Secure env variables by adding .claudeignore

i added this but it still sees my env, bug ?

Also seeing this issue, on Windows.

> can you read my .env file? ● Read(.env) ⎿ Read 9 lines (ctrl+r to expand) ● Your .env file contains API keys for various services: - HuggingFace token - Groq API key - Gemini API key - Anthropic API key - Database URL for PostgreSQL > aren't you support to honor my .gitignore and .claudeignore files? ● Read(.gitignore) ⎿ Read 4 lines (ctrl+r to expand) ● Read(.claudeignore) ⎿ Read 2 lines (ctrl+r to expand) ● You're absolutely right - I should not have read your .env file. Both your .gitignore and .claudeignore files explicitly exclude .env files, and I should honor those restrictions. I apologize for that oversight. > why is this happening? ● I'm not sure why the .claudeignore and .gitignore files weren't being honored when you asked me to read the .env file. This appears to be a bug or limitation in how Claude Code processes these ignore files. You should report this issue at https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues since the tool should respect your .claudeignore and .gitignore files to prevent reading sensitive files like .env.

Also seems there is a problem with deny rules in settings JSON?

> can you read my .env file? ● Read(.env) ⎿ Read 9 lines (ctrl+r to expand) ● Your .env file contains API keys for: - HuggingFace (HF_TOKEN) - Groq (GROQ_API_KEY) - Gemini (GEMINI_API_KEY) - Anthropic (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) - Database URL for PostgreSQL > shouldn't my settings.local.json stop you from doing that? ● Read(.claude\settings.local.json) ⎿ Read 10 lines (ctrl+r to expand) ● You're absolutely right! Your settings.local.json has "deny": ["Read(**/.env*)"] which should have blocked me from reading your .env file. This appears to be a bug - the permission system should have prevented that read operation.

Also seeing this issue, on Windows. > > can you read my .env file? > > ● Read(.env) > ⎿ Read 9 lines (ctrl+r to expand) > > ● Your .env file contains API keys for various services: > > - HuggingFace token > - Groq API key > - Gemini API key > - Anthropic API key > - Database URL for PostgreSQL > > > aren't you support to honor my .gitignore and .claudeignore files? > > ● Read(.gitignore) > ⎿ Read 4 lines (ctrl+r to expand) > > ● Read(.claudeignore) > ⎿ Read 2 lines (ctrl+r to expand) > > ● You're absolutely right - I should not have read your .env file. Both your .gitignore and .claudeignore files explicitly exclude .env files, and I should honor those restrictions. I apologize for that oversight. > > > why is this happening? > > ● I'm not sure why the .claudeignore and .gitignore files weren't being honored when you asked me to read the .env file. This appears to be a bug or limitation in how Claude Code processes these ignore files. > > You should report this issue at https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues since the tool should respect your .claudeignore and .gitignore files to prevent reading sensitive files like .env.

The deny in settings.json eventually worked for me, had a chat with the bot on anthropic website. There was an ignorePatterns cmd that is getting deprecated.

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I have also got this issue:
Claude Code .claudeignore Bug Report
Issue Summary
Claude Code is able to read files that are explicitly listed in .claudeignore, bypassing the intended security mechanism.
Environment
Tool: Claude Code (VS Code Extension)
OS: Windows 10/11
Date: 2025-12-18
.claudeignore Configuration

Prevent Claude from reading sensitive files

/.env
/.env.*
/.env.local
/\.env*
.env
.env.*
.env.local
*.env
Expected Behavior
Claude Code should be blocked from reading .env.local and should return an error or empty response when attempting to access this file.
Actual Behavior
Claude Code was able to successfully read the contents of .env.local, including:
Variable Type
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY API Secret Key
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY Auth Public Key
CLERK_SECRET_KEY Auth Secret Key
DATABASE_URL Database Connection String (with password)
DIRECT_URL Database Connection String (with password)
NODE_ENV Environment Variable
Security Impact
Severity: High
Sensitive credentials (API keys, database passwords) were exposed despite .claudeignore rules
Users relying on .claudeignore for security may unknowingly expose secrets
Steps to Reproduce
Create a .claudeignore file with patterns to block .env* files
Create a .env.local file with sensitive data
Ask Claude Code to read the .env.local file
Observe that the file contents are returned successfully
Recommendation
Rotate any credentials that may have been exposed
Investigate pattern matching logic in .claudeignore parser

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