Zero data retention should be default for coding agents

The author argues that as the adoption of coding agents approaches near-universal levels among developers, organizations must prioritize data protection by making zero-retention defaults standard. Because agents ingest sensitive source code and internal documents, developers face a spectrum of vendor data retention policies ranging from model training on customer data to strict zero-retention. The author contends that open-source models run locally or through trusted regional providers offer the most reliable path to ensure data security. Open article →