API Log Sanitization Guide
API logs are useful because they preserve context. They are risky for the same reason. Before sharing a log in a ticket, public issue, chat, or documentation page, reduce it to the smallest useful example and remove secrets.
Remove authentication material first
Access tokens, refresh tokens, API keys, session cookies, signed URLs, authorization headers, and webhook secrets should never remain in a shared log. Replace them with stable placeholders such as [REDACTED_TOKEN].
Mask customer and account identifiers
Email addresses, user IDs, organization IDs, phone numbers, invoice IDs, and order numbers can all be sensitive. If the exact value is not needed, replace it with a consistent fake value so the structure remains understandable.
Keep only the relevant request and response
Long traces make review harder and increase exposure. Keep the failing request, the relevant response, the timestamp range, and any error code that explains the behavior. Remove unrelated retries, debug dumps, and repeated stack frames.
Format structured payloads before review
Pretty-print JSON and decode URL parameters before scanning for secrets. Sensitive values are easier to miss in minified payloads, query strings, and nested arrays.
Check the final version
After redaction, read the log as if it were public. Search for terms such as token, secret, key, email, cookie, bearer, password, and authorization before sending it.
Related tools
Use JSON Toolbox, URL Checker, and Diff Checker to inspect sanitized samples locally.