shadowMyName.nvim

Redact sensitive words — hide your username, tokens, phone numbers and more when you screenshot or record.

shadowMyName.nvim renders any text you specify (your system username by default) as a solid color block (foreground == background, so the text becomes unreadable). That way your private information stays hidden when you share screenshots, record your screen, or stream.

✨ Features

• 🙈 Redacts your system username ($USER / $USERNAME) out of the box
• 🎨 Fully customizable shadow block color (foreground, background, bold, etc.)
• 🔤 Supports custom literal words (words) and Vim regex patterns (patterns)
• 🧩 Username and custom words can be toggled independently
• 🪟 Correct multi-window handling — refreshes on window switch and text change
• 🚫 Filetype exclusion (popups, file trees, etc. are not redacted)
• 🔁 Commands and Lua API: enable / disable / toggle / refresh on demand

⚙️ Installation

lazy.nvim

{
  "cxwx/shadowMyName.nvim",
  lazy = false,
  opts = {}, -- use defaults, or customize below
}

For local development you can replace the repo URL with dir = vim.fn.expand("~/software/nvim/shadowMyName.nvim").

packer.nvim

use {
  "cxwx/shadowMyName.nvim",
  config = function()
    require("shadowMyName").setup({})
  end,
}

🚀 Usage

Call setup after install — by default it already redacts your username:

require("shadowMyName").setup({})

Redaction is live: typing, switching windows, and opening files all refresh automatically. Toggle it on the fly with commands:

Command	Description
:ShadowMyNameEnable	Turn redaction on
:ShadowMyNameDisable	Turn redaction off (clears all blocks)
:ShadowMyNameToggle	Toggle redaction
:ShadowMyNameRefresh	Manually refresh all windows

Equivalent Lua API:

require("shadowMyName").enable()   -- on
require("shadowMyName").disable()  -- off
require("shadowMyName").toggle()   -- flip
require("shadowMyName").refresh()  -- refresh

📖 Configuration

All options with their defaults:

require("shadowMyName").setup({
  -- Master switch: whether redaction is active
  -- (when off, commands/API can still turn it back on)
  enabled = true,

  -- Username redaction
  username = {
    enabled = true, -- whether to redact the username
    name = nil,     -- custom username; nil => $USER / $USERNAME
  },

  -- Extra literal words to redact
  words = { "secret", "token" },

  -- Extra Vim regex patterns (used as-is; add \c / \C for case sensitivity)
  patterns = { "\\d{3}-\\d{4}", "\\d{16}" },

  -- Match whole words only (wraps with \\< \\>) to avoid over-matching substrings
  whole_word = true,

  -- Whether matching is case sensitive
  case_sensitive = false,

  -- Filetypes where redaction is skipped (popups, file trees, ...)
  filetypes = { "TelescopePrompt", "NvimTree" },

  -- Style of the shadow block.
  -- fg == bg makes the text fully unreadable (default);
  -- set fg != bg to "censor" while still revealing the length.
  highlight = {
    fg = "#00ff00",
    bg = "#00ff00",
    bold = true,
    -- also supported: italic, underline, undercurl, reverse, ...
  },
})

Examples

Custom shadow color (black block):

require("shadowMyName").setup({
  highlight = { fg = "#000000", bg = "#000000" },
})

Redact only custom words, not the username:

require("shadowMyName").setup({
  username = { enabled = false },
  words = { "my-real-name", "13800000000" },
})

Redact phone / card numbers with regex:

require("shadowMyName").setup({
  patterns = {
    "1[3-9]\\d\\d \\?\\d{4} \\?\\d{4}", -- phone number
    "\\d{4} \\d{4} \\d{4} \\d{4}",       -- 16-digit card number
  },
})

Minimal config (username only):

require("shadowMyName").setup({})

📝 Notes

• Redaction is purely visual (it uses matchadd); no file content is ever modified.
• By default the foreground equals the background (fg == bg), so matched text becomes a solid, unreadable color block.
• With whole_word = true, the username and words match whole words; regex patterns are used as-is.

License

MIT