[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":367},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-is-safe/windsurf-privacy":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":339,"date":340,"dateModified":340,"description":341,"draft":342,"extension":343,"faq":344,"featured":342,"headerVariant":351,"image":352,"keywords":353,"meta":354,"navigation":355,"ogDescription":356,"ogTitle":352,"path":357,"readTime":358,"schemaOrg":359,"schemaType":360,"seo":361,"sitemap":362,"stem":363,"tags":364,"twitterCard":365,"__hash__":366},"blog/blog/is-safe/windsurf-privacy.md","Windsurf (Codeium) Privacy Policy: Where It Went and What Changed (2026)",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":329},"minimark",[9,26,29,35,40,43,57,76,86,90,97,100,103,106,112,115,119,122,189,192,201,204,207,211,214,223,227,251,255,258,261,264,298,317],[10,11,12,13,17,18,21,22,25],"p",{},"Type ",[14,15,16],"code",{},"codeium.com/privacy-policy"," into a browser in August 2026 and you get a 301 redirect to ",[14,19,20],{},"windsurf.com/privacy-policy",", which returns a 308 redirect to ",[14,23,24],{},"cognition.com/legal/privacy-policy",". Two hops, three company names, one policy at the end of it.",[10,27,28],{},"That's why searching for \"the Windsurf privacy policy\" turns up so little. There isn't one. There's a Cognition AI, Inc policy last updated March 9, 2026, and it governs a product that was called Codeium, then Windsurf, and is now Devin Desktop.",[30,31,32],"tldr",{},[10,33,34],{},"The Windsurf and Codeium privacy policies both redirect to Cognition's. The current policy's default is that your code may be used for training, and the opt-out is only available on paid plans. Free tier users have no opt-out to click. On Teams, only an admin can flip it. Enterprise gets a written no-training commitment.",[36,37,39],"h2",{"id":38},"the-redirect-chain-verified","The redirect chain, verified",[10,41,42],{},"We checked these directly on 2026-08-26 rather than trusting a summary:",[44,45,47],"code-block",{"label":46},"Following the privacy policy URLs",[48,49,54],"pre",{"className":50,"code":52,"language":53},[51],"language-text","$ curl -sS -o /dev/null -w \"%{http_code} -> %{redirect_url}\\n\" \\\n    https://codeium.com/privacy-policy\n301 -> https://windsurf.com/privacy-policy\n\n$ curl -sS -o /dev/null -w \"%{http_code} -> %{redirect_url}\\n\" \\\n    https://windsurf.com/privacy-policy\n308 -> https://cognition.com/legal/privacy-policy\n","text",[14,55,52],{"__ignoreMap":56},"",[10,58,59,60,63,64,67,68,71,72,75],{},"The rest of the domain moved the same way. ",[14,61,62],{},"windsurf.com"," itself returns a 308 to ",[14,65,66],{},"devin.ai/desktop",", and ",[14,69,70],{},"windsurf.com/security"," returns a 308 to ",[14,73,74],{},"docs.devin.ai/admin/security",". A 308 is a permanent redirect that preserves the request method, which is the server's way of saying this isn't a temporary detour during a migration.",[77,78,79],"info-box",{},[10,80,81,85],{},[82,83,84],"strong",{},"Why this matters more than a broken bookmark."," Plenty of people evaluated this tool by reading Codeium's privacy policy, deciding it was acceptable, and moving on. That document is not the one that governs their account now. Nothing about the redirect tells you the terms changed, and in at least one respect that matters, they did.",[36,87,89],{"id":88},"what-the-current-policy-actually-says","What the current policy actually says",[10,91,92,93,96],{},"Cognition's privacy policy names Cognition AI, Inc as the controller and defines ",[82,94,95],{},"User Content"," as \"any personal information collected when you use our Services, including personal information that may be provided in the input, file uploads, feedback or output.\"",[10,98,99],{},"Your prompts are input. Your code is file uploads and input. The model's suggestions are output. All of it is User Content.",[10,101,102],{},"The policy then lists, among its uses of that data, \"using User Content to train, fine tune and improve the models that power our Services.