# Enabling validity checks for your repository
Enabling validity checks on your repository helps you prioritize the remediation of alerts as it tells you if a secret is active or inactive.
You can enable validity checks for individual repositories through repository settings. Validity checks verify whether detected secrets are still active, helping you prioritize remediation efforts. For information about what validity checks are and how they work, see [Validity checks](/en/code-security/concepts/secret-security/about-validity-checks).
For a list of which secret patterns support validity checks, see [Supported secret scanning patterns](/en/code-security/secret-scanning/introduction/supported-secret-scanning-patterns).
## Enabling validity checks
To enable validity checks from the UI:
1. On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.
2. Under your repository name, click ** Settings**. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the **** dropdown menu, then click **Settings**.
3. In the "Security" section of the sidebar, click ** Advanced Security**.
4. Under "Secret Protection", to the right of "Validity checks", click **Enable**.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click **Save changes**.
> \[!NOTE]
> You can also use the REST API to enable validity checks for partner patterns for your repository. For more information, see [REST API endpoints for repositories](/en/rest/repos/repos#update-a-repository).
Alternatively, organization owners and enterprise administrators can enable the feature for all repositories in the organization or enterprise. For more information, see [Creating a custom security configuration](/en/code-security/securing-your-organization/enabling-security-features-in-your-organization/creating-a-custom-security-configuration) and [Creating a custom security configuration for your enterprise](/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/admin/managing-code-security/securing-your-enterprise/creating-a-custom-security-configuration-for-your-enterprise).
## Further reading
* [Manage secret scanning alerts](/en/code-security/secret-scanning/managing-alerts-from-secret-scanning)