feat(init): default VS Code chat sessions to Squad

[tamirdresher]

Summary

Implements the feature that defaults VS Code chat sessions to Squad mode during squad init,
using a JSONC-safe editor (jsonc-parser) to write "chat.newSession.defaultMode": "Squad"
to .vscode/settings.json.

Note: This is a 🟡 capability task for EECOM. Needs squad member review before merging.

Closes #1486

Behavior

• Plain squad init creates or updates .vscode/settings.json with "chat.newSession.defaultMode": "Squad"
• Missing file: created with that key (and .vscode/ dir if needed)
• Existing file without key: key added, all existing settings/comments/formatting preserved
• Key already set (any value): left untouched - user ownership respected; idempotent
• --no-vscode-default: skips .vscode/settings.json entirely
• Global init (--global): skipped - no .vscode/ context for personal squad config
• Malformed settings.json: warns and continues without corrupting the file
• Idempotent: second squad init run produces no further diff

Opt-out flag

--no-vscode-default    Skip writing chat.newSession.defaultMode to .vscode/settings.json

Follows the existing --no-<capability> naming convention (same as --no-workflows).

Changed files

• packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/init.ts - applyVscodeDefaultMode() function + includeVscodeDefault option
• packages/squad-cli/src/cli-entry.ts - --no-vscode-default flag parsing + help text
• packages/squad-cli/package.json - jsonc-parser ^3.3.1 added to dependencies
• package-lock.json - updated for new direct dep
• test/init-vscode-settings.test.ts - 7 new focused test cases (new file)
• docs/src/content/docs/features/vscode.md - "Default Chat Session Mode" section added
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/cli.md - --no-vscode-default row added
• .changeset/init-vscode-default.md - minor bump changeset (new file)

Validation

• tsc lint: passes - only pre-existing errors (missing @types/react, @types/ws), zero new errors
• Tests / Build: cannot run in this sandboxed environment - npm install is blocked by a corporate proxy 404 on an unrelated transitive package (vite@8.1.4), unrelated to this change. Test file test/init-vscode-settings.test.ts covers 7 cases (missing file, existing without key, existing key with different value preserved, comments/trailing commas preserved, opt-out flag, idempotent rerun, malformed-file safety) but could not be executed locally; recommend CI run on this PR as the actual test gate.

Notes

• squad upgrade was intentionally not modified - its scaffolding path is independent.
• Issue feat(init): default VS Code chat sessions to Squad #1486 was created from the personal tamirdresher account after the Enterprise Managed User (EMU) account (tamirdresher_microsoft) was found to be blocked from creating issues on this external/public repo.

[github-actions]

🟡 Impact Analysis — PR #1485

Risk tier: 🟡 MEDIUM

📊 Summary

Metric	Count
Files changed	8
Files added	2
Files modified	6
Files deleted	0
Modules touched	4
Critical files	1

🎯 Risk Factors

• 8 files changed (6-20 → MEDIUM)
• 4 modules touched (2-4 → MEDIUM)
• Critical files touched: packages/squad-cli/package.json

📦 Modules Affected

docs (2 files)

• docs/src/content/docs/features/vscode.md
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/cli.md

root (2 files)

• .changeset/init-vscode-default.md
• package-lock.json

squad-cli (3 files)

• packages/squad-cli/package.json
• packages/squad-cli/src/cli-entry.ts
• packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/init.ts

tests (1 file)

• test/init-vscode-settings.test.ts

⚠️ Critical Files

• packages/squad-cli/package.json

---

This report is generated automatically for every PR. See #733 for details.

[github-actions]

🏗️ Architectural Review

⚠️ Architectural review: 1 warning(s).

Severity	Category	Finding	Files
🟡 warning	bootstrap-area	1 file(s) in the bootstrap area (packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/) were modified. These files must maintain zero external dependencies. Review carefully.	packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/init.ts

---

Automated architectural review — informational only.

[github-actions]

🔒 Security Review

🔒 Security review: 1 info.

Severity	Category	Finding	Location
ℹ️ info	new-dependency	1 new/changed dependency version(s) in packages/squad-cli/package.json. Verify these packages are trusted and necessary.	packages/squad-cli/package.json:198

---

Automated security review — informational only.

[github-actions]

🛫 PR Readiness Check

ℹ️ This comment updates on each push. Last checked: commit d84e369

PR Scope: 📦🔧 Mixed (product + infrastructure)

⚠️ 2 item(s) to address before review

Status	Check	Details
❌	Single commit	2 commits — consider squashing before review
✅	Not in draft	Ready for review
✅	Branch up to date	Up to date with dev
❌	Copilot review	No Copilot review yet — it may still be processing
✅	Changeset present	Changeset file found
✅	Scope clean	No .squad/ or docs/proposals/ files
✅	No merge conflicts	No merge conflicts
✅	Copilot threads resolved	2 active Copilot thread(s) resolved (1 outdated skipped)
✅	CI passing	All checks passing

Files Changed (8 files, +303 −5)

File	+/−
.changeset/init-vscode-default.md	+5 −0
docs/src/content/docs/features/vscode.md	+33 −0
docs/src/content/docs/reference/cli.md	+1 −0
package-lock.json	+2 −2
packages/squad-cli/package.json	+1 −0
packages/squad-cli/src/cli-entry.ts	+5 −3
packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/init.ts	+51 −0
test/init-vscode-settings.test.ts	+205 −0

Total: +303 −5

---

This check runs automatically on every push. Fix any ❌ items and push again.
See CONTRIBUTING.md and PR Requirements for details.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds an opt-outable squad init enhancement that updates VS Code workspace settings to default new chat sessions to Squad mode by writing "chat.newSession.defaultMode": "Squad" into .vscode/settings.json using JSONC-safe edits.

