Grok Build stops repo uploads after privacy backlash

Grok Build has stopped uploading users' entire repositories to cloud storage after a server-side change, according to AI safety researcher Cereblab, whose report first exposed the behavior. Elon Musk has separately said all previously uploaded user data will be deleted.

Cereblab said SpaceXAI’s command-line tool was sending file contents to a Google Cloud Storage bucket without redaction when Grok Build read or processed them. More seriously, the researcher found the CLI was packaging and uploading entire repos as Git bundles, rather than only the files needed to answer a prompt.

The report said this went further than tools such as Claude Code, Gemini, and Codex, which open individual files rather than whole repositories before uploading them with Git history. In one test, Cereblab told Grok Build to reply only with “OK” and explicitly not open any files. The tool still uploaded the full repository, including Git history containing secrets deleted months earlier. Cereblab said it reproduced the result with a second repo.

Other users reported similar behavior after the report was published, including one case where an entire user directory was opened and uploaded, exposing SSH keys, password manager databases, and more.

SpaceXAI responded publicly on X, saying Grok Build respects customers who enable zero data retention (ZDR) and that users without ZDR can use the /privacy command to disable retention and delete previously collected data for that user.

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“We care deeply about your privacy and respect customer choice. For teams using zero data retention, no trace and code data is ever retained. All API key use of Grok Build also respects ZDR. If ZDR is disabled, the /privacy command is available in the CLI to disable data retention, which also deletes previously synced data. Run the /privacy command to view or change your settings at any time.”

Cereblab said the real fix was different: after developers set disable_codebase_upload to true, Grok Build stopped transmitting full repos. The researcher argued /privacy is only a per-session retention toggle, not the control that stopped the uploads.

Musk later wrote that, “As a precautionary measure, all user data that was uploaded to SpaceXAI before now will be completely and utterly deleted. Zero anything whatsoever will remain.” The Register said it could not independently verify whether that deletion has happened.