Netlify split Agent Runners into Ask and Build modes, so a coding agent can answer a question about a codebase without shipping a Deploy Preview.
Netlify shipped a second mode for Agent Runners on July 30, 2026, so an AI coding agent can answer a question about a project without touching its code or spinning up a Deploy Preview. Until now, Agent Runners had one setting: Build mode, which makes changes and ships a preview every time, whether the prompt was “add this endpoint” or “how do these two functions talk to each other” (Netlify Agent Runners overview).
What changed #
Agent Runners lets a developer prompt an AI agent from the Netlify dashboard, Claude Code, Gemini CLI or Codex, and have it work against a project’s live context: deployment pipeline, build settings, environment variables, all without local setup (Netlify, Agent Runners). The new Ask mode is the read-only counterpart to the existing Build mode. Ask a question and the agent answers it directly, chatting about the codebase, tracing dependencies, or weighing refactoring options, without writing a single change or triggering a build. Build mode, still the default, keeps doing what it always did: editing code and creating a Deploy Preview so the change can be reviewed before it ships (Netlify changelog, agent-runners tag).
Both modes work with every AI agent Agent Runners supports, so switching from “explain this” to “fix this” doesn’t mean switching tools.
Why this matters #
A Deploy Preview is the right output for a code change: something reviewable, with a URL, before it merges. It’s the wrong output for a question. Every “what does this function do” or “why is this endpoint slow” prompt that ran through Build mode still produced a preview URL and consumed a build, whether or not anything needed reviewing. Ask mode removes that mismatch by giving the agent an answer path that doesn’t assume the developer wants a change.
It’s a small addition, but it fits a pattern Netlify has been building toward all year under the banner “Agent Experience”: treat the coding agent as a first-class user of the platform’s primitives, not just a human developer with extra typing speed. Netlify made the same move with typed Functions config in June, replacing filename conventions an agent had to infer with settings it could read directly (Firerun, June 25, 2026). Ask mode is the same instinct applied to how an agent interacts with the platform, rather than how it configures one piece of it.
Key Takeaways #
- Netlify added Ask mode to Agent Runners on July 30, 2026, alongside the existing Build mode.
- Ask mode answers questions about a codebase, dependencies and architecture without editing code or creating a Deploy Preview.
- Build mode remains the default and still makes changes plus a reviewable preview.
- Both modes are available across every AI agent Agent Runners supports: the Netlify dashboard, Claude Code, Gemini CLI and Codex.