privacyscrubber mcp

@privacyscrubber/mcp-server

CISO-Approved Zero-Trust PII & Secrets Redaction MCP Server for Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Desktop. Locally scrubs PII, secrets, credentials, and custom regex rules from files and text contexts before they reach remote LLM providers to prevent API leaks and ensure HIPAA/SOC 2 compliance at the developer endpoint.

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🔒 Zero-Trust Data Flow

All sensitive parameters, identifiers, and variables are intercepted locally inside your machine's RAM. They are replaced by tokens (e.g. [EMAIL_1]) before being sent to the AI. Once the AI responds, the tokens are safely swapped back to original values in your local context.

[Raw Input / Files] ──> [MCP sanitize_text] ──> [Masked Tokens] ──> [LLM API]
                               │                                       │
                        (In-Memory Map)                             (Result)
                               │                                       │
[Original Output] <─── [MCP reveal_text] <─────────────────────────────┘

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🚀 Installation

1. Install via Smithery

To automatically configure and run with your preferred client, install using Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @privacyscrubber/mcp-server --write-to-clients

2. Instant Run with NPX

Run the server directly without local installation:

npx -y @privacyscrubber/mcp-server

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⚙️ Client Integrations

Claude Desktop

Add this to your Claude Desktop config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "privacyscrubber": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@privacyscrubber/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PRIVACYSCRUBBER_KEY": "YOUR_OPTIONAL_PRO_LICENSE_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor / Windsurf

1. Navigate to Settings -> Features -> MCP.
2. Add new MCP server:
   • Name: privacyscrubber
   • Type: command
   • Command: npx -y @privacyscrubber/mcp-server
3. Optional: Set PRIVACYSCRUBBER_KEY as an environment variable in your system shell.

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🛠️ Provided Tools & JSON-RPC Specifications

1. sanitize_text

Redacts PII, secrets, API keys, and credentials from a text block and populates the volatile local replacement mapping.

• Arguments:
  • text (string, required): The raw content or logs to sanitize.
  • profile (string, optional): Gated industry detection profile (e.g., 'General', 'Dev', 'Medical', 'Legal', 'Compliance'). Defaults to 'General'.
• JSON-RPC Call Example:

  {
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "sanitize_text",
      "arguments": {
        "text": "Contact me at dev-key-1234 or jane.doe@company.com",
        "profile": "General"
      }
    }
  }
  

• Response Example:

  {
    "content": [
      {
        "type": "text",
        "text": "Contact me at [SECRET_1] or [EMAIL_1]"
      }
    ]
  }
  

2. reveal_text

Detokenizes the AI response back to the original values locally.

• Arguments:
  • text (string, required): The response from the LLM containing tokenized placeholders.
• JSON-RPC Call Example:

  {
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "reveal_text",
      "arguments": {
        "text": "Please reach out to [EMAIL_1] regarding the update."
      }
    }
  }
  

• Response Example:

  {
    "content": [
      {
        "type": "text",
        "text": "Please reach out to jane.doe@company.com regarding the update."
      }
    ]
  }
  

3. sanitize_file

Reads a local file, extracts text, sanitizes it, and returns the redacted template for LLM analysis.

• Supported Formats: Plain text (source code, logs, CSV, JSON, markdown) and Microsoft Word (.docx) documents.
• Arguments:
  • filePath (string, required): Absolute file path to read and sanitize.
  • profile (string, optional): The industry detection profile.

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🌐 Browser Extension & Web Client

Looking for real-time protection directly inside your web browser?

• Chrome Extension: Get the PrivacyScrubber Chrome Extension to sanitize prompts directly inside ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini in real-time.
• Web Sandbox: Use the zero-server browser sanitization tools at PrivacyScrubber Homepage.

📄 License & Commercial Upgrade

By default, the server runs under the Free Tier (restricted to 50,000 characters per request and the basic General PII profile). To unlock advanced engineering, medical, legal, and financial PII profiles, as well as team-wide custom rules, you can purchase a commercial license.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Free Tier	PRO Tier	TEAMS Tier
Volatile Tokenization	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Standard PII Masking	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Max Character Length	50,000 chars	♾️ Unlimited	♾️ Unlimited
Industry Profiles	General Only	22+ Profiles	22+ Profiles
Custom Regex Rules	❌ Locked	♾️ Unlimited	♾️ Unlimited
Team Rules Sync (GPO)	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Yes (Shared Link)
Licensing Cost	$0	$110 Lifetime	$99/mo Flat Rate

👉 Acquire a PRO / TEAMS License Key at privacyscrubber.com/pricing

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4. check_status

Returns a visual dashboard showing your current tier, session request count, active profiles, and upgrade instructions. Use it at any time to check your license status or get setup help.

