---
title: STARTER KIT — SECURITY & SANITIZATION
slug: starter-kit-security
layer: STARTER KIT
layer_order: 9
order: 109
description: What never ships — secrets, personal paths, real catalog data, AWS keys — and how the kit is sanitized.
---

> **FLUX DOCUMENTATION SYSTEM**
> Layer 11 — STARTER KIT | starter-kit-security
> flux.dantesisofo.com/wiki/starter-kit-security/

# STARTER KIT — SECURITY & SANITIZATION

The packaging rule is simple: **the kit ships the *machinery*, never the
*identity, secrets, or data*.** This page is the checklist that gates any release.

---

## 1. NEVER SHIP (SECRETS)

- **`.env`** — portal password, SMTP credentials, AI API key. Ships only as
  `.env.example` with empty/placeholder values.
- **`~/.aws/credentials` and `config`** — cloud access keys. These live outside the
  project folder; they must never be copied into the repo or a zip.
- Any pasted access key, secret, session token, or API key in code, notebooks, or
  commit history.

> Because a starter kit is built as a **fresh repo / clean folder** (not a copy of
> the working tree), there is no git history to leak old secrets from. Start clean.

---

## 2. NEVER SHIP (PERSONAL IDENTITY / INFRA)

Replace these with config variables (`.env`) or generic placeholders:

| Real value (do not embed) | Ships as |
|---|---|
| your S3 bucket name | `FLUX_BUCKET` (placeholder) |
| your CloudFront distribution ID | `FLUX_CF_DIST` (placeholder) |
| your public domain | `FLUX_BASE_URL` (placeholder) |
| your AWS region | `FLUX_REGION` |
| your author/photographer name | `FLUX_AUTHOR` = `Your Name` |
| your IAM user name | n/a (student uses their own) |
| absolute home paths (`/Users/<you>/…`) | relative paths / `$HOME` |

These identifiers are sprinkled across the working code; sanitization means
**externalizing all of them into one config** so the student sets their own.

---

## 3. NEVER SHIP (PERSONAL DATA)

- Your real photographic archive (original JPEGs, derivatives, exports).
- The real **catalog JSON** (your walks, GPS tracks, addresses, drafts).
- Local working folders: drafts, pending runs, repair/reset backups.
- Deployed personal site content (your published pages, hub, dispatches, wiki).

Ship instead a tiny **sample walk** (CC0 / public-domain geotagged photos, or a
generator that stamps sample EXIF+GPS) and an **empty catalog seed**. See
[TEMPLATE KIT PLAN](../starter-kit-template-plan/).

---

## 4. PRIVACY OF GEOTAGS

Geotagged photos contain precise locations. Two things to teach students:

- **Derivatives strip EXIF** — the published web images do not carry GPS; only the
  route polyline (which the author chose to publish) is exposed.
- The author controls what's published. Encourage care with home/private
  locations; the system makes route publication an explicit step, not automatic.

---

## 5. SANITIZATION CHECKLIST (RELEASE GATE)

Before any kit leaves your machine:

- [ ] No `.env`, no `~/.aws/*`, no keys/tokens anywhere in the tree.
- [ ] `grep` the kit for your bucket, distribution ID, domain, name, and home path → **zero hits** outside `.env.example` placeholders.
- [ ] Catalog is the empty seed; no real drafts/pending-runs/backups.
- [ ] Only sample media present (and it's licensed for redistribution).
- [ ] `.gitignore` blocks `.env`, drafts, pending runs, data JSON (except the seed), media, caches.
- [ ] Fresh repo/zip — no history from the working tree.
- [ ] A second person can run it with only their own credentials and the docs.

---

Next: [TEMPLATE KIT PLAN](../starter-kit-template-plan/) for exactly what code is
included vs excluded.

---

FLUX_WIKI_v2.0 — flux.dantesisofo.com/wiki/starter-kit-security/