Security
Forge is a local static binary, not a hosted service. Nothing about its architecture requires trusting a third party with your source code, and the questions below are answered by what the binary actually does, not by policy.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Does Forge host my source code? | No. There is no server component that receives your repository. |
| Does Forge provide its own AI model? | No. Forge has no LLM and never enters the inference loop — see the enforcement doctrine. Your coding agent talks to its own model provider directly. |
| Does my code ever leave my machine? | No. Forge runs locally as a single Go binary with no runtime dependency. |
| Where does Forge's own state live? | Under .forge/ in your repository — git-committed, human-readable, and diffable like any other file. |
| Is the web control panel hosted? | No. forge docs serve embeds a compiled app inside the binary, binds to 127.0.0.1 by default, and makes no network calls. |
| Does Forge read my secrets or credentials? | No. The guardrails gate denies an agent both read and write access to .env files, private keys, and cloud/SSH credentials before any of it can reach a model's context. |
| Does Forge scan for leaked secrets or PII? | Yes — forge secscan statically scans a change's files and blocks on any unwaived finding. |
| Is usage telemetry collected? | Yes, anonymous and on by default: command name, Forge version, OS/architecture, a random per-install ID, and — on failure — a redacted error message. Never source code, file contents, prompts, or model output. Full detail on the installation page. |
| Can telemetry be disabled? | Yes — export FORGE_NO_TELEMETRY=1. |
Why this matters for the decision to buy
A team adopting an AI coding agent is already trusting that agent's own model provider with its code. Forge does not add a second party to that trust relationship — it adds a local, inspectable layer of enforcement on top of a tool you've already decided to use. Nothing here is a claim about certifications Forge does not hold: no SOC 2, no SSO, no SCIM today. This page lists exactly what the architecture does and does not do, and it will be updated the day any of that changes.
See also: compliance and the EU AI Act position for where Forge sits in the regulatory picture, not just the technical one.