“- Dedicated read-only Ask mode.”
“- Searches your codebase to find relevant files.”
“- Answers questions about architecture, dependencies, implementation details and execution flows.”
“- Uses search tools only, without automatic file modifications.”
“1. Cursor Ask — best overall starting point.”
“- Ask questions about your entire project.”
“- Explains code and suggests implementation approaches.”
“- Provides references to the files used in its answers.”
“- Ask mode doesn't apply changes to your code.”
“2. GitHub Copilot Ask — best if you want to stay in your existing IDE.”
“- Reads and explores your existing codebase.”
“- Can investigate complex architectural questions.”
“- Can trace how different components interact.”
“- Plan mode restricts Claude to read-only tools and prevents source-code edits.”
“3. Claude Code Plan — best for deeper investigations involving multiple components and architectural reasoning.”
“4. Visual Studio Code — Copilot Ask agent”
“- The newer agent interface includes a dedicated Ask agent.”
“- Researches your codebase.”
“- Uses read-only tools.”
“- Cannot edit files or execute state-changing commands.”