Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
No response
Proposed solution
Summary
When using GitHub Copilot as an ACP (Agent Client Protocol) external agent in Zed IDE,
the only available modes are Agent, Plan, and Autopilot. There is no
lightweight "Ask" or chat-only mode for free-form Q&A without agentic behavior.
Expected Behavior
An "Ask" mode (or equivalent) should be available via ACP that allows users to:
- Ask questions about their codebase
- Have general conversations with the model
- Get answers and explanations WITHOUT the agent autonomously making file edits or
running commands
Current Behavior
Only three modes are exposed to ACP clients:
All three are agentic in nature. There is no pure conversational/read-only mode.
Why This Matters
Zed's own built-in agent profiles include "Ask" (read-only tools) and "Minimal"
(no tools, pure chat) — but these profiles only apply to Zed's first-party agent.
When Copilot runs as an external ACP agent, it overrides Zed's profile system entirely
and only surfaces its own modes.
Users who want to simply chat with Copilot models (e.g. ask a question, get an
explanation, discuss architecture) without triggering agentic workflows have no way
to do so inside Zed when using Copilot via ACP.
Workaround
Currently none within Zed + Copilot ACP. Users must either:
- Switch to a different provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) to get the Ask/Minimal profile
- Use github.com/copilot in the browser for free-form chat
Environment
- Zed IDE: v1.0.0 (April 29, 2026)
- Integration: GitHub Copilot via ACP (external agent)
- Affected ACP clients: Zed (confirmed), likely any other ACP-compatible client
Request
Please add an "Ask" mode (or similar read-only/chat-only mode) to the Copilot
ACP agent implementation so that ACP clients like Zed can expose it as a profile option.
Related discussion: zed-industries/zed#48346
Example prompts or workflows
No response
Additional context
No response
Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
No response
Proposed solution
Summary
When using GitHub Copilot as an ACP (Agent Client Protocol) external agent in Zed IDE,
the only available modes are Agent, Plan, and Autopilot. There is no
lightweight "Ask" or chat-only mode for free-form Q&A without agentic behavior.
Expected Behavior
An "Ask" mode (or equivalent) should be available via ACP that allows users to:
running commands
Current Behavior
Only three modes are exposed to ACP clients:
All three are agentic in nature. There is no pure conversational/read-only mode.
Why This Matters
Zed's own built-in agent profiles include "Ask" (read-only tools) and "Minimal"
(no tools, pure chat) — but these profiles only apply to Zed's first-party agent.
When Copilot runs as an external ACP agent, it overrides Zed's profile system entirely
and only surfaces its own modes.
Users who want to simply chat with Copilot models (e.g. ask a question, get an
explanation, discuss architecture) without triggering agentic workflows have no way
to do so inside Zed when using Copilot via ACP.
Workaround
Currently none within Zed + Copilot ACP. Users must either:
Environment
Request
Please add an "Ask" mode (or similar read-only/chat-only mode) to the Copilot
ACP agent implementation so that ACP clients like Zed can expose it as a profile option.
Related discussion: zed-industries/zed#48346
Example prompts or workflows
No response
Additional context
No response