Override client inspect

README.md

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Other versions, such as Ruby 1.9, Ruby 2.x, and JRuby, are compatible with [lega
 
 ### Bundler
 ```ruby
-gem 'serpapi', '~> 1.0', '>= 1.0.1'
+gem 'serpapi', '~> 1.0', '>= 1.0.2'
 ```
 
 ### Gem 
@@ -1085,6 +1085,7 @@ Ruby versions validated by Github Actions:
  * doc: [Github Actions.](https://github.com/serpapi/serpapi-ruby/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
 
 ## Change logs
+ * [2025-11-17] 1.0.2 Implement `to_s` and `inspect` functions for client
  * [2025-07-18] 1.0.1 Add support for old Ruby versions (2.7, 3.0)
  * [2025-07-01] 1.0.0 Full API support
 

README.md.erb

@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Other versions, such as Ruby 1.9, Ruby 2.x, and JRuby, are compatible with [lega
 
 ### Bundler
 ```ruby
-gem 'serpapi', '~> 1.0', '>= 1.0.1'
+gem 'serpapi', '~> 1.0', '>= 1.0.2'
 ```
 
 ### Gem 
@@ -566,6 +566,7 @@ Ruby versions validated by Github Actions:
  * doc: [Github Actions.](https://github.com/serpapi/serpapi-ruby/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
 
 ## Change logs
+ * [2025-11-17] 1.0.2 Implement `to_s` and `inspect` functions for client
  * [2025-07-18] 1.0.1 Add support for old Ruby versions (2.7, 3.0)
  * [2025-07-01] 1.0.0 Full API support
 

lib/serpapi/client.rb

@@ -181,6 +181,11 @@ def close
       @socket.close if @socket
     end
 
+    def inspect
+      masked_key = api_key && (api_key.length > 8 ? "#{api_key[..3]}****#{api_key[-4..]}" : '****')
+      "#<#{self.class} @engine=#{engine} @timeout=#{timeout} @persistent=#{persistent} api_key=#{masked_key}>"
+    end
+
     private
 
     # @param [Hash] params to merge with default parameters provided to the constructor.

lib/serpapi/version.rb

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 module SerpApi
   # Current version of the gem
-  VERSION = '1.0.1'.freeze
+  VERSION = '1.0.2'.freeze
 end

spec/serpapi/client/client_spec.rb

@@ -95,6 +95,18 @@
       raise("wrong exception: #{e}")
     end
   end
+
+  it 'should not expose api_key via inspect' do
+    inspect_str = client.inspect
+    expect(inspect_str).to_not include(ENV['SERPAPI_KEY'])
+  end
+
+  it 'should gracefully handle api_key values shorter than 8 characters' do
+    short_key_client = SerpApi::Client.new(engine: 'google', api_key: 'abcdef', timeout: 10)
+    inspect_str = short_key_client.inspect
+    expect(inspect_str).to_not include('abcdef')
+
+  end
 end
 
 describe 'SerpApi client with persitency enable' do
@@ -136,4 +148,4 @@
     expect(client.socket).to be_nil
     expect(client.close).to be_nil
   end
-end
+end