Assistant: Can still edit file when in ask mode

[jonvanausdeln]

System details:

Positron and OS details:

Positron Version: 2025.11.0 (user setup) build 197
Code - OSS Version: 1.105.0
Commit: a4f9d35
Date: 2025-10-28T07:55:49.310Z
Electron: 37.6.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.19.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

Session details:

R 4.4.1
Anthropic - Claude 4 Sonnet

Describe the issue:

In ask mode, assistant was still able to edit files.

chinook-sqlite.r.-.qa-example-content.-.Positron.2025-10-28.15-02-05.mp4

Note, I had previously set editing to "auto approve" so it didn't ask for permission. I subsequently turned off the auto approve, and it would then ask before editing.

This is confusing to an end user. I would have thought that in ask mode, it wouldn't edit a file. And if I had forgotten I'd auto-approved in a different mode, I would be even more surprised that it did the edits without asking.

Steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Open an R file (or python)
2. In ASK mode, ask assistant to "Add a method to my file to find today's date"

Expected or desired behavior:

It should refuse to edit the file in ask mode.

Were there any error messages in the UI, Output panel, or Developer Tools console?

Chat log:

positron-chat-export-2025-10-28T22-01-35-704Z.json

[sharon-wang]

Looking at the chat log, the first few requests went through GitHub Copilot instead of Anthropic -- do you have positron.assistant.alwaysIncludeCopilotTools and/or chat.useCopilotParticipantsWithOtherProviders enabled?

We'll need to somehow pass the tool enablement logic from the GitHub Copilot extension to Positron Assistant, to enable/disable Copilot-provided tools based on the Chat mode selected in Positron Assistant.

[rodrigosf672]

Verified Fixed

Positron Version(s) : 2026.02.0 build 109
OS Version          : macOS Tahoe 26.2

Test scenario(s)

• Asking Assistant to add a method to file while in Ask mode in both Anthropic and Bedrock. Responses explained how to add such method, without going ahead and modifying the file. So while there was no explicit refusal to edit and Assistant claimed it'd add the function to my Python file, I believe the behavior is somewhat satisfactory here.

Observation

Upon insisting for Assistant to edit my file, it keeps saying that it'll add a method to the file, but it doesn't actually do it; it just keeps adding the method script to the Chat. Ideally, it'd clarify "You're in Ask mode, but here's the script for what you asked".

Based on the issue's info though, I'm closing this and, if needed, we (or a user) can open an issue in the future asking for "Assistant to be clearer that it'll not edit in Ask mode", but I don't think any action is needed now. cc @jonvanausdeln @samclark2015 @testlabauto