QodeAssist/docs/completion-modes.md

Code completion modes

QodeAssist produces an inline code-completion suggestion (ghost text you accept with Tab) in one of four ways, chosen per setup in Preferences → QodeAssist → Code Completion → Completion mode. All four share the same trigger heuristics, ghost-text rendering, and Tab / word / line accept — they differ only in how the suggestion is produced. Pick the one that matches your model's capability.

Mode	What it does	Best for
Classic FIM	One fill-in-the-middle request to the configured provider, using the code around the cursor.	Weak or older local models; the lowest-latency option; the default.
FIM + context	The same FIM request, enriched with semantic context read from Qt Creator's built-in code model (C++ class outline and referenced declarations; QML sibling components). Chat-type templates only.	Capable models where extra context improves the completion and the added prompt size is affordable.
Agentic (local tools)	A tool-capable provider model runs the in-process tool loop, gathers its own context, and returns the completion by calling the propose_completion tool.	Strong tool-calling models, on demand. Multi-round and slow — manual trigger only.
Agentic (ACP agent)	An external ACP agent (chosen below the mode selector) does the same over the QodeAssist MCP server.	Using an external coding agent as the completion engine. Manual trigger only; needs an agent selected.

Notes and requirements

• Default and migration. Existing setups open as Classic FIM with unchanged behavior — the mode is a new setting with a behavior-preserving default, and your connection, model, template, and API-key settings are untouched.
• FIM + context only enriches C++ and QML files, and only when the active template is a chat-type template. The built-in code model can lag unsaved edits, so the added context is a hint, not a guarantee; the request still runs for unsupported languages, just without the extra context. (Qt Creator's built-in CPlusPlus model is used, not clangd's AST, which is not reachable by plugins.)
• Agentic modes are manual-trigger only. Because a tool loop takes seconds and many tokens, the agentic modes are not fired automatically while you type — invoke them with the Request QodeAssist Suggestion shortcut (default Ctrl+Alt+Q, reconfigurable in Preferences → Keyboard). They need a tool-capable provider (local) and a chat-type template.
• Agentic (ACP agent) additionally needs an agent id from the Agents catalogue entered in ACP completion agent id, and the QodeAssist MCP server running. With no agent selected, the mode is disabled — it never falls back to a FIM request; a manual trigger reports the missing configuration instead.

See also: file-context.md for how the plain-text context window is assembled, and acp-agents.md for configuring ACP agents.