Developer Sovereignty & Privacy Guarantees

DevDiff v1.5.0 enforces strict Developer Sovereignty: your code and API credentials belong to you. DevDiff never makes unapproved cloud network requests, never auto-mutates developer configuration files, and never stages or commits files without explicit human approval.

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🔐 The 4 Pillars of Developer Sovereignty

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 DEVELOPER SOVEREIGNTY PILLARS               │
│                                                             │
│  1. CLOUD GUARD (No Auto-Cloud AI Execution)                │
│     • API keys in env are detected, NEVER called silently.  │
│     • Explicit setup required: devdiff auth add <provider>  │
│                                                             │
│  2. FLEXIBLE IGNORE (Engine-Level Isolation)                │
│     • Internal engine files ignored dynamically.           │
│     • .devdiffignore is 100% developer-owned & untouched.  │
│                                                             │
│  3. COMMIT GUARD (No Staging or Auto-Committing)            │
│     • Generated files are NEVER auto-staged into Git.       │
│     • Explicit human git commit required.                  │
│                                                             │
│  4. LOCAL-FIRST PROCESSING (Ollama Default)                 │
│     • Runs on localhost:11434 with zero network egress.     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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🛡️ Pillar 1: No Auto Cloud AI (CloudGuard)

The Problem

Traditional AI tools detect environment variables like OPENAI_API_KEY or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and silently begin sending codebase snippets over the internet without explicit developer knowledge or consent.

The DevDiff Solution

CloudGuard inspects system environment variables but blocks all automatic execution. To use cloud providers, developers must explicitly add the provider using devdiff auth add.

// packages/core/src/ai/cloud-guard.ts
export class CloudGuard {
  static isExplicitlyConfigured(provider: string, config: any): boolean {
    const p = config?.ai?.providers?.[provider];
    // Must be explicitly enabled by user command, not just env variable detection
    return Boolean(p && p.explicitlyAdded === true && p.disabled !== true);
  }
}

# Explicitly opt-in to a cloud provider
devdiff auth add openai --key sk-proj-1234...

# Remove or disable a cloud provider
devdiff auth remove openai

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📂 Pillar 2: Flexible Ignore (FlexibleIgnore)

Engine Exclusions vs. .devdiffignore

DevDiff uses operational state files (.devdiff/cache.json, .devdiff/memory/codebase-index.json, .devdiff/security-audit.enc) to accelerate analysis.

Rather than polluting or overwriting your project's .devdiffignore file, FlexibleIgnore dynamically filters operational paths at the runtime engine level:

# Your .devdiffignore remains 100% clean and human-authored
# DevDiff will NEVER append lines or modify .devdiffignore

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📦 Pillar 3: Git Commit Safety (CommitGuard)

DevDiff never automatically runs git add or git commit.

• DevDiff-generated files (.devdiff/, .devdiff.config.js, .devdiffignore, CHANGELOG.md) remain untracked or unstaged until you explicitly choose to commit them.
• If DevDiff detects that generated engine files were accidentally staged, CommitGuard issues a helpful terminal alert:

[lucide:alert-triangle] DevDiff Commit Guard Alert:
──────────────────────────────────────────────
  The following DevDiff engine state files are staged for git commit:
  • .devdiff/memory/codebase-index.json

  To keep your repository clean, unstage state files:
  git restore --staged .devdiff/memory/

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⚡ Summary Checklist

Principle	DevDiff Behavior
API Keys in .env	Detected but BLOCKED until devdiff auth add
.devdiffignore Editing	NEVER modified by DevDiff
Git Staging & Commits	NEVER auto-staged or auto-committed
Code Privacy	Processed 100% locally via Ollama by default