AskUserQuestion silently auto-answers (picks option 1) in acceptEdits mode — still broken in v2.1.167 after #29618 closed NOT_PLANNED

Summary

AskUserQuestion resolves itself without any human input when the session is in acceptEdits permission mode. The interactive picker never renders; the tool returns an empty answer and the model proceeds as if the first option was selected. The transcript shows answered Claude's questions: followed by an answer the user never gave.

This is the same defect reported in #29618, which was closed as NOT_PLANNED. It is still present in the latest version. Related: #29733 / #29774 (closed COMPLETED, but the behavior persists), #50728 (no-TTY, closed NOT_PLANNED).

Why this is a correctness bug, not a permissions feature

AskUserQuestion is a requirements-gathering tool, not a permission prompt. Auto-resolving it under acceptEdits / bypassPermissions conflates two categorically different things:

• "auto-approve side effects" (legitimate for these modes)
• "fabricate the user's intent" (never legitimate)

A tool whose entire purpose is to collect a human decision should never silently default that decision to option 1.

Repro

1. Start Claude Code in acceptEdits mode (Shift+Tab, or permissions.defaultMode: "acceptEdits" in settings.json).
2. Trigger any flow that calls AskUserQuestion.
3. Observe: no picker is shown; the tool resolves almost instantly; the transcript reads answered Claude's questions: with an answer the user never selected (consistently the first option).

Expected

In any mode where an interactive picker cannot be presented (acceptEdits, bypassPermissions, no-TTY), AskUserQuestion should either:

• (a) still block and wait for real user input, or
• (b) return an explicit no_answer sentinel that the model is instructed NOT to interpret as a selection.

It should never silently default to the first option.

Suggested fix

Decouple AskUserQuestion resolution from permission mode. Permission auto-approval and user-input gathering are separate concerns and should not share the auto-resolve path.

Environment

• Claude Code: 2.1.167
• OS: macOS 26.5.1
• Permission mode: acceptEdits