Windsurf Policy Guardrails

Overview

Policy guardrails for team Windsurf usage: controlling what Cascade can do, enforcing code review for AI output, configuring terminal safety controls, and preventing common AI coding mistakes.

Prerequisites

• Windsurf configured for team use
• Git workflow established
• CI/CD pipeline in place
• Team agreement on AI usage standards

Instructions

Step 1: Terminal Command Safety (Turbo Mode Controls)

Configure what Cascade can and cannot auto-execute:

// settings.json — Team-wide terminal safety
{
  "windsurf.cascadeCommandsAllowList": [
    "npm test", "npm run", "npx vitest", "npx tsc",
    "git status", "git diff", "git log", "git add",
    "eslint", "prettier", "biome",
    "ls", "cat", "head", "tail", "wc", "grep"
  ],
  "windsurf.cascadeCommandsDenyList": [
    "rm -rf", "rm -r /",
    "sudo",
    "git push --force", "git reset --hard",
    "DROP TABLE", "DELETE FROM", "TRUNCATE",
    "curl | bash", "wget | sh",
    "chmod 777",
    "kill -9",
    "shutdown", "reboot", "halt",
    "mkfs", "dd if=",
    "npm publish", "npx publish"
  ]
}

Step 2: Workspace Isolation Rules

Prevent Cascade from accessing sensitive directories:

# .codeiumignore — security boundary
# AI cannot see or modify files matching these patterns

# Credentials
.env
.env.*
credentials/
secrets/
*.pem
*.key

# Infrastructure
terraform.tfstate*
*.tfvars
ansible/vault*

# Customer data
data/production/
exports/

<!-- .windsurf/rules/protected-files.md -->
---
trigger: always_on
---
## Protected Files Policy
- NEVER modify files in migrations/ without explicit request
- NEVER modify Dockerfile or docker-compose.yml without explicit request
- NEVER modify CI/CD workflows (.github/workflows/) without explicit request
- NEVER modify package.json dependencies without explicit request
- ALWAYS ask before changing database schema files

Step 3: AI Code Review Policy

# .github/workflows/ai-code-gate.yml
name: AI Code Quality Gate
on: pull_request

jobs:
  ai-review-gate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with: { fetch-depth: 0 }

      - name: Check cascade commit policy
        run: |
          # Count files changed
          FILES=$(git diff --name-only origin/main..HEAD | wc -l)

          # Large changesets need explicit review
          if [ "$FILES" -gt 15 ]; then
            echo "::warning::Large changeset ($FILES files modified)."
            echo "If AI-generated, ensure line-by-line review."
          fi

          # New files must have tests
          NEW_SRC=$(git diff --name-only --diff-filter=A origin/main..HEAD | grep -cE '\.(ts|js)$' || true)
          NEW_TEST=$(git diff --name-only --diff-filter=A origin/main..HEAD | grep -cE '\.(test|spec)\.' || true)
          if [ "$NEW_SRC" -gt 3 ] && [ "$NEW_TEST" -eq 0 ]; then
            echo "::error::$NEW_SRC new source files without tests."
            echo "Add tests before merging AI-generated code."
            exit 1
          fi

      - name: Scan for hardcoded secrets
        run: |
          SECRETS_FOUND=$(git diff origin/main..HEAD | grep -cE '(sk_live|sk_test|AKIA[A-Z0-9]|ghp_|glpat-|xoxb-)' || true)
          if [ "$SECRETS_FOUND" -gt 0 ]; then
            echo "::error::Potential hardcoded secret detected in diff."
            exit 1
          fi

Step 4: Team Cascade Usage Guidelines

<!-- docs/windsurf-policy.md — committed to repo -->

# Team Windsurf AI Usage Policy

## Required Practices
1. **Git before Cascade** — commit or stash before every Cascade session
2. **Feature branches only** — never use Cascade on main or develop
3. **Review every diff** — accept changes file-by-file, not "accept all"
4. **Test after accepting** — run tests before committing Cascade changes
5. **Tag AI commits** — prefix with `[cascade]` for traceability

## Prohibited Actions
1. Never paste secrets, API keys, or passwords into Cascade chat
2. Never let Cascade modify production config without manual review
3. Never use Cascade to write security-critical code without expert review
4. Never accept Cascade suggestions for database migrations without DBA review
5. Never use Turbo mode with commands not in the allow list

## Code Review Standards for AI-Generated Code
- Reviewer MUST verify logic, not just syntax
- Reviewer MUST check edge cases (AI often misses boundary conditions)
- Reviewer MUST verify error handling (AI tends to happy-path)
- Reviewer MUST check for AI-specific patterns: unnecessary abstraction,
  over-engineering, cargo-cult patterns from training data

## Accountability
- The developer who accepts and commits AI-generated code is responsible
- "Cascade wrote it" is not an excuse for bugs in production
- All standard code review requirements apply to AI-generated code

Step 5: Extension Trust Policy

// .vscode/extensions.json (works in Windsurf)
{
  "recommendations": [
    "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
    "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint",
    "biomejs.biome"
  ],
  "unwantedRecommendations": [
    "github.copilot",
    "github.copilot-chat",
    "tabnine.tabnine-vscode",
    "sourcegraph.cody-ai"
  ]
}

Step 6: Pre-Cascade Checklist Workflow

<!-- .windsurf/workflows/safe-cascade.md -->
---
name: safe-cascade
description: Pre-flight checks before Cascade work
---
// turbo-all

1. Run `git status` — verify clean working tree
2. Run `git checkout -b cascade/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)` — new branch
3. Run `git log --oneline -3` — note recent context
4. Report: "Ready for Cascade. Branch created. Clean working tree."
5. Ask: "What would you like Cascade to do?"

Error Handling

Examples

Quick Policy Verification

set -euo pipefail
echo "=== Policy Compliance Check ==="
echo "Branch protection: $(gh api repos/:owner/:repo/branches/main/protection --jq '.required_status_checks.contexts | length' 2>/dev/null || echo 'N/A') checks"
echo ".codeiumignore: $([ -f .codeiumignore ] && echo 'EXISTS' || echo 'MISSING')"
echo "Policy doc: $([ -f docs/windsurf-policy.md ] && echo 'EXISTS' || echo 'MISSING')"
echo "Extension control: $([ -f .vscode/extensions.json ] && echo 'EXISTS' || echo 'MISSING')"

Resources

• Windsurf Terminal Docs
• Windsurf Rules
• Windsurf Admin Guide

Next Steps

For architecture strategies, see windsurf-architecture-variants.