chat.tools.autoApprove: true does not suppress approval prompts for built-in agent tools
@jo-oikawa is already working on this.
Since May 30, 2026.
Assessment
This issue has not been assessed yet.
Description
Type: Bug
Description
With both chat.tools.autoApprove and chat.tools.global.autoApprove set to true in user settings, built-in Copilot agent tools still show "Allow Once" / "Cancel" approval dialogs for every call.
Affected tools: grep_search, read_file, file_search, semantic_search, list_dir, subagent calls (runSubagent), fetch_webpage, and others.
Not affected: Terminal commands (run_in_terminal) auto-approve correctly via chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove.
The "Always Allow" option is rarely or never shown in the dialog, so there is no way to permanently approve these tools from the UI either.
Settings (confirmed in User settings.json)
"chat.tools.autoApprove": true,
"chat.tools.global.autoApprove": true
Environment
- VS Code version: 1.122.1 (arm64, macOS)
- OS: macOS (Darwin arm64)
- Copilot extension: latest
Steps to Reproduce
- Set both
chat.tools.autoApproveandchat.tools.global.autoApprovetotruein user settings - Open Agent mode chat
- Ask the agent to perform any task that uses built-in tools (e.g., "scan the codebase for bugs")
- Every tool call prompts for approval despite the settings
Expected Behavior
Built-in agent tools should execute without approval prompts when chat.tools.autoApprove: true is set.
Possibly Related
- #298909 (closed as fixed in ~1.110, but behavior persists on 1.122.1)
- #302362 (proposed API for programmatic permission resolution)
- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 193k
- Forks
- 42.9k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
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