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inclusion: auto
description: Security best practices including mandatory checks, secret management, and security response protocol.
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# Security Guidelines

## Mandatory Security Checks

Before ANY commit:
- [ ] No hardcoded secrets (API keys, passwords, tokens)
- [ ] All user inputs validated
- [ ] SQL injection prevention (parameterized queries)
- [ ] XSS prevention (sanitized HTML)
- [ ] CSRF protection enabled
- [ ] Authentication/authorization verified
- [ ] Rate limiting on all endpoints
- [ ] Error messages don't leak sensitive data

## Secret Management

- NEVER hardcode secrets in source code
- ALWAYS use environment variables or a secret manager
- Validate that required secrets are present at startup
- Rotate any secrets that may have been exposed

## Security Response Protocol

If security issue found:
1. STOP immediately
2. Use **security-reviewer** agent
3. Fix CRITICAL issues before continuing
4. Rotate any exposed secrets
5. Review entire codebase for similar issues
