Ethical Stack

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

Commercial coding IDE and agent workspace, now branded Devin Desktop; it combines the Windsurf editor with local and cloud agents.

Score calculation

(7 + 2) ÷ 2 = 4.5

2 of six dimensions rated. Unrated dimensions and BDS status are excluded.

Full scoring method ↗
Setup details

This profile follows the Windsurf IDE into Devin Desktop, which the company identifies as Windsurf’s new name. It covers the current commercial editor and agent service, not a legacy Codeium extension or unrelated source repository. The current master services agreement grants limited access and reserves rights in the service; model and hosting choices remain separate.

Product-name note: Windsurf’s official product page says Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf and that the IDE, extensions, workflows and settings continue through the rename.

Energy

↑

Windsurf does not publish service-specific energy or water data; the model and serving provider determine most inference impact.

Reasoning & sources

The current product page advertises both local and cloud agents, but the reviewed materials provide no per-task electricity, water or emissions data. Local execution moves some energy use to the user’s machine; it does not establish a lower footprint. Measure the actual local setup or ask Cognition for comparable figures for the selected cloud model and region.

No per-task electricity, water, or emissions data, serving-region breakdown, or lifecycle assessment was found for the harness.

Training rights

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Windsurf is a harness that connects to models; its sources do not establish a complete rights record for the training data of every model it can use.

Reasoning & sources

The current agreement covers customer data sent through the service, while the product page describes access to models and agents; neither provides a training-data provenance ledger for each model. A promise about submitted prompts is different from permission for material used to train the model. Check the selected model’s provider and terms separately.

The provider and exact model vary by configuration; no complete rights ledger can be inferred from the harness license or provider list.

Privacy

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Windsurf’s agreement promises no training on customer inputs and deletion after generation, with exceptions for enabled persistence features and integrations.

Reasoning & sources

The agreement sets protections for customer data, while the data-processing terms and enabled integrations determine additional processing paths. Those terms do not make every plan or feature identical. Before sending sensitive code, check the current account terms, selected agent, integrations and persistence settings.

Plan, selected model/provider, enabled features, and deployment mode can change this assessment.

Openness

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Commercial proprietary product; no public code license establishes an open implementation.

Reasoning & sources

Cognition’s agreement grants limited access to the service and reserves rights in its software and related intellectual property. That makes the current editor a commercial proprietary product; choosing an open model or installing an open extension does not open the IDE implementation. This profile follows the current Devin Desktop product, not a different Codeium repository.

This score covers the harness/editor source only; hosted services, models, data, or enterprise features may remain proprietary.

Worker treatment

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Cognition discloses subprocessors for service processing, but that is not a report on their labor conditions or on model-data workers.

Reasoning & sources

Cognition’s data-processing agreement names subprocessors involved in service processing, but it does not describe their workers’ pay or conditions or the labor behind model training. A vendor list helps trace who may process data; it is not a labor audit. Ask Cognition and the selected model provider for worker standards and independent checks.

Current worker pay, working conditions, subcontracting, safety provisions, and grievance outcomes are not established for this product’s full service chain.

Government & military

↑

No harness-specific defense deployment was established in the sources reviewed; provider and parent-company records need separate attribution.

Reasoning & sources

The reviewed product and service agreements do not identify this IDE in a defense workload. Cognition’s current product includes local and cloud agents, so host and model-provider contracts need separate review. Ask which services apply to your plan before drawing a conclusion about a specific deployment.

No public evidence in the reviewed material names this harness in a defense workload; absence in this review does not establish absence of indirect use.

BDS status

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We did not find Cognition among the named targets in the two official BNC campaign lists. This is a limited list check, not BDS approval.

Reasoning & sources

Cognition is not a named target in the checked lists, but BDS uses selective campaigns, so absence cannot establish a clean record. Check the model and host this tool connects to as well as the company providing the tool.

This review covers the named targets in the BNC consumer/pressure guide and No Tech campaign, not every BDS campaign, local group, investment or supplier. Lists and ownership can change. A company’s absence from these lists is not an endorsement or proof that it has no relevant relationships.

All sources

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