit transfers only the delta from the
previous build, so the number describes the transfer and not the contents.
Planted files were removed and their absence confirmed against the filesystem
rather than against `git status`, which could not have seen them.
`make docker` re-run after the change: the check layer executed rather than
being served from cache, so the CHECK_EPOCH verification still holds under the
altered build context.
Split quickstart into separate repo-policy and code-style passes, clone
prompts repo once instead of per-command, and make each prompt
self-contained so agents don't need memory of prior runs.
- Add test requirement item to both checklists (must not be a no-op)
- Add .dockerignore template URL to Dockerfile items in both checklists
- Add REPO_POLICIES.md symlink in repo root pointing to prompts/
- Add comment to Makefile explaining why prettier flags are repeated
- Move title and last_modified to YAML front matter (all policy docs)
- Make all document sections H1, subsections H2
- Update version rule to reference front matter format
- Fix "our" → "your" typo in Go styleguide
- Fix Python styleguide numbering (2. → 1.)
- Fix README: "flat collection" → accurate description, remove stale TODO
- Remove Makefile items from code styleguides (repo stuff, not code),
add note linking to Repository Policies
- Change zerolog → slog in Go styleguide
- Fix JS styleguide npm reference: both work, but use make targets
- Drop .json from healthcheck path, add JSON content-type requirement
- Add Author/License to Go HTTP Server Conventions
- Convert hyperlinks to backtick URLs in checklists for consistency
- Add version/front matter to both checklists
- Add .golangci.yml from upaas as authoritative copy in this repo
- Update REPO_POLICIES.md to reference .golangci.yml by URL
- Add fetch URLs for all template files in both checklists:
.gitignore, .editorconfig, Makefile, .prettierrc, .prettierignore,
REPO_POLICIES.md, .golangci.yml, check.yml
- Rename REPO_POLICIES.md heading from "Development Policies" to
"Repository Policies" to distinguish from code styleguides
- Move version line above heading per convention
- Add scope statement and links to code styleguide documents
- Add missing Makefile and LICENSE to minimum files list
- Add version lines to all cross-project docs (CODE_STYLEGUIDE*.md,
GO_HTTP_SERVER_CONVENTIONS.md)
- Clean up CODE_STYLEGUIDE.md heading (was old repo name)
- Update EXISTING_REPO_CHECKLIST.md link text to match new heading
- All Dockerfiles must run make check as a build step
- Every repo needs a Gitea Actions workflow running docker build on push
- Greatly strengthen the hash-pinning rule: explicitly list all reference
types, ban curl|bash installs, mark as most important rule in document
- Add model .gitea/workflows/check.yml pinned by commit hash
- Never commit secrets; comprehensive .gitignore with fetch URL
- Never force-push to main
- go mod tidy before committing
- make hooks target with Go repo detection
- Add .editorconfig, .prettierrc, .prettierignore
- Template files URL for new repo setup
- Prettier config required for documentation/writing repos
- Migrations must live in internal/db/migrations/ and be embedded
- Avoid cluttering repo root; canonical subdirectory names listed
- Never use git add -A; always stage files by name
- Makefile must provide make hooks target for pre-commit setup
- All repos should have .editorconfig
- JS required files: yarn.lock, .prettierrc, .prettierignore
- Python required files: pyproject.toml
Add .gitignore, LICENSE (MIT), Makefile, Dockerfile, .dockerignore,
and pin prettier via yarn lockfile for integrity-checked markdown
formatting. Update REPO_POLICIES.md self-reference to point to this
repo. Format markdown files with prettier.
sneak