Mistakenly adding secrets to a git repository can lead to serious security risks by exposing confidential information, necessitating thorough removal from the git history. While simply removing the secret and committing the changes might suffice for simple cases, more complex situations require tools like git-filter-repo to perform a deep clean of the repository. If the secret has been pushed, especially in a shared repository, it requires coordinated efforts among all collaborators to excise the secret and its traces without disrupting the workflow. For situations where the secret is in the latest commit, solutions range from dropping the commit entirely to amending it for less destructive corrections. If the secret is buried deeper in the history, using git-filter-repo becomes essential for effective cleanup, which involves excising files or editing specific lines of code with search-and-replace commands. Once the repository is clean, force-pushing the revised history to the remote repository is necessary, while team members must synchronize with the updated history to ensure consistency across all local copies. This process can be complicated and error-prone, making proactive measures like using GitGuardian for automated secret detection and management a valuable strategy to prevent such incidents.