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Agentic Engineering Primer

Windsurf

Windsurf is Codeium’s VS Code-based IDE with “Cascade” agentic flows.

Overview

Section titled “Overview”
TypeIDE (VS Code fork)
Open SourceNo
Best ForEU compliance, hybrid deployment

Key Features

Section titled “Key Features”
  • Cascade — Multi-step agentic workflows
  • Flows — Pre-built automation patterns
  • Supercomplete — Context-aware completions
  • Command Mode — Natural language commands
  • Hybrid Deployment — Cloud, on-prem, or mixed

Access Model

Section titled “Access Model”

Windsurf offers both managed and enterprise deployment paths. For most teams, the practical distinction is not price but whether you need hosted convenience, stronger compliance controls, or self-hosted options.

Privacy

Section titled “Privacy”
SettingValue
Privacy ModeYes (ZDR - Zero Data Retention)
TrainingOpt-out
Self-hostedAvailable (Enterprise)
JurisdictionUS / EU option

Models Available

Section titled “Models Available”
  • GPT-5.2
  • Claude Sonnet 4.5 / Opus 4.5
  • Gemini 3 Pro
  • Custom models (Enterprise)

Getting Started

Section titled “Getting Started”
  1. Download from windsurf.com
  2. Sign in with email or GitHub
  3. Enable Zero Data Retention in settings
  4. Start with Cascade mode for agentic workflows

Cascade Flows

Section titled “Cascade Flows”

Cascade is Windsurf’s agentic mode:

You: "Add user authentication to this Express app"
Cascade:
1. Analyzes current codebase
2. Creates auth middleware
3. Adds routes for login/logout
4. Updates database schema
5. Writes tests

Tips

Section titled “Tips”
  • Use Cascade for multi-step tasks
  • Enable ZDR for privacy-sensitive projects
  • Consider EU Cloud option for GDPR compliance