\"",[10,104,105],{},"Cognition's security documentation is blunter about the default:",[107,108,109],"blockquote",{},[10,110,111],{},"By default, we may use your data for model training purposes to improve and enhance the Services.",[10,113,114],{},"That is a different posture from an opt-in, and it is the single most important line on the page for anyone who pasted a client's codebase into the editor last year.",[36,116,118],{"id":117},"who-can-opt-out-and-who-cant","Who can opt out, and who can't",[10,120,121],{},"This is where the plan you're on stops being a billing detail.",[123,124,125,141],"table",{},[126,127,128],"thead",{},[129,130,131,135,138],"tr",{},[132,133,134],"th",{},"Plan",[132,136,137],{},"Can you opt out of training?",[132,139,140],{},"Who does it",[142,143,144,156,167,178],"tbody",{},[129,145,146,150,153],{},[147,148,149],"td",{},"Free",[147,151,152],{},"No opt-out available",[147,154,155],{},"n/a",[129,157,158,161,164],{},[147,159,160],{},"Paid individual",[147,162,163],{},"Yes, Data Controls settings page",[147,165,166],{},"You",[129,168,169,172,175],{},[147,170,171],{},"Teams",[147,173,174],{},"Yes",[147,176,177],{},"Administrator only",[129,179,180,183,186],{},[147,181,182],{},"Enterprise",[147,184,185],{},"Not applicable, no training without written consent",[147,187,188],{},"Governed by agreement",[10,190,191],{},"Cognition's docs state it plainly: \"If you're on a paid plan, you can opt out at any time on the Data Controls settings page.\" The condition is doing real work in that sentence. If you're on the free tier, there's no setting to change.",[193,194,195],"danger-box",{},[10,196,197,200],{},[82,198,199],{},"The free tier is where the vibe-coded apps live."," Founders prototyping in Windsurf are overwhelmingly on the free plan, and the free plan is precisely the one with no training opt-out. If you built something on a free account with real API keys in the repo, assume the contents of those files were eligible for training under the default. Rotating those keys is cheap. Finding out later that they weren't rotated isn't.",[10,202,203],{},"Opting out does more than stop training. Cognition's docs say that after you opt out, \"your data will not be used for training and Zero Data Retention will be enabled with our model providers.\" Zero Data Retention is the setting that stops the upstream model vendor from holding your prompts, which is a separate exposure from Cognition's own training. One toggle, two effects.",[10,205,206],{},"The Teams caveat catches people. \"On the Teams plan, only an administrator can exercise the opt-out.\" If you're an engineer on a team account and you flip through your own settings looking for Data Controls, you won't find a working switch. Ask your admin.",[36,208,210],{"id":209},"enterprise-is-a-different-document","Enterprise is a different document",[10,212,213],{},"Enterprise customers get the commitment most security reviews are actually asking for: Cognition \"will never train on your data without your express prior written consent.\" Cognition also holds SOC 2 Type II certification.",[215,216,217],"warning-box",{},[10,218,219,222],{},[82,220,221],{},"Check which entity your contract names."," This product has been operated by Codeium, then Windsurf, then Cognition, and the corporate transaction in 2025 was messy enough that it made the tech press. If your DPA is more than a year old, the entity named on it may not be the entity processing your data today. That's a question for your legal team, not a settings page.",[36,224,226],{"id":225},"what-to-do-this-week","What to do this week",[228,229,230,235,239,243,247],"checklist-section",{},[231,232],"checklist-item",{"description":233,"label":234},"The opt-out exists or doesn't based on this single fact. Free means no opt-out.","Find out which plan you're actually on",[231,236],{"description":237,"label":238},"It stops training and enables Zero Data Retention with the upstream model providers in one action.","If you're on a paid plan, open Data Controls and opt out",[231,240],{"description":241,"label":242},"Individual members cannot exercise the opt-out. Nobody will tell you this in the UI.","If you're on Teams, message your admin",[231,244],{"description":245,"label":246},"Under the default, that file content was eligible for training. Rotation is the only fix that doesn't depend on trusting a policy.","Rotate any credential that was ever in a repo you edited on a free account",[231,248],{"description":249,"label":250},"Keeping .env, key material, and customer data files out of context is the control that works regardless of which company owns the tool next.","Add sensitive paths to the ignore file",[36,252,254],{"id":253},"the-bigger-pattern","The bigger pattern",[10,256,257],{},"Windsurf is the clearest example of something worth watching generally: the privacy policy you evaluated is not a fixed object. It can be replaced by a redirect to a different company's document, with a different default, without anyone emailing you.",[10,259,260],{},"The controls that survive an acquisition are the ones on your side of the connection. An ignore file keeps a directory out of context no matter who owns the inference servers. A rotated key is rotated regardless of what a policy says about retention. A secret that was never committed can't be in anyone's training set.",[10,262,263],{},"We see the other side of this constantly in scans: apps deployed with live