Windsurf Security Basics

Overview

Security best practices for Windsurf AI IDE: controlling what code Cascade can see, preventing secrets from leaking into AI context, managing telemetry, and configuring workspace isolation for regulated environments.

Prerequisites

• Windsurf installed
• Understanding of Codeium's data processing model
• Repository with identified sensitive files

Instructions

Step 1: Exclude Secrets from AI Indexing

Create .codeiumignore at project root (gitignore syntax):

# .codeiumignore — files Codeium/Windsurf will NEVER index or read

# Secrets and credentials
.env
.env.*
.env.local
credentials.json
serviceAccountKey.json
*.pem
*.key
*.p12
*.pfx

# Cloud provider configs
.aws/
.gcloud/
.azure/

# Infrastructure secrets
terraform.tfstate
terraform.tfstate.backup
*.tfvars
vault-config.*

# Customer data
data/customers/
exports/
backups/
*.sql.gz

Default exclusions (automatic): Files in .gitignore, node_modules/, hidden directories (. prefix).

Enterprise: Place a global .codeiumignore at ~/.codeium/ for org-wide exclusions.

Step 2: Disable Telemetry (If Required)

// Windsurf Settings (settings.json)
{
  "codeium.enableTelemetry": false,
  "codeium.enableSnippetTelemetry": false,
  "telemetry.telemetryLevel": "off"
}

Step 3: Configure AI Autocomplete Exclusions

Disable Supercomplete for file types that commonly contain secrets:

{
  "codeium.autocomplete.languages": {
    "plaintext": false,
    "env": false,
    "dotenv": false,
    "properties": false,
    "ini": false
  }
}

Step 4: Create Security-Focused .windsurfrules

<!-- .windsurfrules - security section -->

## Security Requirements
- Never suggest hardcoded secrets, API keys, or passwords in code
- Always use environment variables via process.env for secrets
- Never log PII (email, phone, SSN, credit card numbers)
- Use parameterized queries for all database operations
- Never suggest wildcard CORS origins in production code
- All user input must be validated before processing
- Use constant-time comparison for secret/token validation

Step 5: Audit AI Workspace Access

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail
echo "=== Windsurf Security Audit ==="

# Check if .codeiumignore exists
if [ ! -f .codeiumignore ]; then
  echo "WARNING: No .codeiumignore — AI can index all non-gitignored files"
fi

# Check for secrets that AI could index
echo "--- Potentially exposed secret files ---"
find . -type f \
  -not -path '*/node_modules/*' \
  -not -path '*/.git/*' \
  \( -name '*.env*' -o -name '*.key' -o -name '*.pem' \
  -o -name 'credentials*' -o -name '*secret*' \
  -o -name '*.tfvars' -o -name 'serviceAccount*' \) \
  2>/dev/null | head -20

# Check if found files are in .codeiumignore
echo "--- Verify all above files are excluded ---"

Step 6: Windsurf Data Processing Model

# What Windsurf/Codeium processes:
data_processing:
  indexed_locally:
    - File contents for Supercomplete context
    - Codebase structure for Cascade awareness
    stored: "Local machine only (not sent to cloud for indexing)"

  sent_to_cloud:
    - Cascade prompts (for AI model inference)
    - Code snippets around cursor (for Supercomplete)
    stored: "Zero-data retention for paid plans"

  never_processed:
    - Files in .codeiumignore
    - Files in .gitignore (by default)
    - Files in node_modules/

  compliance:
    - SOC 2 Type II certified
    - FedRAMP High accredited
    - HIPAA BAA available (Enterprise)
    - Zero-data retention on paid plans

Security Checklist

• .codeiumignore exists with secret file patterns
• .env files excluded from AI indexing
• .windsurfrules includes security coding standards
• Telemetry disabled (if required by policy)
• Autocomplete disabled for secret-containing file types
• No competing AI extensions installed (data exposure risk)
• Team members trained on "never paste secrets into Cascade chat"
• Enterprise: SSO configured, personal accounts blocked

Error Handling

Examples

Enterprise .codeiumignore

# ~/.codeium/.codeiumignore (global, all workspaces)
*.pem
*.key
*.p12
*.env*
**/secrets/**
**/credentials/**
terraform.tfstate*
*.tfvars

Quick Privacy Check

# Verify critical files are excluded
echo ".env" | while read f; do
  [ -f "$f" ] && grep -q "\.env" .codeiumignore 2>/dev/null && echo "$f: PROTECTED" || echo "$f: EXPOSED"
done

Resources

• Windsurf Security
• Codeium Privacy Policy
• Windsurf Ignore Docs

Next Steps

For production deployment, see windsurf-prod-checklist.