π File detail
utils/undercover.ts
π― Use case
This file lives under βutils/β, which covers cross-cutting helpers (shell, tempfiles, settings, messages, process input, β¦). On the API surface it exposes isUndercover, getUndercoverInstructions, and shouldShowUndercoverAutoNotice β mainly functions, hooks, or classes. It composes internal code from commitAttribution, config, and envUtils (relative imports).
Generated from folder role, exports, dependency roots, and inline comments β not hand-reviewed for every path.
π§ Inline summary
Undercover mode β safety utilities for contributing to public/open-source repos. When active, Claude Code adds safety instructions to commit/PR prompts and strips all attribution to avoid leaking internal model codenames, project names, or other Anthropic-internal information. The model is not told what model it is. Activation: - CLAUDE_CODE_UNDERCOVER=1 β force ON (even in internal repos) - Otherwise AUTO: active UNLESS the repo remote matches the internal allowlist (INTERNAL_MODEL_REPOS in commitAttribution.ts). Safe default is ON β Claude may push to public remotes from a CWD that isn't itself a git checkout (e.g. /tmp crash repro). - There is NO force-OFF. This guards against model codename leaks β if we're not confident we're in an internal repo, we stay undercover. All code paths are gated on process.env.USER_TYPE === 'ant'. Since USER_TYPE is a build-time --define, the bundler constant-folds these checks and dead-code- eliminates the ant-only branches from external builds. In external builds every function in this file reduces to a trivial return.
π€ Exports (heuristic)
isUndercovergetUndercoverInstructionsshouldShowUndercoverAutoNotice
π₯οΈ Source preview
/**
* Undercover mode β safety utilities for contributing to public/open-source repos.
*
* When active, Claude Code adds safety instructions to commit/PR prompts and
* strips all attribution to avoid leaking internal model codenames, project
* names, or other Anthropic-internal information. The model is not told what
* model it is.
*
* Activation:
* - CLAUDE_CODE_UNDERCOVER=1 β force ON (even in internal repos)
* - Otherwise AUTO: active UNLESS the repo remote matches the internal
* allowlist (INTERNAL_MODEL_REPOS in commitAttribution.ts). Safe default
* is ON β Claude may push to public remotes from a CWD that isn't itself
* a git checkout (e.g. /tmp crash repro).
* - There is NO force-OFF. This guards against model codename leaks β if
* we're not confident we're in an internal repo, we stay undercover.
*
* All code paths are gated on process.env.USER_TYPE === 'ant'. Since USER_TYPE is
* a build-time --define, the bundler constant-folds these checks and dead-code-
* eliminates the ant-only branches from external builds. In external builds every
* function in this file reduces to a trivial return.
*/
import { getRepoClassCached } from './commitAttribution.js'
import { getGlobalConfig } from './config.js'
import { isEnvTruthy } from './envUtils.js'
export function isUndercover(): boolean {
if (process.env.USER_TYPE === 'ant') {
if (isEnvTruthy(process.env.CLAUDE_CODE_UNDERCOVER)) return true
// Auto: active unless we've positively confirmed we're in an allowlisted
// internal repo. 'external', 'none', and null (check not yet run) all
// resolve to ON. The check is primed in setup.ts; only 'internal' β OFF.
return getRepoClassCached() !== 'internal'
}
return false
}
export function getUndercoverInstructions(): string {
if (process.env.USER_TYPE === 'ant') {
return `## UNDERCOVER MODE β CRITICAL
You are operating UNDERCOVER in a PUBLIC/OPEN-SOURCE repository. Your commit
messages, PR titles, and PR bodies MUST NOT contain ANY Anthropic-internal
information. Do not blow your cover.
NEVER include in commit messages or PR descriptions:
- Internal model codenames (animal names like Capybara, Tengu, etc.)
- Unreleased model version numbers (e.g., opus-4-7, sonnet-4-8)
- Internal repo or project names (e.g., claude-cli-internal, anthropics/β¦)
- Internal tooling, Slack channels, or short links (e.g., go/cc, #claude-code-β¦)
- The phrase "Claude Code" or any mention that you are an AI
- Any hint of what model or version you are
- Co-Authored-By lines or any other attribution
Write commit messages as a human developer would β describe only what the code
change does.
GOOD:
- "Fix race condition in file watcher initialization"
- "Add support for custom key bindings"
- "Refactor parser for better error messages"
BAD (never write these):
- "Fix bug found while testing with Claude Capybara"
- "1-shotted by claude-opus-4-6"
- "Generated with Claude Code"
- "Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <β¦>"
`
}
return ''
}
/**
* Check whether to show the one-time explainer dialog for auto-undercover.
* True when: undercover is active via auto-detection (not forced via env),
* and the user hasn't seen the notice before. Pure β the component marks the
* flag on mount.
*/
export function shouldShowUndercoverAutoNotice(): boolean {
if (process.env.USER_TYPE === 'ant') {
// If forced via env, user already knows; don't nag.
if (isEnvTruthy(process.env.CLAUDE_CODE_UNDERCOVER)) return false
if (!isUndercover()) return false
if (getGlobalConfig().hasSeenUndercoverAutoNotice) return false
return true
}
return false
}