Detect personally identifiable information (PII) in your source code in real-time. Traces data flows from user input to logs, databases, and third-party APIs — and maps findings to GDPR, CCPA, APPI, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS regulatory articles.

piilex diagnostics

Features

Real-time PII detection

piilex scans your code as you type and highlights PII with inline diagnostics:

Critical (red squiggly) — passwords, SSN, credit cards, national IDs
High (yellow squiggly) — email, phone, full name, address
Medium (blue) — IP address, date of birth, device ID
Low (gray hint) — user agent, cookies

56 PII types across 6 languages

Detects email, phone, SSN, credit card, passport, My Number (Japan), IBAN (EU), BSN (Netherlands), NHS (UK), biometric data, health records, API keys, passwords, and more — in TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go, Java, and C#.

Data flow tracing

Tracks PII from source to sink and alerts when sensitive data reaches dangerous destinations:

piilex data flow

customer.email passed to logger.info() — PII leaked to logs
payment.creditCardNumber passed to external API — PII sent to third party
customer.email passed to analytics.track() — PII shared without consent

Quick fixes

Click the lightbulb (or press Ctrl+.) on a diagnostic to see fix suggestions:

Mask before logging — maskEmail(user.email)
Encrypt before storage — encrypt(user.ssn)
Redact from response — replace with "[REDACTED]"

Regulatory mapping (Pro)

With a Pro license, diagnostics include specific regulatory article references:

[Art.5(1f)] — GDPR: Integrity and Confidentiality
[Art.13] — GDPR: Right to be informed
[§1798.100] — CCPA: Right to know
[Art.23] — APPI: Restriction on Third-Party Provision
[164.312(b)] — HIPAA: Audit controls

Five frameworks supported: GDPR, CCPA, APPI, HIPAA, PCI-DSS.

Requirements

The piilex CLI must be installed and available in your PATH.

Homebrew (macOS / Linux):

brew install piilex/tap/piilex

npm:

npm install -g piilex

Manual: Download from GitHub Releases.

Verify installation:

piilex --version

Extension Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`piilex.path`	`"piilex"`	Path to the piilex binary
`piilex.enable`	`true`	Enable or disable scanning
`piilex.severity`	`"low"`	Minimum severity to display (`low`, `medium`, `high`, `critical`)

Commands

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and type piilex:

Command	Description
`piilex: Show Status`	Show whether the scanner is active
`piilex: Scan Workspace`	Re-scan all open documents
`piilex: Enable`	Enable the PII scanner
`piilex: Disable`	Disable the PII scanner

How it works

The extension launches piilex lsp as a Language Server Protocol server. When you open or edit a file, piilex parses it using tree-sitter AST analysis, matches identifiers against a PII dictionary, traces data flows, and publishes diagnostics.

The LSP server runs locally — no code is sent to any external service.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Solution
"Failed to start LSP server"	Ensure `piilex` is installed and in PATH. Run `piilex --version` in your terminal.
No diagnostics appearing	Check that `piilex.enable` is `true` and `piilex.severity` is set to `low`.
Too many false positives	Set `piilex.severity` to `medium` or `high` to filter low-confidence findings.
Slow on large projects	Add exclusion patterns to `.piilex.yml` (e.g., `node_modules/`, `dist/`).