keys sitting in files that an AI editor had full read access to for months. The policy question and the exposure question look separate until you realise they're the same file.",[265,266,267,274,280,286,292],"faq-section",{},[268,269,271],"faq-item",{"question":270},"Where is the Windsurf (Codeium) privacy policy?",[10,272,273],{},"It does not exist as a separate document anymore. As of August 2026, codeium.com/privacy-policy returns a 301 to windsurf.com/privacy-policy, which returns a 308 to cognition.com/legal/privacy-policy. The policy that governs your Windsurf usage is Cognition AI, Inc's, last updated March 9, 2026.",[268,275,277],{"question":276},"Does Windsurf train on my code?",[10,278,279],{},"By default, yes. Cognition's security documentation states: \"By default, we may use your data for model training purposes to improve and enhance the Services.\" You have to opt out, and only paid plans can. On the free tier there is no opt-out to click.",[268,281,283],{"question":282},"How do I opt out of training in Windsurf?",[10,284,285],{},"Paid plans opt out on the Data Controls settings page. Cognition's docs say the opt-out also switches on Zero Data Retention with its model providers, so the change covers more than training. On the Teams plan only an administrator can do it, so an individual developer on a team account cannot opt themselves out.",[268,287,289],{"question":288},"Is my company's code safe on Windsurf Enterprise?",[10,290,291],{},"Enterprise has the strongest written commitment: Cognition states it will never train on Enterprise data without express prior written consent. Cognition also holds SOC 2 Type II. Because the corporate entity changed twice since 2024, have your legal team confirm which entity your current agreement names before relying on an older DPA.",[268,293,295],{"question":294},"Does the old Codeium privacy policy still apply to me?",[10,296,297],{},"No. The document it lived at is gone, replaced by a redirect. If you agreed to Codeium's terms in 2023 or 2024 and never revisited them, the policy governing your account today is a different document from a different company with a different training default. That is worth an actual read rather than an assumption.",[299,300,301,307,312],"related-articles",{},[302,303],"related-card",{"description":304,"href":305,"title":306},"The full security review: Cascade permissions, what leaves your machine, day-one settings","/blog/is-safe/windsurf","Is Windsurf Safe?",[302,308],{"description":309,"href":310,"title":311},"Cognition's autonomous agent, and what it can reach in your repo","/blog/is-safe/devin","Is Devin Safe?",[302,313],{"description":314,"href":315,"title":316},"Privacy mode, indexing, and what Cursor retains by plan","/blog/is-safe/cursor","Is Cursor Safe?",[318,319,322,326],"cta-box",{"href":320,"label":321},"/","Scan Your App",[36,323,325],{"id":324},"check-what-your-editor-could-see","Check What Your Editor Could See",[10,327,328],{},"CheckYourVibe scans your deployed app for exposed API keys, leaked credentials, and misconfigured endpoints. If a secret sat in a repo while an AI editor had read access, it's worth knowing whether it's still live.",{"title":56,"searchDepth":330,"depth":330,"links":331},2,[332,333,334,335,336,337,338],{"id":38,"depth":330,"text":39},{"id":88,"depth":330,"text":89},{"id":117,"depth":330,"text":118},{"id":209,"depth":330,"text":210},{"id":225,"depth":330,"text":226},{"id":253,"depth":330,"text":254},{"id":324,"depth":330,"text":325},"is-safe","2026-08-26","The Windsurf and Codeium privacy policies now redirect to Cognition's. Here is what the current policy says about training on your code, who can opt out, and who cannot.",false,"md",[345,346,348,349,350],{"question":270,"answer":273},{"question":276,"answer":347},"By default, yes. Cognition's security documentation states: 'By default, we may use your data for model training purposes to improve and enhance the Services.' You have to opt out, and only paid plans can. On the free tier there is no opt-out to click.",{"question":282,"answer":285},{"question":288,"answer":291},{"question":294,"answer":297},"amber",null,"windsurf privacy policy, codeium privacy policy, windsurf codeium privacy, cognition privacy policy, windsurf data retention, does windsurf train on my code, windsurf zero data retention, devin desktop privacy",{},true,"Codeium's privacy policy redirects to Windsurf's, which redirects to Cognition's. The default is now training-on, and free tier users cannot opt out.","/blog/is-safe/windsurf-privacy","8 min read","[object Object]","Article",{"title":5,"description":341},{"loc":357},"blog/is-safe/windsurf-privacy",[],"summary_large_image","uEfxhdIs0mR8BRMIg9EOKbbSHlSLWLbS2MvkxB0um1c",1787862046434]