Agent does not receive search/codebase in its tool definitions.
- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 193k
- Forks
- 42.4k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
- Copilot Chat Extension Version: 0.63.0
- VS Code Version: 1.135.0
- OS Version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200 (build 26200.9168)
- Feature (e.g. agent/edit/ask mode): Local Agent mode, custom agents, subagents, and semantic codebase search
- Selected model (e.g. GPT 4.1, Claude 3.7 Sonnet):
- GPT-5.6 Sol (ChatGPT) (`gcmp.codex`)
- DeepSeek-V4-Flash (`gcmp.deepseek`)
- Logs:
- `#codebase` explicitly invoked `semantic_search` successfully:
```text
timestamp: 2026-08-31 12:00:55 +08:00
type: tool_call
name: semantic_search
status: ok
duration: 3893 ms
query: "#codebase test"
```
- The model tool snapshots did not contain any of the following names:
```text
semantic_search
copilot_searchCodebase
search/codebase
```
- When the Explore custom agent was explicitly instructed to use only semantic codebase search, no semantic search tool call was emitted. The subagent responded:
```text
The semantic codebase search tool was not provided in the current tool list.
```
- The same result occurred when requesting the tool using each of these forms:
```text
search/codebase
semantic_search
"the natural-language semantic workspace search tool"
```
## Description
The semantic codebase search tool is enabled in the tools picker and/or configured in a custom agent, but it is not included in the actual tool definitions provided to the model.
This affects both:
1. The main Agent session when the Codebase tool is selected.
2. A custom agent invoked through `runSubagent`, even when its frontmatter explicitly includes the `search` tool set or `search/codebase`.
However, explicitly entering `#codebase` in the user prompt works correctly and invokes `semantic_search`. This confirms that semantic workspace search is available and functional for the workspace, but it is not exposed as an autonomous agent tool.
Contributor guide
Assessment
This issue has not been assessed yet.