Create a custom DLP detector

Reviewed on October 2, 2026 · View on GitHub

Create a custom DLP detector to identify sensitive data specific to your organisation using regular expressions.

Custom detectors complement the predefined detectors provided by Numspot. They are referenced in rule conditions using the syntax @custom:<id>.

Permissions

info

This action requires the following DLP (Data Loss Prevention) role:

• detector_editor

Console

Console

1 / 4In the DLP console, click Detectors in the side menu.

1 / 4

1. In the DLP console, click Detectors in the sidebar.
2. Click the Custom tab to display custom detectors.
3. Click the Create custom detector button.

Detector configuration

Fill in the detector information:

Field	Example value	Description
Name	project-codename	Name of the detector
Description	Detects project code names	Description of the detector
Category	custom	Category of the detector

Adding patterns

Add one or more regular expressions to identify sensitive data:

1. Click Add pattern;
2. Enter the RE2-compatible regular expression;
3. Add tags to facilitate filtering and searching.

Pattern examples:

• PROJECT-[A-Z]{3}-\d{4}: project code names in the format PROJECT-ABC-1234;
• internal-[a-z]+-\d+: internal identifiers in the format internal-service-42.

Detector testing

Before saving the detector, test it against sample text:

1. Click Test detector;
2. Enter the sample text in the test field;
3. Click Run test to see the detected matches.

The limit is 50 patterns maximum per detector and 10 KB of sample text.

Saving

Click Save to save the custom detector. It is immediately available to be referenced in rule conditions via @custom:project-codename.

API

The POST /api/v1/detectors/custom request creates a custom detector.

Request example

{
  "name": "project-codename",
  "description": "Detects project code names",
  "category": "custom",
  "patterns": [
    "PROJECT-[A-Z]{3}-\\d{4}",
    "internal-[a-z]+-\\d+"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "internal",
    "project"
  ]
}

Response example

{
  "id": "detector-a1b2c3d4",
  "name": "project-codename",
  "type": "custom",
  "description": "Detects project code names",
  "category": "custom",
  "patterns": [
    "PROJECT-[A-Z]{3}-\\d{4}",
    "internal-[a-z]+-\\d+"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "internal",
    "project"
  ],
  "created_at": "2026-08-27T10:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-08-27T10:00:00Z"
}

Detector testing via the API

The POST /api/v1/detectors/test request tests a detector.

{
  "patterns": [
    "PROJECT-[A-Z]{3}-\\d{4}"
  ],
  "sample": "The project PROJECT-ABC-1234 is in progress"
}