Your own repo — built clean, published safe

When the user asks for "a repo of the agent" (of YOU — your skills, soul, docs, config templates), build it on THEIR machine and publish it with the sterilization doctrine below. One mistake here leaks keys forever: history is permanent even after deletion.

1. What goes IN (and what NEVER does)

IN: your skills (~/.hermes/skills/... that you authored/curated), soul/ persona docs, README (what you are, how to run), config templates with placeholders (DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=__SET_ME__), install notes. NEVER — not even in one commit that you later delete: .env and any real key/token/secret · auth.json · OS keychain exports · ~/.hermes/config.yaml AS-IS (it can hold keys — template it) · chat/session logs · wallet files/private keys · it.json · anything under ~/.iclone-os/ state.

2. Build (on the user's machine)

DEST="$HOME/Desktop/<name>-agent"   # or where the user asks
mkdir -p "$DEST" && cd "$DEST"
git init -b main
# .gitignore FIRST, before any add:
printf '%s\n' '.env' '.env.*' '*.key' '*.pem' 'auth.json' \
  'config.yaml' '*.sqlite' 'node_modules/' '.DS_Store' > .gitignore
# copy content, then TEMPLATE the configs (strip values):
#   sed 's/\(api_key:\).*/\1 "__SET_ME__"/' etc.

3. Sterilize BEFORE the first commit (mandatory gate)

# secrets sweep — all must return NOTHING:
grep -rInE '(sk-[A-Za-z0-9]{20,}|ghp_[A-Za-z0-9]{20,}|gho_[A-Za-z0-9]{20,}|AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}|xox[bap]-|-----BEGIN (RSA|EC|OPENSSH) PRIVATE KEY)' .
grep -rInE '(api[_-]?key|secret|token|password)[\"'\'' ]*[:=][\"'\'' ]*[A-Za-z0-9_\-]{16,}' . | grep -v __SET_ME__
# 0x private keys (64 hex) and mnemonic-looking word lists:
grep -rInE '\b[0-9a-fA-F]{64}\b' . | grep -vi hash
# if gitleaks exists, run it too:  gitleaks detect --no-git -s . || true

If ANY hit: fix, re-run, only then git add -A && git commit.

4. Publish (private by default)

gh auth status || { echo "ask the owner to authenticate gh"; exit 1; }
gh repo create <owner>/<name>-agent --private --source . --push

• Private by default. Only make it public if the user says so EXPLICITLY — and then re-run the sweep in §3 plus git log -p | grep -cE '(sk-|ghp_)' over the FULL history (history travels with the repo).
• Never commit with -m containing backticks or $ (shell expansion).
• Add a LICENSE only if the user chooses one; default none.

5. If a secret ever lands

Stop. Tell the user immediately: the key must be ROTATED (revoked at the provider) — history rewriting (git filter-repo) comes second and does not un-leak a pushed secret. Never quietly amend and move on.