Muzzle/Compare/gitleaks and TruffleHog
gitleaks and TruffleHog vs Muzzle for AI agents
gitleaks and TruffleHog find secrets that have landed in a repository or a commit. Muzzle watches the agent while it works and stops the secret on its way out, before there is a commit to scan.
| Feature | gitleaks | TruffleHog | Muzzle |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it scans | Git history, directories, files, standard input | Git, GitHub, GitLab, S3, GCS, Docker images, filesystems, Jenkins, Postman, Hugging Face and more | Commands and requests an agent sends, pages and files it reads, git commits, project folders |
| When | On commit, in CI, on demand | On commit, in CI, on demand | While the agent runs, before the request leaves |
| How it detects | Regex rules, entropy and keywords in a TOML config | Over 800 secret types, with a check whether a credential is live | Your own protected emails, phone numbers and names, plus key and token shapes |
| Pre-commit hook | Yes | Yes | YesFree |
| Prompt injection in fetched content | Not its job | Not its job | Alerts (Pro) |
| Reports | JSON, CSV, JUnit, SARIF | Verified, unverified and unknown results | Local activity view with notifications |
| License and price | MIT | AGPL-3.0, with a paid enterprise product | Free, or Pro at $19 a month |
| Status | Feature complete, receives security patches; maintainer focus has moved to Betterleaks | Actively developed | Actively developed |
Scanners look at what was written down
Both tools are built around repositories: scan the history, scan the diff, fail the CI job. That works when the secret ends up in a commit. An agent can send the same secret without ever committing it, in a curl command, a request body to an API or a log pasted into a prompt.
Muzzle checks those commands and requests as the agent makes them and blocks the ones that carry a protected value. Its git check runs on commits made on your Mac.
What the scanners do better
TruffleHog tells you whether a leaked credential still works and, for about 20 credential types, what it can reach. Both tools scan history, other people's commits and sources that never touch your Mac, and both fit into CI for a whole team.
Keep them there as the backstop. Muzzle adds the layer on each developer's Mac where the agent runs.
Which to use
Use gitleaks or TruffleHog if
- You need to scan repository history or CI for a team
- You want to know whether a leaked credential is still live
- You scan cloud storage, images or chat tools
- You want machine-readable reports such as SARIF
Use Muzzle if
- You run Claude Code or Codex on your Mac
- You want a secret stopped before it is sent, not found afterwards
- You want your own address, phone number and names protected as well as keys
- You want alerts on injected instructions in what the agent reads
Questions
Do I still need gitleaks if I use Muzzle?
For CI and history scans, yes. Muzzle checks agent traffic and commits on your Mac. A scanner in CI covers commits from everyone.
Is TruffleHog free?
The open-source tool is free and licensed under AGPL-3.0. Truffle Security also sells an enterprise product.
Does Muzzle check git commits?
Yes. The git pre-commit check is part of Free.
Muzzle Free costs $0 and covers Claude Code hooks, git commit checks, project scans and the settings lock. Pro is $19 a month or $96 a year and adds Codex checks, injection alerts, and checks on the requests your agents' scripts make and the instruction files they load. Apple silicon, macOS 12 or later.
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