• Arguments: (none required)
• JSON-RPC Call Example:

  {
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": { "name": "check_status", "arguments": {} }
  }
  

• Response Example (Free Tier):

  ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
  ║       PrivacyScrubber MCP Server v1.6.6          ║
  ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
  ║  🔓 Tier: FREE                                   ║
  ║  📊 Session requests: 5                          ║
  ║  📁 Input size limit: 50,000 characters per request║
  ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
  ║  🏷️  Profiles: General only — PRO unlocks 22 more  ║
  ║  📋 Custom rules: 🔒 Locked — requires PRO       ║
  ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
  ║  💳 Upgrade to PRO — $110 Lifetime               ║
  ║     https://privacyscrubber.com/pricing?utm_source=npm&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=mcp_server          ║
  ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
  ║  After purchase, add your key to MCP config:     ║
  ║  "PRIVACYSCRUBBER_KEY": "<your-key-here>"        ║
  ║  Full setup guide:                               ║
  ║  https://privacyscrubber.com/features/mcp/?utm_source=npm&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=mcp_server       ║
  ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
  

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🔐 After Purchase: Activate PRO in Your MCP Client

After purchasing a PRO license at privacyscrubber.com/pricing, you will receive a license key. Add it to your MCP client config as an environment variable: PRIVACYSCRUBBER_KEY.

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "privacyscrubber": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@privacyscrubber/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PRIVACYSCRUBBER_KEY": "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

Cursor

1. Go to Settings → Features → MCP Servers.
2. Find privacyscrubber and click Edit.
3. Add the environment variable: PRIVACYSCRUBBER_KEY=YOUR_LICENSE_KEY_HERE.
4. Restart Cursor.

Alternatively, export it system-wide so all tools pick it up:

# macOS / Linux — add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
export PRIVACYSCRUBBER_KEY="YOUR_LICENSE_KEY_HERE"

Windsurf

Edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "privacyscrubber": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@privacyscrubber/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PRIVACYSCRUBBER_KEY": "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify Activation

After adding the key, ask your AI agent to call check_status:

Use the check_status tool from PrivacyScrubber MCP

The dashboard should show Tier: PRO and all profiles unlocked.

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📚 Academic Foundations & Regulatory Verification

PrivacyScrubber and the Zero-Trust Data Sanitization (ZTDS) protocol are backed by published scientific, clinical, and legal treatises:

Repository / Archive	DOI / Identifier	Focus Area	Regulatory & Compliance Scope
Zenodo / CERN	10.5281/zenodo.22058770	Zero-Trust Data Sanitization (ZTDS) Protocol Foundation	Cross-Border AI Privacy, ISO 27001 A.8.11
OSF (Center for Open Science)	10.17605/OSF.IO/5BYJF	Empirical Latency Benchmark & Memory Profiling (<2ms RAM)	Performance vs Cloud DLP Proxies
SSRN / Elsevier	SSRN ID: 7335581	Enterprise Generative AI Governance	EU AI Act, UK GDPR, US State Privacy
medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor)	MEDRXIV/2026/361661	Multi-Center Clinical Trial De-Identification	HIPAA Safe Harbor Section 164.514(b)
Law Archive / OSF	LawArchive ID: 4wc86	Preserving Attorney-Client Privilege in AI Workflows	ABA Model Rules & Legal Ethics

Citing PrivacyScrubber in Research & Audits

@software{sibiryakov2026privacyscrubber,
  author = {Sibiryakov, Ilya},
  title = {PrivacyScrubber: Zero-Trust Data Sanitization (ZTDS) Engine & MCP Server},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.22058770},
  url = {https://github.com/moxno/privacyscrubber-mcp}
}

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📄 License

MIT © Ilya Sibiryakov (BrandMeWeb)