Changes:

• Add JSONC-aware .vscode/settings.json update during runInit() with includeVscodeDefault + --no-vscode-default opt-out and --global skip behavior.
• Add focused vitest coverage for create/update/idempotency/opt-out/malformed JSON scenarios.
• Document the new behavior and CLI flag; add a changeset and new dependency (jsonc-parser).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
test/init-vscode-settings.test.ts	Adds tests for the VS Code settings injection behavior and opt-out semantics.
packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/init.ts	Implements JSONC-safe injection of chat.newSession.defaultMode during init, gated by options.
packages/squad-cli/src/cli-entry.ts	Adds --no-vscode-default parsing and help text (currently has a formatting issue).
packages/squad-cli/package.json	Adds jsonc-parser dependency (description currently has encoding/mojibake).
package-lock.json	Lockfile updates for the new direct dependency.
docs/src/content/docs/reference/cli.md	Documents the new --no-vscode-default flag.
docs/src/content/docs/features/vscode.md	Documents “Default Chat Session Mode” behavior and opt-out.
.changeset/init-vscode-default.md	Changeset for a minor bump describing the new init behavior.

[tamirdresher]

Self-review notes before this can go in — I can't formally request changes on my own PR, but the following three items are still required before merge. Head verified at 4a43c0125d37185ed61ee90b47fb39e74faca77a.

1. Fix the mojibake in packages/squad-cli/package.json description. It currently reads "Squad CLI — Command-line ..." (raw bytes \u00e2\u20ac\u201d) because a UTF-8 em-dash was decoded as CP1252 and re-encoded into JSON. Replace it with either a literal — or --. This will otherwise ship to the npm registry as garbled text.

2. Fix the --no-vscode-default help output in packages/squad-cli/src/cli-entry.ts. The --no-vscode-default line is currently concatenated inside the same template literal that owns --no-workflows, with a bare newline and no indentation, so squad init --help prints it flush-left and misaligned relative to every other flag. Give it its own console.log(...) line matching the surrounding indentation and spacing.

3. Add an explicit regression test that --global init does NOT write .vscode/settings.json. The guard !options.isGlobal in runInit exists, but test/init-vscode-settings.test.ts never exercises isGlobal: true. Add a case that runs the init flow with { ...INIT_OPTS, isGlobal: true } in a temp dir and asserts .vscode/settings.json was not created. Without it, a future refactor can silently drop the guard.

I'll come back for another self-review pass once these are pushed.

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly nudge — this PR has had no activity for 7 days.

What needs attention:

• 💬 3 unresolved review thread(s) (3 from Copilot). Address and resolve them.
• 👀 No approving reviews yet. Request a review from a teammate.
• ⬇️ 16 commits behind dev. Rebase to pick up latest changes.

---

If this PR is abandoned, please close it. If it's blocked on something external, leave a comment so the team knows.
This is an automated check that runs on weekdays. It won't nudge the same PR more than once per week.

[bradygaster]

The three self-review blockers are fixed in e8ddcb0; focused tests pass 9/9 and the full build passes. Fresh CI's Policy Gates failure is branch staleness, not the fix: this branch still has @bradygaster/squad-cli@0.11.0-build.1 while current dev is 0.11.0. Per the approved sequence, hold this PR until #1445 lands, then rebase onto current dev, squash if desired, rerun CI, and request final approval.

[bradygaster]

#1445 has now merged — the blocker that was holding this PR is gone.

@tamirdresher please take the following steps to move this forward:

1. Rebase tamirdresher-microsoft-super-dollop onto current dev (do not force-push; open a new commit on the branch or squash via a clean rebase — never rewrite the branch history in a way that breaks the contributor's commit chain).
2. Ensure the version references resolve to 0.11.0 (not 0.11.0-build.1) after the rebase.
3. Push the rebased branch so CI re-runs. The Policy Gates failure is solely branch staleness — a clean rebase onto dev should clear it.
4. Once CI is fully green, request a formal review/approval and resolve any remaining Copilot review threads.

No code changes are expected from you in this pass — the three self-review items (@tamirdresher comment 2026-07-17, fixed in e8ddcb08) are already addressed. This is purely a rebase + CI + approval step.

— Flight 🏗️ (monitor pass, 2026-07-27)

[tamirdresher]

@bradygaster This is rebased onto latest dev, version cleanup done (@bradygaster/squad-cli restored to 0.11.0), all 3 outstanding review threads resolved (help text split, package description mojibake fixed, global-init regression test added), and all CI checks including Policy Gates are green. Ready for your review/approval whenever you have a chance.