🔒ZCode Reverse-Engineered: 42K Files Uploading Without Consent
Your entire workspace is being uploaded without your knowledge
TL;DR
A developer reverse-engineered ZCode, revealing it silently uploads entire workspaces to Aliyun OSS, including .git history and LFS caches, without user consent. The upload pipeline is initiated at startup and occurs frequently during sessions.
A developer reverse-engineered ZCode, an AI coding desktop app from Z.ai, revealing it silently uploads entire workspaces to Aliyun OSS, including .git history and LFS caches, without user consent. The app packages and encrypts the workspace, uploading it to Aliyun OSS, with the .git directory alone making up 86.6% of the payload. This raises serious privacy and security concerns for developers using ZCode, especially those working with sensitive or proprietary codebases. The reverse-engineering details show that the upload process is initiated at startup and occurs frequently during sessions, with the closest line in the privacy policy mentioning optimization being off by default. The fix involves making the checkpoints directory unwritable at the kernel level.
Key Points
Developer reverse-engineered ZCode on September 18, 2026, revealing 42,411 files uploaded.
The .git directory alone is 86.6% of the 313MB payload, including .git history and LFS caches.
Upload pipeline involves client requesting credentials from zcode.z.ai, returning OSS form signatures.
Client packs workspace to tar.gz, encrypts with AES-256-CTR, and POSTs archive directly to Aliyun OSS.
Fix involves making the checkpoints directory unwritable at the kernel level to prevent upload process.
Why It Matters
If you're using ZCode, your entire workspace is being uploaded to Aliyun OSS without your knowledge. The .git directory alone makes up 86.6% of the payload, including .git history and LFS caches. This raises serious privacy and security concerns, especially for developers working with sensitive or proprietary codebases. The closest line in the privacy policy mentions optimization being off by default, but the upload process is initiated at startup and occurs frequently during sessions.
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