Ask mode
Ask mode is the read-only setting in an AI coding tool: the model answers questions about your code and explains what it finds, but does not edit files or run commands. It is the safe default for understanding a codebase before changing it.
The underrated use is reconnaissance. Before asking an agent to change something in unfamiliar code, ask what the code does, what depends on it, and what would break. You get a map and, more usefully, a signal about whether the model actually understands the area before you let it edit.
It is also the right mode for questions with no edit attached — why a pattern exists, what a dependency is doing, where a value comes from.
What this means in practice
Cursor and Windsurf both separate this from agent mode explicitly. The habit worth building is starting in ask mode on unfamiliar code and switching to agent mode once the answers show it has the right picture.
Prompts for the tools this applies to
Related terms
- Agent mode
Agent mode is the setting in an AI coding tool where the model can act rather than only answer: creating and editing files, running terminal commands, and iterating on the result.
- Plan mode
Plan mode makes an AI coding tool propose an approach before it edits anything.
- Codebase indexing
Codebase indexing is the process an AI editor uses to build a searchable representation of your repository, usually by splitting files into chunks and storing vector embeddings so it can retrieve code by meaning rather than exact text match..