feat: add workspace awareness system message on chat creation#23213
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feat: add workspace awareness system message on chat creation#23213
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When a chat is created, a system message is now inserted informing the model whether the chat was created with or without a workspace. This helps the model understand its available capabilities upfront: - With workspace: informs the model it can use workspace tools - Without workspace: instructs the model to create a workspace first
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ethanndickson
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Mar 18, 2026
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When a chat is created via
chatd, a system message is now inserted informing the model whether the chat was created with or without a workspace.With workspace:
Without workspace:
This is a model-only visibility system message (not shown to users) that helps the model understand its available capabilities upfront — particularly important for subagents spawned without a workspace, which previously would attempt to use workspace tools and fail.
Changes:
coderd/chatd/chatd.go: Added workspace awareness constants and inserted the system message inCreateChatafter the system prompt, before the initial user message.coderd/chatd/chatd_test.go: AddedTestCreateChatInsertsWorkspaceAwarenessMessagewith sub-tests for both with-workspace and without-workspace cases.