# Burn the Secret

> Free temporary sharing of encrypted text and files, with configurable expiry and view limits.

All crawlers and scrapers are welcome. Public documentation requires no JavaScript, account, or API key. Markdown mirrors are generated from the public HTML at build time.

New secrets last at most 90 days. Existing secrets retain their saved expiry dates. Unlimited views apply only until expiry. Access stops immediately at expiry; hourly cleanup removes expired secrets and attachments from the active database, normally within one hour.

The browser and CLI encrypt locally with AES-256-GCM; the decryption key stays in the URL fragment. The API also accepts plaintext, which is encrypted server-side and is not a zero-knowledge path. API authentication is optional. Payloads support 2 MB of combined text and files, with a 4 MB encoded JSON request cap and a maximum of 20 files.

GET /api/secrets/:key reads status. POST retrieves content and consumes a view. Deletion and burn actions are destructive; perform them only when requested by the user. This index never publishes private secret URLs, receipts, or account data.

## Start here

- [Agent resources](https://burnthesecret.com/agents.md): How to read and use the site.
- [API reference and CLI](https://burnthesecret.com/api-docs.md): Endpoints, authentication, limits, and examples.
- [Documentation](https://burnthesecret.com/docs.md): Product and API documentation.

## Product

- [Burn the Secret](https://burnthesecret.com/index.md)
- [Pricing](https://burnthesecret.com/pricing.md)
- [About](https://burnthesecret.com/about.md)
- [Contact and abuse reporting](https://burnthesecret.com/contact.md)
- [Brand assets](https://burnthesecret.com/brand.md)

## Guides

- [Security guides](https://burnthesecret.com/guides.md)
- [How to share passwords securely](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/share-passwords-securely.md)
- [One-time links explained](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/one-time-links-explained.md)
- [Self-destructing messages](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/self-destructing-messages.md)
- [Password sharing for remote teams](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/password-sharing-remote-teams.md)
- [Secure credential sharing for MSPs](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/secure-credential-sharing-msp.md)
- [Share passwords with coworkers](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/share-passwords-with-coworkers.md)
- [Send credentials to clients](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/sending-credentials-to-clients.md)
- [One-time link security](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/one-time-link-security.md)
- [Email versus secure links](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/email-vs-secure-links.md)
- [Enterprise password sharing](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/enterprise-password-sharing.md)
- [Share a Wi-Fi password securely](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/share-wifi-password-securely.md)
- [Send an SSH key securely](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/send-ssh-key-securely.md)
- [Share database credentials](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/share-database-credentials.md)
- [Send API keys to clients](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/send-api-keys-to-clients.md)
- [One-Time Secret alternative](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/onetimesecret-alternative.md)
- [PrivateBin alternative](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/privatebin-alternative.md)
- [Share a password over Slack](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/share-password-over-slack.md)
- [Share a password over email safely](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/share-password-over-email-safely.md)
- [Send secrets to a new employee](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/send-secrets-to-new-employee.md)
- [Share recovery and 2FA backup codes](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/share-recovery-codes-2fa-backup.md)
- [Privacy-conscious password sharing and GDPR](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/gdpr-compliant-password-sharing.md)
- [How to send a password securely](https://burnthesecret.com/guides/how-to-send-a-password-securely.md)

## Policies

- [Privacy policy](https://burnthesecret.com/privacy.md)
- [Terms of service](https://burnthesecret.com/terms.md)

## Optional

- [All public content](https://burnthesecret.com/llms-full.txt): Complete Markdown bundle; larger than this index.
- [Page inventory](https://burnthesecret.com/agents.json): Structured HTML and Markdown URL pairs.
- [Agent sitemap](https://burnthesecret.com/sitemap-agents.xml): Machine-readable resources.
- [Website sitemap](https://burnthesecret.com/sitemap.xml): Public HTML pages.
- [Crawler policy](https://burnthesecret.com/robots.txt): Allow all user agents.