Cannot use apply diff, write to file, or search and replace. Claude Sonnet 4 OR.

[dairefagan]

App Version

3.21.1

API Provider

OpenRouter

Model Used

Claude 4.0 Sonnet (& Devstral Small in further testing)

🔁 Steps to Reproduce

I am unable to use apply diff, search and replace, and write to file (unsure if these are the same tools) at all. Ubuntu 22.04.

TASKS.md is 14 lines and 203 tokens. In the screenshot example I just asked Orchestrator for the completed tasks to be marked off and it switched to Code mode. This happens all of the time, whether at the start or mid flow of runs (mentioned as important detail on Reddit). I am new to RooCode so I have never seen this work. I am not using experimental concurrent file edits. It happens when creating files, trying to place text inside empty files, or modify existing files. Sometimes it falls back to using a command to place text which works, or to Desktop Commander MCP which I read on the subreddit was a workaround for this. I would prefer to use the built in tools for this. I have restarted Windsurf and my computer several times but this continues. Probably not relevant but qdrant and nomic-embed-text are running locally. Can you please tell me how I can resolve this?

💥 Outcome Summary

The attempts to create or modify files always fail.

📄 Relevant Logs or Errors (Optional)

[dosubot]

Hi @dairefagan! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the Roo-Code team.

The "apply diff", "search and replace", and "write to file" tools are distinct features in RooCode, each with different purposes: "apply diff" makes targeted changes using fuzzy matching and shows a diff view, "search and replace" finds/replaces text (including regex), and "write to file" writes out entire file content but is not recommended for editing existing files due to efficiency and line count requirements. All three are part of the core file editing workflow and should work out of the box in your setup docs docs docs.

Recent updates fixed issues with these tools, such as validation bugs and multi-file diff problems docs. If you’re on 3.21.1, you should have these fixes, but if you upgraded from an older version, double-check that your config isn’t overriding Fast Edits or tool settings.

There’s no documentation of compatibility issues with Ubuntu 22.04, nor with qdrant or nomic-embed-text running locally. The docs don’t mention Desktop Commander MCP as an official workaround, but it appears in the tool group for external integrations, not core file editing docs.

If these tools have never worked for you, possible causes include: misconfigured API profile (check that Fast Edits is enabled), file permissions issues in your workspace, or a corrupted install. Try resetting your API Configuration Profile and verifying that RooCode has write access to your project directory. If you see any error messages or logs when these actions fail, sharing those could help pinpoint the problem.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[dairefagan]

@dosu I have deleted my OpenRouter profile and created a new API key to use in the new profile. If by Fast Edits you mean 'Enable editing through diffs' on the profile, this is enabled. I uninstalled RooCode, restarted Windsurf and reinstalled RooCode. Despite this the issue is ongoing.

I am unsure how to confirm specifically RooCode has write access but I can create and modify files. I am using the default modes.

I started the Extension Host and I attach the webview dev tools console log and the debug console from the main window. This time I tested creating a file in the root of the project using Devstral Small (Free) on OpenRouter and it has the same issue.

cannot create file.log

debug console.log

[dairefagan]

Using 505d940 I was able to create 5 different file types with the same prompt (e.g, create a simple text file) without errors in the chat until I tried to create a markdown file, which was the only time [writeToFileTool], [Tool Error], and [insertContentTool] errors occurred as attached.

505d940-create-markdown-file.log

Starting the java file creation output [Extension Host] TypeError and others in the attached log.

505d940-create-java-file.log

Creation of the java file and most other filetypes also produced ERR Illegal value for lineNumber: Error: Illegal value for lineNumber, though all files were created, including an empty markdown file.

[dairefagan]

This is the offender from my settings.json:

  "workbench.editorAssociations": {
    "*.md": "vscode.markdown.preview.editor"
  },

It automatically opens markdown in preview mode. File creation works fine when it is commented out.