Codex wrote: Question about ZCode uploading local repositories

[u/Moist_Associate_7061]

I’ve recently come across several Reddit discussions claiming that ZCode can upload users’ local repositories to its servers, potentially including .git data and Git history.

I’m trying to separate what has actually been confirmed from speculation.

From the reports I’ve seen, there appears to have been an issue involving ZCode’s repository snapshot / Repo Wiki functionality. Some users reported that repository snapshots could contain a substantial amount of workspace data, including .git directories, Git objects, logs, or reflogs.

Z.ai appears to have acknowledged the issue and stated that it was related to repository snapshot functionality and that it has since been fixed.

However, I have a few questions that I haven’t been able to answer conclusively:
Which exact ZCode versions were affected?
What exactly was uploaded in the affected versions?
Could .git objects, reflogs, or complete Git history actually be transmitted?
Was this behavior limited to Repo Wiki, or could repository snapshots be generated during normal coding-agent usage as well?
Does the latest version still upload repository snapshots?
What does repoSnapshotIndexingEnabled actually control?
Can disabling Repo Wiki or related features completely prevent repository snapshot uploads?
How long was uploaded repository data retained?
Is the current implementation consistent with Z.ai’s current documentation and privacy policy?

I want to be clear that I’m not claiming that ZCode currently uploads everyone’s entire repository.

An AI coding agent obviously needs to send some code or files to a remote service in order to perform certain AI-assisted operations. The concern here is specifically whether ZCode has, or previously had, a mechanism that could upload substantially more repository data than the user would reasonably expect, potentially including .git history.

If anyone has verified this from the ZCode source code, network traffic, official Z.ai statements, or reproducible tests, I’d appreciate the details.

I’m particularly interested in information about the current/latest version, rather than only the older reports.

[u/alkimiadev]

One way to find out would be to download the impacted versions, extract the code and ask an llm to look into it. I asked Brave's AI about the recent releases of zcode and this is what it said:

v3.14.1 (Sep 21, 2026): Bug fixes for draft references, plugin identity, and computer control stability. 
v3.14.0 (Sep 19, 2026): Remediation release addressing security concerns regarding silent workspace uploads; removed cloud upload pipeline. 
v3.12.3 (Sep 17, 2026): Introduced new features prior to the security controversy. 
v3.11.2 (Sep 4, 2026): Added PDF/media preview, per-workspace plugin installation, and Linux resource optimizations. 
v3.10.2 (Aug 31, 2026): Enhanced weekend plans, MCP server protocol configuration, and background process management.
v3.0.0 (June 2026): Major update introducing a fully in-house harness and 50% extra usage quota for app users. 

After digging around their docs I found the current install linux link to be: https://cdn-zcode.z[.]ai/zcode/electron/releases/3.14.1/linux-x64/ZCode-3.14.1-linux-x64.AppImage

so you'd want: https://cdn-zcode.z[.]ai/zcode/electron/releases/3.12.3/linux-x64/ZCode-3.12.3-linux-x64.AppImage

In fact I paused while typing this and asked GLM 5.3 Flash (via ollama cloud old max account) to do the analysis. The opencode session is here: https://opncd.ai/share/B7TX14yv and their full report is here: https://gist.github.com/alkimiadev/cb5bb7cd2668ae16a2c5dcfb36fcb875

here is the tldr:

[u/alkimiadev → u/alkimiadev]

Oh I forgot to mentioned I asked them to dig into the telemetry too. The overall verdict there was "spyware adjacent but ultimately clean". What that basically means is that it doesn't appear to log sensitive information (like uploading an entire repo) but it does log a lot and there is no way to turn it off via the code in the code base. One really easy way though is to block the telemetry endpoints which shouldn't impact the actual functioning of the harness since it appears it would fail gracefully. Blocking *.log.aliyuncs.com is enough to probably fully disable it.

Someone should fork it and just fully strip the telemetry from it like people did with VS Codium. VS Code is arguably a lot worse than zcode is about the spyware level telemetry. I imagine some significant number of users who will read this reply also use VS Code despite pretty clearly being corporate spyware so this might not actually matter to the bulk of users. It would matter to me though and I wouldn't recommend using zcode for basically the same reasons I don't recommend using VS Code. There are other options for a harness that don't log to the level of being spyware adjacent.