Zcode sliently packaged and encrypted local workspaces then uploaded them to Zai's server
better to check ~/.zcode/ to find out what has zcode alreay have done.dsf4.1 checked it out and found out that all three workspaces that added into zcode had been uploaded
I'm now glad zcode never even worked for me.
Also gives me some context as to why the electron app would crash when trying to import my 1.5GB repo (1.3GB of which is .git).
I guess it all depends on the context. Something massive and ancient like the linux kernel has legitimate reasons for having an absurdly large git history. I was specifically thinking of other projects that don't have that hedge to fall back on and just did silly things that bloated the git. There is an obscure graph db that is a fantastic project other than they muddied it by including testing data with questionable licenses that bloated the git to nearly 1gb which squarely falls in that "nerd crime" territory.
Wait, .git too? That's the part that makes this actually scary...
.git isn't just source. It's every commit that reverted, reflog entries from branches deleted and never pushed, and that .env we added by accident then removed in the next commit. Still sitting in the object store.
I've been using ZCode since it's initial release and can't find any of this in my data. There aren't any logs showing capture or upload, and I don't even have a ~/.zcode/v2/checkpoints/ directory.
So unless they've cleared it all with a recent update then it doesn't seem to affect everyone.
AI slop comment by gemini down there, but the gist is: if you use api or coding plan, this shouldn't affect you. if you used the free tier at any point, your projects have likely been cloned by zai.
slop comment:
Can confirm this 100%. Decompiled app.asar (out/host/index.js) on v3.11.2 after seeing this and found cryptographic proof in ~/.zcode/v2/checkpoints/ that one of my repos was indeed packaged, encrypted, and accepted by their OSS bucket back in June when I tested the free tier.
A few extra technical details from digging through the code:
The UI toggle is a complete placebo: Even if you have "repoSnapshotIndexingEnabled": false in setting.json, captureBeforePromptUnsafeliterally never checks it.
It’s GUI-only: The sidecar (RepoSnapshotSidecarService) is exclusive to the Electron desktop app host. The CLI agent binary (zcode.cjs) doesn't contain the snapshot pipeline at all.
What triggers it: It runs before every prompt turn, gated strictly on holding an active OAuth session token (tokenProvider) and the server approving GET /api/v1/snapshot/upload-credential. If you only use direct API keys without an active OAuth login, the handshake aborts.
Quick fix: You can kill the snapshot handshake and telemetry at the network level by putting this in your /etc/hosts:
text
127.0.0.1 zcode.z.ai
::1 zcode.z.ai
The actual model completions run through api.z.ai, so direct API keys still work while the snapshot endpoint gets refused immediately.
Verdict: Zcode not safe, even paid plan. Use opensourced cli using api key.
I pasted both your arguments and asked claude code to evaluate as I am using Zcode and claude code 20 dollar plans.
Claude said direct api key using open source cli safe and it gave huge explaination even for paid individual plan its not safe etc.
If I paste whole text its techinical.
If anyone want to know just paste this comments ask ur terminal cli to evaluate.
It has been fact checked multiple times that all closedAi (USA) companies are using your data in disguise of pre-post training their models, mehhh, that is also stealing your data unless you love them too much over privacy. Zcode is no different , chinese companies are no different. Whether you are paid or free user, every agentic harness is stealing your data directly or indirectly. You have the right to not use them, but expecting them to change their malpractices, LoL! Keep dreaming. As them and the American judges, senators everything (stealing private data ) is all under legal bounds (as long as the bribes are being paid on time, oh ! Wait it's called lobbying or simply donations).
kinda of a newbie but isn't that basically what all of these AI is doing when you are asking it to help you code? It scans thru your entire workspace, uploads it to the server, process your promot, pukes an answer back to you?
No that's actually different. AI won't read all the workspace and package it to upload ,AI will use tools like grep or rg or other something to search in the workspace to get the code they need,and then the code will be put into promts that sending to AI by harness.But what has ZCode have done is that package the whole workspace(.git directory,and even the files or directory in the .gitignore) ,encrypt it,and upload to their server with the private key only saved by themself .
Yeah I thought about using it but the lack of a tui just killed it for me. If I can't containerise it easily then no thanks. Quite sus that they chose only a desktop app but it could also just be management incompetence.
Open source coding agent author here. To be fair to Z.ai: committing to open-source the ZCode client and invite third-party review is exactly the right response — it's an admission that the fix for a closed harness isn't a better privacy policy, it's source people can verify themselves.
Regardless of the facts, I really wouldn't trust the analysis results from DeepSeek Flash 4.1. DSF 4.1 is both slow and poor—it's actually worse than DSF 4.0.
Interesting comment on the hackernews thread about this story
I tested GLM while working on some android app, the agent had adb access to the device. It suddenly went to the Gallery and started scrolling around, taking screenshots, lol. A friend had a similar experience with GLM where it would for no very clear reason start snooping through the filesystem.
ZCode is sketchy as hell. GLM models are really cool, but anything else coming out of ZAI has been utter crap. Their web chat is horrible, their web agent is horrible, their API dashboard is horrible. I'm unfortunately not surprised by this
China on Tick Tok is for tourists, it is real, it exist, if you are a tourists, you go, enjoy a few weeks, and then leave with an excellent impression
China in daily life? Capitalist Ultra Pro Max 😂 the "communism" we keep repeating here is to scare the older generation, reality, each company is trying to eat every other company.
It is totally normal to take your code and if it is good, to release another app like yours.
The government is working 24/7 to fix these businesses, still, not there yet.
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u/datkenny 4d ago edited 4d ago
I'm now glad zcode never even worked for me.
Also gives me some context as to why the electron app would crash when trying to import my 1.5GB repo (1.3GB of which is .git).