fix(agents): remove invalid tool names across multiple agents 🤖🤖🤖#1384
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aaronpowell merged 1 commit intogithub:stagedfrom Apr 14, 2026
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Remove or replace tool names that VS Code Copilot silently ignores because they do not exist in the current built-in tools reference. Files changed: - context-architect: 'codebase', 'terminalCommand' → proper namespaced tools - debug: 'web/githubRepo', bare 'search' → remove/replace - implementation-plan: 'think', 'search/changes', 'findTestFiles', 'search/searchResults', 'web/githubRepo', 'execute/runNotebookCell', 'read/getNotebookSummary', 'read/readNotebookCellOutput', bare 'search' → remove - janitor: 'browser', 'microsoft.docs.mcp/*', 'read/getTaskOutput' → remove browser & mcp wildcard; move getTaskOutput to execute/ namespace - plan: 'web/githubRepo', 'azure-mcp/search', 'search/searchResults' → remove - principal-software-engineer: 'browser' → remove - specification: old-style bare tool names → correct namespaced equivalents Reference: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/reference/copilot-vscode-features#_chat-tools
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Pull request overview
This PR updates several agent definitions to remove/replace tool names that are not recognized by the current VS Code Copilot built-in tools reference, so agents don’t silently lose expected capabilities.
Changes:
- Updated tool allow-lists in 7 agent files, replacing legacy/unscoped tool names with namespaced equivalents (e.g.,
search/codebase,read/problems,execute/*,vscode/*). - Removed a handful of tool entries called out as invalid (e.g.,
browser,web/githubRepo,azure-mcp/search, notebook-related tool names). - Expanded
context-architect’s tool list from two invalid placeholders to a full set of concrete tools.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 7 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| agents/specification.agent.md | Replaces large legacy tool list with a smaller namespaced set. |
| agents/principal-software-engineer.agent.md | Removes browser from the declared tools. |
| agents/plan.agent.md | Removes web/githubRepo and azure-mcp/search from tools list. |
| agents/janitor.agent.md | Removes invalid tools and moves getTaskOutput from read/ to execute/. |
| agents/implementation-plan.agent.md | Removes multiple legacy/invalid tool names from the tools list. |
| agents/debug.agent.md | Replaces bare search with search/codebase (+ keeps search/usages). |
| agents/context-architect.agent.md | Replaces invalid placeholders with a fuller namespaced tools set. |
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| - read/problems | ||
| - azure-mcp/search | ||
| - search/searchResults | ||
| - search/usages |
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| tools: | ||
| - search/codebase | ||
| - vscode/extensions | ||
| - web/fetch | ||
| - web/githubRepo | ||
| - read/problems |
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| name: 'Universal Janitor' | ||
| tools: [vscode/extensions, vscode/getProjectSetupInfo, vscode/installExtension, vscode/newWorkspace, vscode/runCommand, vscode/vscodeAPI, execute/getTerminalOutput, execute/runTask, execute/createAndRunTask, execute/runTests, execute/runInTerminal, execute/testFailure, read/terminalSelection, read/terminalLastCommand, read/getTaskOutput, read/problems, read/readFile, browser, 'github/*', 'microsoft.docs.mcp/*', edit/editFiles, search, web] | ||
| tools: [vscode/extensions, vscode/getProjectSetupInfo, vscode/installExtension, vscode/newWorkspace, vscode/runCommand, vscode/vscodeAPI, execute/getTerminalOutput, execute/runTask, execute/createAndRunTask, execute/runTests, execute/runInTerminal, execute/testFailure, execute/getTaskOutput, read/terminalSelection, read/terminalLastCommand, read/problems, read/readFile, 'github/*', edit/editFiles, search, web] | ||
| --- |
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| description: 'Generate or update specification documents for new or existing functionality.' | ||
| name: 'Specification' | ||
| tools: ['changes', 'search/codebase', 'edit/editFiles', 'extensions', 'web/fetch', 'findTestFiles', 'githubRepo', 'new', 'openSimpleBrowser', 'problems', 'runCommands', 'runTasks', 'runTests', 'search', 'search/searchResults', 'runCommands/terminalLastCommand', 'runCommands/terminalSelection', 'testFailure', 'usages', 'vscodeAPI', 'microsoft.docs.mcp', 'github'] | ||
| tools: ['search/codebase', 'search/usages', 'edit/editFiles', 'vscode/extensions', 'web/fetch', 'vscode/openSimpleBrowser', 'read/problems', 'execute/runTests', 'read/terminalLastCommand', 'read/terminalSelection', 'execute/testFailure', 'vscode/vscodeAPI'] |
aaronpowell
approved these changes
Apr 14, 2026
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Pull Request Checklist
npm startand verified thatREADME.mdis up to date.stagedbranch for this pull request.Description
Remove tool names that VS Code Copilot silently ignores because they do not exist in the current built-in tools reference. These invalid names are documented to be silently dropped, meaning agents using them are missing capabilities they expect to have.
Invalid tool names removed/replaced across 7 agent files:
context-architectcodebase,terminalCommand→ correct namespaced equivalentsdebugweb/githubRepo, baresearchimplementation-planthink,search/changes,findTestFiles,search/searchResults,web/githubRepo,execute/runNotebookCell,read/getNotebookSummary,read/readNotebookCellOutput, baresearchjanitorbrowser,microsoft.docs.mcp/*,read/getTaskOutput→ moved toexecute/namespaceplanweb/githubRepo,azure-mcp/search,search/searchResultsprincipal-software-engineerbrowserspecificationchanges,extensions,findTestFiles,githubRepo,new,openSimpleBrowser,problems,runCommands,runTasks,runTests,search/searchResults,testFailure,usages,vscodeAPI,microsoft.docs.mcp,github→ correct namespaced equivalentsRelated to: #1348 (same fix pattern applied to tdd/github-actions agents)
Type of Contribution
Additional Notes
Reference: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/reference/copilot-vscode-features#_chat-tools