Markdown URL sanitiser - Github Action

---

Search and replace any unsafe urls in your repos using the Google Safe Browsing API

Background

I started with this tweet by @seanallen where he added a URL into a YouTube video description.

The URL became compromised within the week of adding it, and his channel was flagged with strike 1.

I realised there isn't anything out there to prevent this from happening to anyone's repository.

Usage

Github Action

1. Get an API for Google Safe Browsing

2. Add the step to your workflow (required minimum):

   # You can change this to use a specific version
   - uses: markbattistella/markdown-safe-links-action@v1
     with:
   
       # scope of markdown files (required)
       directory: "."
   
       # Google Safe Browsing API (required)
       api: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_API }}
   
       # replace malicious urls text (required)
       replace: "~~UNSAFE_URL~~"
   
       # Github token (required)
       github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Configuration

Name	Value	Required	Default	Description
directory	string	Y	'.'	Scope of where to scan urls
api	string	Y	nil	Google API for scanning URLs
replace	string	Y	~~UNSAFE_URL~~	What to replace the URLs with
github_token	string	Y	${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}	Token for the repository
author_email	string		Github bot email	Email for commit
author_name	string		Github Bot	Name for commit
message	string		Sanitised URLs on DATE	Message for commit
branch	string		main	Destination branch to push changes
empty	boolean		false	Allow empty commits
force	boolean		false	Determines if force push is used

Examples

Normal use

name: Markdown URL Sanitiser
on:
  [push]
jobs:
  markdown-safe-link:
    name: markdown-safe-link
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Markdown Safe Link Sanitisation
        uses: markbattistella/markdown-safe-links-action@v1.0.0
        id: sanitise
        with:
          directory:  "."
          api: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_API }}
          replace: "~~UNSAFE_URL~~"
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Full use

name: Markdown URL Sanitiser
on:
  [push]
jobs:
  markdown-safe-link:
    name: markdown-safe-link
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Markdown Safe Link Sanitisation
        uses: markbattistella/markdown-safe-links-action@v1.0.0
        id: sanitise
        with:
          directory:  "."
          api: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_API }}
          replace: "~~UNSAFE_URL~~"
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          author_email: "my.email@domain.ltd"
          author_name: "My Name"
          message: "Sanitised message - not default"
          branch: "master" # if your branch hasn't changed to `main`
          empty: true
          force: true

On CRON schedule

This is perfect if you want it to scan on an interval if you don't commit frequently.

name: Markdown URL Sanitiser
on:
  schedule:
  - cron: "30 1 * * *"
jobs:
  markdown-safe-link:
    name: markdown-safe-link
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Markdown Safe Link Sanitisation
        uses: markbattistella/markdown-safe-links-action@v1.0.0
        id: sanitise
        with:
          directory:  "."
          api: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_API }}
          replace: "~~UNSAFE_URL~~"
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Locally

You can use the node module from Github or from npm.

Installing it for the command line:

# locally
npm i @markbattistella/markdown-safe-link

# globally
npm i @markbattistella/markdown-safe-link -g