Permi

The security signal filter for African fintech engineering teams

What is Permi?

Most security scanners produce hundreds of findings. Most are noise. Developers learn to ignore them — and that is when the real vulnerabilities get missed.

Permi fixes this. It scans your codebase for vulnerabilities, then uses an AI filter to confirm which findings are real before you see them. Your team spends time fixing actual problems instead of chasing false alarms.

Permi also includes rules built specifically for the African development context — USSD gateway vulnerabilities, Paystack and Flutterwave credential exposure, and patterns relevant to Nigeria Data Protection Act compliance. No foreign scanner prioritises this. Permi does.

Built from Jos, Nigeria. For African fintech engineering teams. Then for the world.

Quick Start

pip install permi
permi setup --community    # 50 free AI filter credits — no card needed
permi scan ./myapp

⚠️ Windows Users — If Permi Freezes on First Run

Some Windows machines freeze immediately when running permi — even before the banner appears. This is caused by Windows Defender or corporate antivirus scanning Python processes in real time.

Fix — add Permi to your antivirus exclusions:

1. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings
2. Scroll to Exclusions → Add an exclusion → Folder
3. Add these two folders:
   • C:\Users\<yourname>\.permi
   • C:\Users\<yourname>\Permi\venv (or wherever your venv lives)
4. Open a new terminal and run permi again

If you are on a corporate machine or university network, your IT department may have group policies that block Python subprocess calls. Run Permi from Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) instead:

wsl
pip install permi
permi scan ./myapp

Installation

pip install permi

Requires Python 3.9+. Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Usage

Scan a local codebase

permi scan ./myapp

Scan a GitHub repository

permi scan https://github.com/username/repo

High severity findings only

permi scan ./myapp --severity high

Export results to a file

permi scan ./myapp --export results.md
permi scan ./myapp --export results.json
permi scan ./myapp --export results.txt
permi scan ./myapp --export report.docx

If you give a bare filename (no folder), Permi saves it under ~/.permi/exports/ and prints that location so it's never a mystery where the file went. Give an absolute or relative path with a folder (./reports/results.md) to save it exactly there instead.

.docx exports are a curated summary — one example finding per category, meant for a compliance/sales handoff — so a full .md report with every finding is written alongside it automatically for technical review.

Show all raw findings (skip AI filter)

permi scan ./myapp --offline

JSON output (for CI/CD pipelines)

permi scan ./myapp --output json

Setting Up AI Filtering

The AI filter is what separates confirmed vulnerabilities from noise. Without it, Permi shows all raw findings. With it, each finding is reviewed before you see it.

Option 1 — Free community credits (recommended for new users)

permi setup --community

50 free AI filter calls. No credit card. Starts immediately. The community proxy may take up to 60 seconds to wake on first use — it retries automatically.

Option 2 — Your own OpenRouter API key (unlimited)

permi setup --api-key YOUR_KEY

Get a free key at openrouter.ai.

GitHub Action — Scan Every Pull Request

Add Permi to your CI/CD pipeline. Every pull request is automatically scanned, findings are posted as PR comments, and merges are blocked if high severity issues are found.

# .github/workflows/security.yml
name: Security Scan

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main, develop]

jobs:
  permi-scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      pull-requests: write

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: Peternasarah/permi-action@v1
        with:
          severity: high
          openrouter_api_key: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}

What happens on every PR:

• Permi scans the changed code
• AI filter removes false positives
• Findings posted as a PR comment
• Merge blocked if high severity issues found
• Free forever

→ View Permi GitHub Action on the Marketplace

How It Works

┌─────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐
│    Scanner  │───▶│  AI Filter   │───▶│   Results    │
│ SQL · XSS   │    │ Confirms or  │    │ Only real    │
│ Secrets · + │    │ dismisses    │    │ findings     │
└─────────────┘    │ each finding │    └──────────────┘
                    └──────────────┘

AI filter:

• Reviews each finding individually before it reaches you
• CSP-aware: correctly dismisses reflected XSS when a Content-Security-Policy blocks execution
• Caches results so repeated scans do not consume extra credits
• Three-tier verdict: REAL / REVIEW / FP with confidence score 0-100
• Community proxy for users without their own API key

What Permi Detects

Source code scanning

Nigerian and African-Specific Rules

Permi includes rules built for the African development context that no global tool will ever prioritise:

• USSD gateway vulnerabilities — unvalidated sessionId, phoneNumber, serviceCode
• Paystack and Flutterwave key exposure — detects Nigerian payment gateway live secrets
• BVN and NIN pattern detection — NDPA-sensitive personal data in code
• NDPA-relevant patterns — helps with Nigeria Data Protection Act compliance

Example Output

[Permi] Target   : ./myapp
[Permi] Engine found 7 raw finding(s)
[Permi] Running AI filter on 7 finding(s)...

