Getting Started

Setting Up the API Key

jev-pii-checker requires a TypeSafe API key to use the Jev model.

1. Obtain Your API Key

Sign up at TypeSafe and generate an API key from your account dashboard.

2. Set the Environment Variable

jev-pii-checker looks for TYPESAFE_API_KEY in your environment. Set it before running the CLI:

export TYPESAFE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
jev-pii-checker file.txt

If Your Key File Has No export

Some credential files are stored as bare values without export. Use set -a to source them:

set -a
source ~/.config/chata/typesafe.env
set +a
jev-pii-checker file.txt

The set -a flag causes all variable assignments to be exported; set +a turns it off.

Your First Scan

Scan from stdin

echo "My name is Alice and my phone is 555-0123." | jev-pii-checker

Output (human-readable by default):

=== stdin ===
Sensitivity: LOW
Categories: person_name, email_or_phone
Findings: 2
Tokens: 512

Detected:
  person_name:
    • Al…e (11:16)
  phone:
    • 55…3 (37:46)

Scan files

jev-pii-checker report.txt data.csv --json

Read the Table

The human-readable output shows:

• Sensitivity: Overall risk level (none, low, or high)
• Categories: Which PII types were detected
• Findings: Count of detected items (excluding high-noise patterns like server IPs)
• Tokens: How many input tokens were consumed
• Detected: List of found items, grouped by type, with character spans (start:end)

Values are masked as first2…last1 by default. See the CLI Reference for output options.

View Raw Values

jev-pii-checker report.txt --show-values

Be careful: raw values will appear in the output.

Output as JSON

jev-pii-checker report.txt --json

The JSON includes:

• sensitivity: Overall sensitivity level and scores
• categories: Probability for each PII category
• findings: Array of detected items with type, value (masked), start/end offsets, and Jev probability
• chunks: How many text chunks were processed
• usage: Token count and request count

See CLI Reference for the complete JSON schema.

Exit Codes

jev-pii-checker uses exit codes for shell integration:

• 0: No findings, or only low-severity findings (depending on --fail-on)
• 1: An error occurred (missing API key, file not found, etc.)
• 2: Severity reached the --fail-on threshold (high-sensitivity PII found)

Example:

jev-pii-checker sensitive.txt --fail-on high
if [ $? -eq 2 ]; then
  echo "High-sensitivity PII detected!"
fi

Next Steps

• Install for npm, bunx, or source builds
• CLI Reference for all flags and options
• How It Works to understand the detection layers
• Categories & Sensitivity for definitions of PII types