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prefer-qualified-tools

Prefer fully-qualified tool names in Copilot prompt files, custom agents, and legacy chat modes.

Rule catalog ID: R006

Targeted pattern scope​

  • .github/prompts/**/*.prompt.md
  • .github/agents/**/*.agent.md
  • .github/chatmodes/**/*.chatmode.md

What this rule reports​

  • entries in tools frontmatter arrays that are not fully qualified with a provider or namespace segment
  • except for documented built-in subagent tools such as agent and runSubagent

Why this rule exists​

Modern Copilot tooling supports fully-qualified tool names such as search/codebase to reduce ambiguity between built-in tools, extension-provided tools, and MCP tools.

The built-in agent and runSubagent tools are exceptions because current VS Code subagent documentation refers to those aliases directly when enabling subagent orchestration.

❌ Incorrect​

---
description: Release notes helper
agent: agent
tools: [file_search, fetch]
---
Generate release notes for the latest changes.

✅ Correct​

---
description: Release notes helper
agent: agent
tools: [search/file_search, fetch/fetch]
---
Generate release notes for the latest changes.

Further reading​