════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  FILTER SUMMARY
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  Raw findings     : 7
  Confirmed real   : 4
  False positives  : 3 removed
  Noise reduced by : 43%  [████████░░░░░░░░░░░░]
  Avg confidence   : 89%

  Severity breakdown:
    ● High   : 2
    ● Medium : 2

  Top issues to fix:
    • 2× SQL Injection — string concatenation
    • 1× Hardcoded secret — generic password
    • 1× Insecure — SSL/TLS verification disabled
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

  [1] [HIGH] SQL001  SQL Injection — string concatenation
  File      : app/routes/users.py:42
  Fix       : Use parameterised queries: cursor.execute("SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = ?", (name,))
  AI        : REAL [94% confidence]  User input is concatenated directly into the query string.

  Scan completed in 4s

CLI Reference

permi scan PATH                  Scan local codebase or GitHub repo
  --severity LEVEL               critical | high | medium | low | all (default: all)
  --offline                      Skip AI filter, show raw findings
  --output FORMAT                human (default) | json
  --export FILE                  Export full report (.txt, .json, .md, .docx)
  --project NAME                 Project name for the database

permi setup --community          Register for 50 free AI filter credits
permi setup --api-key KEY        Use your own OpenRouter API key (unlimited)
permi info                       Show config and credit status
permi feedback                   Share feedback with the Permi team

CI/CD Integration

Permi exits with code 1 if any HIGH severity findings are confirmed after filtering. Use this in any pipeline:

# GitHub Actions — inline (without the Marketplace Action)
- name: Run Permi security scan
  run: |
    pip install permi
    permi setup --api-key ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
    permi scan . --severity high --output json --export permi-report.json

# Fail the build on high severity findings
permi scan ./myapp --severity high || exit 1

Changelog

v0.3.1 — Codebase-only focus

• REMOVED: Live URL/web scanning (--url, --js, --js-timeout, --include-subdomains, --max-pages). Permi now focuses exclusively on source code scanning, which is where the AI filter, fix templates, and compliance mapping add the most value. --path is also gone — pass the path positionally: permi scan ./myapp instead of permi scan --path ./myapp.
• CHANGED: .docx exports now automatically write a matching .md alongside them with the full findings list, for technical review.
• CHANGED: Exporting without a folder in the filename now prints an explicit notice that the report is being saved to the default ~/.permi/exports/ location.
• CHANGED: The feedback prompt no longer shows after every scan — it appears at most once every 10-15 scans.
• REMOVED: permi[js] extra (Playwright/playwright-stealth) and the httpx/beautifulsoup4 dependencies.

v0.2.17 — Precision improvements

• FIX: Windows Defender freeze — DB path now resolves lazily, not at import time
• FIX: XSS false positives — proper HTML entity encoding check before flagging
• FIX: Boolean SQLi false positives — both responses must exceed 2000 bytes
• FIX: Time-based SQLi — requires minimum 8s hard threshold, not just baseline + 4s
• FIX: Tracking parameters (utm_, ref_, locale) now fully skipped in all scanners
• NEW: Progress indicator during web scan — scan never looks frozen
• NEW: pip install "permi[js]" installs Playwright dependencies automatically
• NEW: permi info shows playwright-stealth installation status

v0.2.13 — JS/SPA Support + GitHub Action

• NEW: --js flag for JavaScript-rendered applications (React, Vue, Angular, Next.js)
• NEW: Playwright headless browser integration with stealth mode
• NEW: Network interception — discovers XHR/fetch API endpoints automatically
• NEW: SPA detection warning with exact re-run command shown to user
• NEW: Permi GitHub Action
• NEW: Windows antivirus freeze detection and guidance
• NEW: Scan timer — total duration shown at end of every scan

v0.2.2 — AI Filter + Community Proxy

• Precision filter with three-tier verdict: REAL / REVIEW / FP with 0–100 confidence score
• Community proxy — 50 free credits with permi setup --community
• OpenRouter API key support
• Inline fix templates — exact remediation per finding
• --export flag — save full reports as .txt, .json, or .md
• --include-subdomains flag
• Feedback system — permi feedback

v0.1 — Foundation

• CLI scanner (web + static analysis)
• PyPI distribution (pip install permi)
• 17 detection rules across SQL, XSS, secrets, USSD, insecure practices
• SQLite database at ~/.permi/permi.db

Contributing

Pull requests welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss significant changes.

If you find a vulnerability in a real application using Permi, please report it responsibly to the affected organisation before disclosing publicly. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide, including how to write new vulnerability rules.

Author

Nasarah Peter Dashe Founder · Cybersecurity Student @ University of Jos, Nigeria github.com/Peternasarah/permi · @peternasarah

Links

• Website: peternasarah.github.io/permi
• PyPI: pypi.org/project/permi
• GitHub Action: github.com/marketplace/actions/permi-security-scanner
• Issues: github.com/Peternasarah/permi/issues
• Security: SECURITY.md
• License: LICENSE

License

PERMI COMMUNITY LICENSE — see LICENSE for details.

Built in Nigeria. For Nigeria. Then for the World.