{
  "title": "Multi-file edit",
  "description": "Edit multiple files during one task.",
  "slug": "multi-file-edit",
  "locale": "en",
  "seoTitle": "Multi-file edit — Can My Agent Use",
  "socialTitle": "Multi-file edit",
  "socialDescription": "Compare editing multiple files during one task.",
  "llmSummary": "Multi-file editing changes more than one file during a task. Review, approval, and source-control behavior are qualifiers rather than requirements of the term.",
  "audience": "Engineers comparing chat, desktop, and CLI agent harnesses.",
  "contentKind": "feature",
  "status": "published",
  "tags": [
    "tools"
  ],
  "updated": "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z",
  "published": "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z",
  "category": "tools",
  "summary": "Edit multiple files during one task.",
  "specLabel": "Common product term",
  "aliases": [],
  "capabilityKind": "atomic",
  "related": [],
  "relations": [],
  "highlight": true,
  "notes": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "text": "No reviewed public evidence is attached to this capability row. Unknown records the evidence gap."
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: VS Code documents agents creating and editing multiple files from one natural-language request, then exposing the resulting changes in a multi-file diff."
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Cursor documents Agent searching the codebase and editing multiple files, with edits reviewed in its diff view."
    },
    {
      "id": 4,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Claude Code documents reading multiple files and making coordinated edits across them in one task, but its CLI permission modes can review edits individually rather than as one grouped step."
    }
  ],
  "issues": [],
  "resources": [
    {
      "title": "Methodology",
      "href": "/methodology",
      "kind": "note"
    },
    {
      "id": "microsoft-vscode-multi-file-edits",
      "title": "Visual Studio Code — Review and revert agent changes",
      "href": "https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agents/run/review-code-edits",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Microsoft",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Review agent changes and multi-file diff"
    },
    {
      "id": "microsoft-vscode-agentic-coding",
      "title": "Microsoft — Agentic coding in VS Code",
      "href": "https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agents/agents-tutorial",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Microsoft",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Agent capabilities"
    },
    {
      "id": "cursor-agent-multi-file",
      "title": "Cursor — Agent mode",
      "href": "https://prod.cursor.com/help/ai-features/agent",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Cursor",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "What Agent mode can do and review changes"
    },
    {
      "id": "anthropic-claude-code-multi-file",
      "title": "Anthropic — How Claude Code works",
      "href": "https://code.claude.com/docs/en/how-claude-code-works",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Anthropic",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Agentic loop across a project"
    }
  ],
  "support": [
    {
      "harness": "vscode-copilot",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            2
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current VS Code agentic-coding documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [
            {
              "type": "runtime",
              "value": "agents apply edits in the session workspace or worktree; review and integration behavior varies by session mode"
            }
          ],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "microsoft-vscode-agentic-coding",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            },
            {
              "resourceId": "microsoft-vscode-multi-file-edits",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "cursor",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            3
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current Cursor Agent mode documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [
            {
              "type": "host-role",
              "value": "claim is scoped to Cursor Agent in the desktop workbench"
            }
          ],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "cursor-agent-multi-file",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "claude-cli",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            4
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current Claude Code workflow documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [
            {
              "type": "policy",
              "value": "coordinated multi-file editing is documented, but whether edits are approved individually or reviewed after the fact depends on the active permission mode"
            }
          ],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "anthropic-claude-code-multi-file",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "html": "/features/multi-file-edit",
  "markdown": "/features/multi-file-edit.md",
  "json": "/api/v1/features/multi-file-edit.json",
  "body": "Edit multiple files during one task. Review and approval behavior is recorded separately for each product.\n\nThe matrix below lists published **web**, **desktop**, and **CLI** surfaces. Unreviewed cells remain **unknown** until a dated note and public source support a more specific status.\n\nUse the Markdown and JSON twins if you are an agent reading this site."
}