Troubleshooting and FAQ
Find your question or symptom below. If it is not here, open an issue on the Cloakpaste GitHub issues page. Do not paste real secrets or personal data into an issue; describe the format instead.
Limits
What Cloakpaste does not catch
Be clear about what it covers before you rely on it:
- Only pastes are checked. Text you type yourself is not.
- Files and images are not checked. Uploads, and pastes that contain files, pass through untouched.
- Detection can miss things. Patterns only know the formats they were written for. The model can miss names, especially unusual ones, and places; it is English-focused. Secrets in a format no pattern knows are missed unless you turn on Also hide random-looking strings.
- Some kinds are never hidden. Dates, ages and job titles are not hidden, and organisation names are off by default.
- Very short pastes (under three characters) are not checked.
- A site's own Copy button copies placeholders, not originals.
Cloakpaste reduces accidental leaks; it does not guarantee none. Read the notice after each paste, and do not paste anything you could not afford to have seen.
How accurate is it?
On the project's own small, hand-written test set of 40 texts, the model found 97% of people's names and all places, with no false alarms on 15 samples of code, logs and questions. The project itself calls this a regression check, not a benchmark; real text will do worse in places.
Does my text leave my computer?
No. Detection runs in the browser, on your device. Cloakpaste has no server, account or analytics and makes no network requests. The chat site, of course, receives whatever ends up in its chat box: the text with placeholders, or the original if you choose Paste original or Paste anyway.
Problems
Paste held back
The paste could not be checked, so Cloakpaste did not paste it rather than risk leaking it. The notice offers Paste anyway, which pastes the original unchecked.
If the notice says Cloakpaste was updated. Reload this page to keep protecting pastes., reload the tab.
Nothing happens when I paste
- Check that the site is protected: select the Cloakpaste icon. The menu should say Pastes are checked before they land.
- If it says Not protected, choose Protect this site, then reload the page. See Supported sites.
- If it says Off for this site. or Cloakpaste is off everywhere., turn the switch back on.
- If nothing sensitive was found, Cloakpaste pastes the text as it is and shows no notice.
Something was not hidden
Add the word to Always hide in the settings, or turn on the matching kind under What to hide. Try the text in the Playground to see what is caught. See Always hide and never hide.
Something was hidden that I wanted to share
Choose Paste original on the notice for this paste. To stop it happening again, add the exact value to Never hide, or turn that kind off under What to hide.
Name detection was unavailable for this paste
The model could not run, so only pattern detection was used. Names and places may have been missed. Check the text before sending.
Placeholders in a reply do not show the original
- The vault is cleared when the browser closes, so placeholders from an earlier session have no originals.
- The value may have been removed with Forget or Forget all for this site.
- Replies may be set to Leave replies alone in the settings.
The first paste is slow
The model takes about a second to load the first time after the browser starts. Later pastes take tens of milliseconds.
Cloakpaste disappeared from Firefox
An add-on loaded with Load Temporary Add-on is removed when Firefox restarts. Load it again until the Firefox Add-ons listing is approved. See Install.