> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.civic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Redact & Mask

> Automatically strip PII and sensitive data from tool responses before they reach the AI

Response redaction intercepts tool outputs and removes or masks sensitive data before it reaches the AI — and before it can appear in a conversation, log, or downstream system.

## Built-in PII detection

Every Civic account includes automatic PII detection on all tool responses. The following types are detected and can be redacted:

| PII type                 | Examples              |
| ------------------------ | --------------------- |
| Social Security Numbers  | `123-45-6789`         |
| Credit card numbers      | `4111 1111 1111 1111` |
| Email addresses          | `user@example.com`    |
| Phone numbers            | International formats |
| IP addresses             | IPv4 and IPv6         |
| Passport numbers         |                       |
| Driver's license numbers |                       |
| Bank account numbers     | IBAN format           |
| Dates of birth           |                       |

Detection is on by default. To enable automatic redaction (replacing detected values with `[REDACTED]`):

> "Enable PII redaction for all responses on my Gmail server"

## Remove specific fields

Strip named fields from every response a server returns — useful for internal metadata the AI doesn't need to see.

**Example** — remove internal IDs and audit fields from Salesforce responses:

> "Remove the `internal_id`, `created_by_id`, and `last_modified_by_id` fields from all Salesforce responses"

```json theme={null}
{ "remove_fields": ["internal_id", "created_by_id", "last_modified_by_id"] }
```

## Redact Prompt Injection from Responses

Removes prompt injection patterns from tool responses before they reach the AI. This guardrail targets injection payloads that may be embedded in external data — a malicious instruction inside an email, document, or database record that could hijack the agent's behavior.

> "Enable prompt injection redaction on my Gmail server"

This complements [Block Prompt Injection in Requests](/civic/concepts/guardrails/request) — that guardrail blocks injections going out; this one removes them from data coming in.

***

## Redact by pattern

Block any response value matching a regex pattern.

**Example** — mask API keys that leaked into a tool response:

```json theme={null}
{ "redact_pattern": "sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{32,}" }
```

## What redaction looks like

The AI sees `[REDACTED]` in place of the matched value. The original data is never stored in the conversation or passed further downstream.

```
Original:  { "email": "alice@example.com", "phone": "+1-555-867-5309" }
Redacted:  { "email": "[REDACTED]", "phone": "[REDACTED]" }
```

## Why this matters

The AI can only expose what it can see. If a tool response contains a customer's SSN and PII redaction is active, the AI cannot quote it, summarize it, or write it to another system — because it never received it.

This is especially important for:

* Email and calendar servers that surface contact data
* CRM tools (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive) with customer PII
* Database queries that may return unexpected sensitive fields
* Support tools (Intercom, Zendesk) with end-user data

## How to configure

Ask the Configurator Agent:

> "Enable email address redaction on my HubSpot server"

> "Remove the `ssn` and `date_of_birth` fields from all Salesforce contact responses"

Or configure via the Civic UI: open your toolkit → select the MCP server → Guardrails → Response → Add Redaction Rule.