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Making an Anonymous Version of Your Code for Review

How to share code with reviewers without revealing who you are, using anonymous.4open.science or a stripped copy of the repo.

bash

Option 1: Use Anonymous GitHub

Go to anonymous.4open.science and sign in with GitHub. Then:

  • Paste the URL of your GitHub repo and choose the branch.
  • List the terms to hide → your names, usernames, lab and university.
  • Set an expiry date → after the review period ends.

It gives you an anonymous link that mirrors the repo, with those terms replaced. Put that link in the paper.

Note: The tool only replaces the terms you list. Check the anonymous link yourself before submitting.

Option 2: Make a Stripped Copy

To share the code without its git history, export the current files into a new folder:

git archive --format=tar HEAD | (mkdir -p ../repo-anon && tar -x -C ../repo-anon)
cd ../repo-anon
  • git archive HEAD → Exports the files at the latest commit, without .git.
  • tar -x -C ../repo-anon → Unpacks them into a new folder.

Search for Anything That Identifies You

grep -rniE "your-name|your-username|your-lab|your-university" .

Remove or replace every match, including in README, LICENSE, comments, paths, config files and notebook outputs.

Upload the Stripped Copy

Create a new repo or zip from the stripped folder, under an account or host that doesn’t show your name.

Note: Also check the metadata. Notebook outputs, absolute paths like /home/your-name/ and Weights & Biases or Hugging Face links can all reveal who you are.

This setup lets reviewers run your code while keeping the submission anonymous!