Add Ask Mode and Per-Chat Settings to the Codex IDE Extension

What variant of Codex are you using?

IDE Extension - VS Code

What feature would you like to see?

I would like to see two related features added to the Codex IDE extension:

Ask Mode

There should be a clear mode for asking questions about the repository without Codex making any changes.

For example, I often want to ask things like:

Where is this logic implemented?
How does this part of the repository work?
Why was this function designed this way?
What files are related to this feature?

In these cases, I only want Codex to inspect the repository and answer my question. I do not want it to edit files or start implementing anything.

It would be very useful to have an obvious Ask / Read-only mode directly in the chat interface, instead of having to explain this in every prompt or change global configuration.

Per-chat settings

I would also like each Codex chat to have its own settings.

For example, one chat could be:

Ask/read-only mode
No file changes

While another chat could be:

Agent mode
Allowed to edit files and implement changes

These settings should belong to the individual chat rather than affecting every Codex conversation globally.

This would make it much easier to keep separate conversations for different purposes, such as one chat for understanding and discussing the codebase and another chat for actively developing it.

Additional information

Right now, it is not very clear from the VS Code interface how to simply ask Codex questions about the repository without giving it the ability to make changes.

A simple mode selector in each chat, such as Ask / Agent, together with per-chat permissions or settings, would make the IDE extension much easier and safer to use.

This would also reduce the need to repeatedly write instructions like "do not modify anything" when the intention is only to discuss or understand the existing code.

Start by tracing the VS Code IDE extension's chat interface and how each Codex chat stores its settings. Define the Ask/Agent mode selector and per-chat permissions, then verify that Ask mode answers repository questions without file changes while Agent mode retains editing capability.