[FEATURE] Research mode

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

When I am collaborating with CC on a codebase, I often have gaps in my own understanding of the code. I would like to pose CC questions and engage in a conversation aimed at improving my understanding of the current state of the codebase.

I don't necessarily want to _do_ anything - I don't want CC to edit any files, or to spend tokens forming a plan that consists of potential future edits. I just want to understand the current state of the codebase.

CC currently supports 3 modes: Plan, Ask to edit, edit automatically. It is not clear what mode I should use for posing these questions.

Proposed Solution

CC's current behaviors in the 3 default modes seem to be oriented somewhat aggressively towards _action_.

I propose a 4th mode: research.

In research mode, CC would perform all the search and exploration it already does in plan mode. The difference is that it would not form a plan that it then asks the user to accept or reject; rather, it would respond with information that helps the user understand the code base.

Alternative Solutions

One workaround is to ask CC to write a markdown file to the filesystem answering your questions.

This is a little clunky and slow; it would be better if CC just knew it was in research mode and we could mantain a chat thread.

Priority

High - Significant impact on productivity

Feature Category

Other

Use Case Example

Virtually every time I set out to do something in a codebase of nontrivial size or complexity, one of the first steps I take is to try and understand its current state w/r/t the ideas or tickets I have in mind.

Even after I have worked with CC to build a bunch of stuff, I often find myself wanting to pose it questions about the changes we've made, so I can communicate about them with a modicum of gravitas to my colleagues.

Really, throughout my dev workflow, an ability to toggle research mode in CC would be a huge improvement.

Additional Context

I am using the CC VS Code extension.

I think some other popular AI-powered IDE products have "chat" mode, which is similar to what I'm proposing here.