Redaction and Size Limits

Retention and redaction

Beacon can write supported prompt, command, tool, file, approval, policy, and runtime context when a configured source runtime emits it. Before endpoint events are written to local JSONL or forwarded through configured destinations, Beacon applies redaction, sanitization, truncation, and event-size limits.

Content handling

Control	Behavior
Redaction	Common secret patterns are replaced before retained content is written (see What is redacted)
Sanitization	Runtime payloads are normalized into typed event fields instead of storing source payloads verbatim wherever possible
Truncation	Oversized fields are shortened and marked with truncation metadata
Event-size limits	Events are bounded before they are written to `runtime.jsonl` or sent to configured destinations

What is redacted

Redaction runs on retained text (prompts, command output, diffs, tool arguments and results, reasons) and on structured payloads. Each match is replaced with [REDACTED], keeping the label in front of it, so token=abc becomes token=[REDACTED]. Redaction runs before truncation, so a cut never leaves part of a secret behind.

Form	Examples
A value labeled as a secret	`token=…`, `GITHUB_TOKEN=…`, `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=…`, `{"api_key": "…"}`, `client_secret: …`
A structured field named for a credential	the value of any field whose name ends in `password`, `secret`, `token`, `api_key`, `access_key`, `private_key`, `authorization`, `credential(s)` or `cookie`
Authorization headers and flags	`Authorization: Bearer …`, `Authorization: Basic …`, `--password …`, `--token=…`
URL credentials	the password in `postgres://user:…@host`, `https://x-access-token:…@github.com`
Private keys	PEM and OpenSSH `PRIVATE KEY` blocks, including a block cut off before its end line
Recognizable tokens (the public type prefix stays, as in `ghp_[REDACTED]`)	Anthropic and OpenAI `sk-…`, AWS `AKIA…`/`ASIA…`, GitHub `ghp_…`/`github_pat_…`, GitLab `glpat-…`, Slack `xox…-` and `xapp-…`, Stripe `sk_live_…`, Google `AIza…`, npm, Hugging Face, HashiCorp Vault `hvs.…`, Groq `gsk_…`, Perplexity `pplx-…`, Replicate `r8_…`, xAI `xai-…`, LangSmith `lsv2_…`, Pinecone `pcsk_…`, DigitalOcean `dop_v1_…`, Databricks `dapi…`, PyPI `pypi-…`, Shopify `shpat_…`, Linear `lin_api_…`, Doppler `dp.pt.…`, SendGrid `SG.…`, Beacon keys and tokens (`bcn_api_…`, `bcn_device_…`, `bcn_enfdev_…`, `bcn_mcp_…`, `bcn_mcprt_…`, and the `beacon login` token `bcn_cli_…` with its `bcn_code_…`, `bcn_client_…` and `bcn_exchange_…` values), and JWTs
An AWS secret key beside its key id	the 40-character secret that follows an `AKIA…` or `ASIA…` key id within a few spaces, commas, colons, pipes or quotes, as in a credentials CSV (`AKIA…,wJalr…`) or a table

Redaction is pattern-based. A credential with no label and no recognizable shape, such as a bare random password, is not detected, so treat retained content as sensitive. Metadata-only forwarding is the control for keeping content off Beacon Cloud entirely, and beacon share follows it: a Metadata-only endpoint shares no content either.

Prompt event example

Prompt content is included only when the source runtime emits it. Secret-like values are redacted before the event is written:

{
  "event": {
    "action": "prompt.submitted",
    "category": "prompt"
  },
  "harness": {
    "name": "claude_code"
  },
  "prompt": {
    "text": "Review this API client. Token: [REDACTED]"
  },
  "content": {
    "included": true,
    "redacted": true
  }
}

Command event example

Command events can include normalized tool and command context, with truncation metadata when fields exceed limits:

{
  "event": {
    "action": "command.executed",
    "category": "command"
  },
  "tool": {
    "name": "Shell",
    "command": "go test ./..."
  },
  "command": {
    "command": "go test ./...",
    "exit_code": 0,
    "duration_ms": 18420
  },
  "content": {
    "included": true,
    "truncated": false
  }
}

Forwarding implications

Content handling is applied before events are written to runtime.jsonl. File-based destinations such as Wazuh, Elastic/Filebeat, Datadog Agent custom log collection, Sumo Logic forwarding, Rapid7 forwarding, Microsoft Sentinel forwarding, AWS S3 Vector forwarding, Google Cloud Storage Vector forwarding, and customer-managed shippers read the resulting local JSONL. Supported cloud agents upload a compressed snapshot of their sandbox-local JSONL directly to customer-managed GCS or S3. Splunk HEC and Falcon LogScale HEC forwarding receive the same normalized collector output according to the configured endpoint pipeline. Beacon Cloud Standard mode forwards new runtime and inventory lines as stored locally. Metadata-only mode adds a local Vector transform that removes retained text, tool arguments/results, tool definitions, retrieval queries and documents, approval and policy reasons, command output, raw fields, diffs, inventory content, and MCP definitions before buffering or upload while preserving stable metadata, hashes, counts, and token usage. The per-string limit also bounds what Beacon Cloud MCP can search. Each retained string is capped at 4 KB (DefaultStringLimit in pkg/asymptoteobserve/privacy.go) before it is written, so text past that point in a long tool output, command output, or diff is never forwarded and Beacon Cloud grep cannot match it; the event carries field_truncated and content.truncated instead. The limit is intentional and is not raised for search. Metadata-only forwarding removes the content that Beacon Cloud grep searches, so for those endpoints its grep and read return little. See Downstream consumers. Review runtime scope, artifact access, destination permissions, and downstream retention before rollout so retained content matches your approved telemetry policy.

Schema examples

Inspect endpoint event examples and content fields.

Endpoint install

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Redaction and Size Limits

Retention and redaction

Content handling

What is redacted

Prompt event example

Command event example

Forwarding implications

Schema examples

Endpoint install

​Retention and redaction

​Content handling

​What is redacted

​Prompt event example

​Command event example

​Forwarding implications

​Related

Schema examples

Endpoint install

Retention and redaction

Content handling

What is redacted

Prompt event example

Command event example

Forwarding implications

Related