# ZCode 19 Hacker News commenters recommended ZCode and 49 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People like its clean UI, Linux support and solid coding quality for GLM models, but critics warn it uploads project folders and git history to a Chinese-owned server. ## Why people recommend it - Solid coding harness quality (5 comments): "ZCode is honestly one of the best harnesses out there from an HCI perspective" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49753523)) "their ZCode harness is also pretty nice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940626)) "their own zcode is really good as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48666568)) - Clean, attractive UI (3 comments): "it is nice that it is there for folks who prefer the Codex App/Claude App UI approach" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48752110)) "Looks quite pretty! Not sure if I want to try that instead of OpenCode" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48752274)) "their UI is really really nice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49297241)) - Improves with frequent updates (3 comments): "ZCode comes close too (which is surprising, they sorta came out of nowhere and are patching the thing weekly)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49002813)) "it was actually surprisingly good after they pushed out some updates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48969832)) "it's definitely improved over what it was back in the spring" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49820399)) - Good value on plans (3 comments): "ZCode is ok and use it to take advantage of the discount tokens on offer from time to time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49296466)) "The value is good on the $10 plan so I still get decent usage on the desktop client" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48754663)) "Now I'm using it through their Zcode harness and I rarely hit that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48938586)) ## What people warn about - Uploads project data without clear consent (6 comments): "Works pretty well. Super sketchy though if it is in fact silently uploading full git history" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49753030)) "zcode was not long ago revealed to upload your entire project folder to their server encrypted using a key you don't have" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50138378)) "there is literally no way to opt-out and the client will always ask the backend for credentials to upload" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49760562)) - Closed-source black box sent to China (4 comments): "It is essentially a black box with full user permissions, meaning you are just handing over your entire system to a Chinese-owned server." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48752737)) "There's no way I would ever put a piece of proprietary Chinese software that gets full system control on anything important." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48753084)) "Why would I install a close source black box, that will send data to a country that you can't make legally liable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48762232)) - Quality still unproven (2 comments): "It shows potential, answer/code quality was solid, but I would need more time with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48761377)) "I don't know if I got my money's worth before I have seen the deliverable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49761290)) - Tied to GLM models only (2 comments): "ZCode is great. But as tied to GLM as CC is to Claude models" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49816185)) "wonder why anyone would use this when GLM-5.2 is available in multiple coding harnesses already" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48766411)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Claude Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-code.md): 4522 recommend - [OpenAI Codex](https://hackerapproved.com/p/codex.md): 2474 recommend - [OpenCode](https://hackerapproved.com/p/opencode.md): 1060 recommend - [Gemini CLI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gemini-cli.md): 172 recommend - [Cline](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cline.md): 63 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "ZCode", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zcode/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).