feat: Add flow to allow modifying edits during edit tool call (#808)

packages/cli/src/config/config.ts

@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ export async function loadCliConfig(
     fileFilteringRespectGitIgnore: settings.fileFiltering?.respectGitIgnore,
     fileFilteringAllowBuildArtifacts:
       settings.fileFiltering?.allowBuildArtifacts,
+    enableModifyWithExternalEditors: settings.enableModifyWithExternalEditors,
   });
 }
 

packages/cli/src/config/settings.ts

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ export interface Settings {
   contextFileName?: string;
   accessibility?: AccessibilitySettings;
   telemetry?: boolean;
+  enableModifyWithExternalEditors?: boolean;
 
   // Git-aware file filtering settings
   fileFiltering?: {

packages/cli/src/ui/App.tsx

@@ -355,6 +355,7 @@ export const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [] }: AppProps) => {
                 key={h.id}
                 item={h}
                 isPending={false}
+                config={config}
               />
             )),
           ]}
@@ -370,6 +371,7 @@ export const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [] }: AppProps) => {
               // HistoryItemDisplay. Refactor later. Use a fake id for now.
               item={{ ...item, id: 0 }}
               isPending={true}
+              config={config}
             />
           ))}
         </Box>

packages/cli/src/ui/components/HistoryItemDisplay.tsx

@@ -15,17 +15,20 @@ import { ToolGroupMessage } from './messages/ToolGroupMessage.js';
 import { GeminiMessageContent } from './messages/GeminiMessageContent.js';
 import { Box } from 'ink';
 import { AboutBox } from './AboutBox.js';
+import { Config } from '@gemini-cli/core';
 
 interface HistoryItemDisplayProps {
   item: HistoryItem;
   availableTerminalHeight: number;
   isPending: boolean;
+  config?: Config;
 }
 
 export const HistoryItemDisplay: React.FC<HistoryItemDisplayProps> = ({
   item,
   availableTerminalHeight,
   isPending,
+  config,
 }) => (
   <Box flexDirection="column" key={item.id}>
     {/* Render standard message types */}
@@ -60,6 +63,7 @@ export const HistoryItemDisplay: React.FC<HistoryItemDisplayProps> = ({
         toolCalls={item.tools}
         groupId={item.id}
         availableTerminalHeight={availableTerminalHeight}
+        config={config}
       />
     )}
   </Box>

packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/ToolConfirmationMessage.tsx

@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import {
   ToolConfirmationOutcome,
   ToolExecuteConfirmationDetails,
   ToolMcpConfirmationDetails,
+  checkHasEditor,
+  Config,
 } from '@gemini-cli/core';
 import {
   RadioButtonSelect,
@@ -21,11 +23,12 @@ import {
 
 export interface ToolConfirmationMessageProps {
   confirmationDetails: ToolCallConfirmationDetails;
+  config?: Config;
 }
 
 export const ToolConfirmationMessage: React.FC<
   ToolConfirmationMessageProps
-> = ({ confirmationDetails }) => {
+> = ({ confirmationDetails, config }) => {
   const { onConfirm } = confirmationDetails;
 
   useInput((_, key) => {
@@ -44,6 +47,24 @@ export const ToolConfirmationMessage: React.FC<
   >();
 
   if (confirmationDetails.type === 'edit') {
+    if (confirmationDetails.isModifying) {
+      return (
+        <Box
+          minWidth="90%"
+          borderStyle="round"
+          borderColor={Colors.Gray}
+          justifyContent="space-around"
+          padding={1}
+          overflow="hidden"
+        >
+          <Text>Modify in progress: </Text>
+          <Text color={Colors.AccentGreen}>
+            Save and close external editor to continue
+          </Text>
+        </Box>
+      );
+    }
+
     // Body content is now the DiffRenderer, passing filename to it
     // The bordered box is removed from here and handled within DiffRenderer
     bodyContent = (
@@ -63,8 +84,28 @@ export const ToolConfirmationMessage: React.FC<
         label: 'Yes, allow always',
         value: ToolConfirmationOutcome.ProceedAlways,
       },
-      { label: 'No (esc)', value: ToolConfirmationOutcome.Cancel },
     );
+
+    // Conditionally add editor options if editors are installed
+    const notUsingSandbox = !process.env.SANDBOX;
+    const externalEditorsEnabled =
+      config?.getEnableModifyWithExternalEditors() ?? false;
+
+    if (checkHasEditor('vscode') && notUsingSandbox && externalEditorsEnabled) {
+      options.push({
+        label: 'Modify with VS Code',
+        value: ToolConfirmationOutcome.ModifyVSCode,
+      });
+    }
+
+    if (checkHasEditor('vim') && externalEditorsEnabled) {
+      options.push({
+        label: 'Modify with vim',
+        value: ToolConfirmationOutcome.ModifyVim,
+      });
+    }
+
+    options.push({ label: 'No (esc)', value: ToolConfirmationOutcome.Cancel });
   } else if (confirmationDetails.type === 'exec') {
     const executionProps =
       confirmationDetails as ToolExecuteConfirmationDetails;

packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/ToolGroupMessage.tsx

@@ -10,17 +10,20 @@ import { IndividualToolCallDisplay, ToolCallStatus } from '../../types.js';
 import { ToolMessage } from './ToolMessage.js';
 import { ToolConfirmationMessage } from './ToolConfirmationMessage.js';
 import { Colors } from '../../colors.js';
+import { Config } from '@gemini-cli/core';
 
 interface ToolGroupMessageProps {
   groupId: number;
   toolCalls: IndividualToolCallDisplay[];
   availableTerminalHeight: number;
+  config?: Config;
 }
 
 // Main component renders the border and maps the tools using ToolMessage
 export const ToolGroupMessage: React.FC<ToolGroupMessageProps> = ({
   toolCalls,
   availableTerminalHeight,
+  config,
 }) => {
   const hasPending = !toolCalls.every(
     (t) => t.status === ToolCallStatus.Success,
@@ -80,6 +83,7 @@ export const ToolGroupMessage: React.FC<ToolGroupMessageProps> = ({
               tool.confirmationDetails && (
                 <ToolConfirmationMessage
                   confirmationDetails={tool.confirmationDetails}
+                  config={config}
                 />
               )}
           </Box>

packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.ts

@@ -1440,7 +1440,7 @@ export interface TextBuffer {
     key: Record<string, boolean>,
   ) => boolean;
   /**
-   * Opens the current buffer contents in the user’s preferred terminal text
+   * Opens the current buffer contents in the user's preferred terminal text
    * editor ($VISUAL or $EDITOR, falling back to "vi").  The method blocks
    * until the editor exits, then reloads the file and replaces the in‑memory
    * buffer with whatever the user saved.
@@ -1451,7 +1451,7 @@ export interface TextBuffer {
    *
    * Note: We purposefully rely on the *synchronous* spawn API so that the
    * calling process genuinely waits for the editor to close before
-   * continuing.  This mirrors Git’s behaviour and simplifies downstream
+   * continuing.  This mirrors Git's behaviour and simplifies downstream
    * control‑flow (callers can simply `await` the Promise).
    */
   openInExternalEditor: (opts?: { editor?: string }) => Promise<void>;