Agent tools and approvals

The WhoseDev Agent uses tools to search your workspace, read and edit files, run terminal commands, load project skills, and optionally research the web. Tool activity appears in the chat timeline.

Tool catalog

Tool	Ask	Plan	Act	Notes
`read_file`	✓	✓	✓	Read file contents
`list_directory`	✓	✓	✓	Browse folders
`glob_search`	✓	✓	✓	Find files by pattern
`search_content`	✓	✓	✓	Search text in the workspace
`get_file_symbols`	✓	✓	✓	Outline symbols in a file
`workspace_metadata`	✓	✓	✓	Project and workspace summary
`get_git_diff`	✓	✓	✓	Inspect current changes
`list_whosedev_skills`	✓	✓	✓	Discover workspace skills
`load_whosedev_skill`	✓	✓	✓	Load a skill for the session
`ask_user`	✓	✓	✓	Ask a clarifying question
`ask_plan_questions`		✓		Multiple-choice plan questions
`submit_plan`		✓		Save a plan artifact
`update_progress`	✓	✓	✓	Report progress on criteria
`attempt_completion`	✓	✓	✓	Mark a turn complete or blocked
`write_file`			✓	Create or overwrite a file
`edit_file`			✓	Targeted find/replace edits
`apply_patch`			✓	Apply a unified diff
`delete_file`			✓	Delete a file
`terminal`			✓	Run shell commands
`web_search`	✓*	✓*	✓*	Search the public web
`web_fetch`	✓*	✓*	✓*	Fetch a public URL

*Available only when web research is allowed.

File edits in Act

Act creates and changes files with structured tools (write_file, edit_file, apply_patch, delete_file) so you can review diffs in the editor. The agent is steered not to rewrite workspace file contents through the terminal (cat, tee, sed, and similar). Use the terminal for build, test, git, and diagnostics.

If a file changed after the agent last read it, WhoseDev can reject a stale edit. The agent should refresh the file and apply the change again (that class of failure is retryable). A missing or forbidden path is not retried the same way unless the workspace actually changed.

write_file, edit_file, and apply_patch do not require approval by default. delete_file still does. See Editor basics for Keep and Undo.

Approvals

Some tools require your approval before they run:

Tool	Why
`delete_file`	Destructive file operation
`terminal`	Can modify the system, install packages, or reach the network

Read the proposed command or path before approving. You can reject a tool call and steer the agent with a follow-up message. If a structured file tool just failed for a path, WhoseDev can block a terminal fallback that would bypass those safeguards until you confirm a strategy change.

Web research

Setting whosedev.agent.webResearch controls whether the agent may call web_search and web_fetch through the WhoseDev backend:

Value	Behavior
`off`	Web research tools are disabled on this machine
`allowed`	The agent may search and fetch public web pages

Managed cloud routes default to allowed. Turn this off for privacy-sensitive or offline work. Web research does not replace your selected AI route for inference; it adds optional external context.

Skills and rules

The agent can load instructions from your workspace rules and skills using load_whosedev_skill. Rules are applied according to project configuration; skills are loaded when relevant to the task.

Diagnostics

Developers can enable whosedev.agent.showRawToolDetails to show raw tool input/output envelopes and correlation IDs in tool details. Leave this off for normal use.