14 factor security privacy

14-factor-security-privacy Skill

Version: v0.8.0

Skill name

14-factor-security-privacy

Purpose

Use 14-factor-security-privacy to audit and improve security, privacy, secrets, permission boundaries, dependency hygiene, data handling, and release safety for product engineering repositories. It is designed as a practical product-readiness layer, not a heavy compliance program.

When to use

Use this Skill when:

• A project handles user data, API keys, credentials, uploaded files, tokens, logs, model outputs, or third-party integrations.
• A repository is moving from demo to public release and needs a security/privacy pass.
• A product includes Agent tools, MCP tools, RAG pipelines, CI/CD workflows, web apps, CLIs, or hosted services.
• A user asks whether the project is safe to publish, deploy, share, or open source.
• Another Factor Skill finds issues around permissions, logs, supply chain, secrets, or data retention.

When not to use

Do not use this Skill as legal advice, formal compliance certification, penetration testing, or a replacement for organization-specific security review. For regulated domains, use it as a preparation checklist before specialist review.

Inputs

Inspect README, configuration files, environment variable docs, .gitignore, examples, logs, workflows, package manifests, lockfiles, Docker files, deployment docs, API/tool schemas, auth code, storage paths, data examples, and release notes.

Workflow

1. Identify what data, credentials, files, tokens, and permissions the project touches.
2. Map trust boundaries across users, Agent, tools, workflows, storage, network calls, and third-party services.
3. Check repository hygiene: secrets, fixtures, generated artifacts, logs, ignored files, and sample configs.
4. Review dependency, workflow, and release risks.
5. Score with scoring-rubric.md.
6. Produce an audit report using audit-report-template.md.
7. Produce a prioritized mitigation plan using refactor-plan-template.md.
8. Pair with a domain Skill such as 12-factor-agents, 12-factor-app, 7-factor-mcp, 8-factor-github-actions, or 9-factor-rag when technical depth is required.

Fourteen factors

1. Asset Inventory — Data, credentials, files, and privileged operations are identified.
2. Secret Hygiene — Real secrets are not committed, logged, or embedded in examples.
3. Configuration Safety — .env.example, defaults, and docs avoid unsafe production settings.
4. Permission Boundaries — Tools, tokens, workflows, and APIs use least privilege.
5. Input Validation — User, model, file, URL, and tool inputs are validated before use.
6. Output and Log Safety — Logs, reports, traces, and examples avoid sensitive leakage.
7. Data Handling — Retention, deletion, anonymization, and storage expectations are documented.
8. Dependency Hygiene — Dependencies, lockfiles, and supply-chain risks are visible and updatable.
9. CI/CD Security — Workflows avoid overbroad tokens, unsafe pull request execution, and secret exposure.
10. Agent and Tool Safety — Agent tool calls have clear contracts, guardrails, and failure handling.
11. MCP and Integration Safety — External tools and MCP servers document schemas, permissions, and trust limits.
12. RAG and Knowledge Safety — Retrieval pipelines avoid leaking private data and track source boundaries.
13. Release and Disclosure Readiness — Security notes, support contact, and vulnerability reporting are present.
14. Validation Evidence — The project includes lightweight checks or manual evidence for high-risk areas.

Scoring

Use scoring-rubric.md. Score each factor from 0 to 5, then convert to a 100-point readiness score.

Output format

Return:

1. Security/privacy scope summary.
2. Trust boundary map.
3. 14-factor scorecard.
4. Critical release blockers.
5. Secrets and data-handling findings.
6. CI/CD, dependency, and tool-permission findings.
7. Prioritized mitigation plan.
8. Validation results or validation limits.
9. Recommended paired Skills.

Example calls

See usage-examples.md.

Version record

• v0.8.0: Added as a first-class security/privacy readiness Skill.