AgentDiff vs. Sonar
AgentDiff and Sonar solve different problems. Sonar answers "is this code good?" through static analysis of quality and security issues. AgentDiff answers "who wrote this code, with proof?" by recording line-level AI provenance and enforcing policy on it. Most teams that adopt AgentDiff run it alongside Sonar, not instead of it.
At a glance
| AgentDiff | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | Provenance + policy evidence (who wrote what) | Code quality + vulnerability detection (is the code good) |
| Question answered | Which agent wrote which line, and is it signed? | Does this code have bugs, smells, or vulnerabilities? |
| Output | Signed, queryable authorship records | Scanner findings and quality gates |
| AI agent attribution | Cross-agent, line-level | Not an attribution tool |
| Where data lives | Your git history (git-native) | Sonar server / SonarCloud |
| Tamper-evidence | ed25519-signed records | Not applicable |
| Merge gate | Blocks on provenance/policy violation | Blocks on quality gate failure |
Different jobs, same budget conversation
Sonar is a mature static analysis platform with broad enterprise distribution. It inspects the code itself and reports quality and security findings. It does not record which AI agent generated a line, nor does it produce a signed, queryable ledger of authorship. AgentDiff does exactly that — and stops there. It is not a vulnerability scanner.
The honest framing: Sonar verifies code quality and vulnerabilities; AgentDiff provides provenance and policy evidence. They sit next to each other in a pipeline. A team can require both a passing Sonar gate and a signed AgentDiff trace before a pull request that touches a critical path is allowed to merge.
When you need AgentDiff and not Sonar
- You need to prove which AI agent authored a change during an audit or incident review.
- You want cross-agent, line-level attribution across Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and Codex.
- You need tamper-evident, organization-controlled evidence that stays in your git remote.
- You want a merge gate that reasons about AI authorship, not just code quality.
Frequently asked questions
Is AgentDiff a replacement for Sonar?+
No. Sonar checks whether code is good; AgentDiff records who wrote it and enforces policy on AI-authored changes. They are complementary, and many teams run both in the same pipeline.
Does Sonar track which AI agent wrote the code?+
No. Sonar performs static quality and security analysis of the code itself. It does not capture the AI agent, model, or prompt behind a change. That is what AgentDiff's provenance layer adds.
See line-level provenance on a real repo.
AgentDiff records which agent wrote which line, signs it, and keeps it in your git history. Open the live dashboard or book a walkthrough.