inlineChat: bypass zone widget in hover mode, use direct sendRequest

[jrieken]

Summary

In hover mode, the InlineChatZoneWidget was being lazily instantiated, fully configured (model, attachments, input text), used to submit requests via chatWidget.acceptInput(), then immediately hidden. This PR eliminates that intermediary by calling IChatService.sendRequest() directly on the session's ChatModel, so the zone widget is never instantiated in hover mode.

Session Context

Key decisions from the development session:

• Direct sendRequest over addRequest: Uses the high-level IChatService.sendRequest() which handles parsing, instruction collection, and agent invocation - not the low-level ChatModel.addRequest().
• Zone mode untouched: All changes are scoped to hover mode. The _runZone() codepath is the original run() logic, completely unchanged (except attachDiagnostics defaulting to true since it's always zone mode).
• _resolveModelId() uses lookupLanguageModelByQualifiedName: Same 3-tier priority as _applyModelDefaults (user session choice > inlineChat.defaultModel setting > vendor default for location), but queries ILanguageModelsService directly instead of going through chatWidget.input.switchModelByQualifiedName().
• _buildLocationData() replicates zone widget's resolveData: Produces identical IChatLocationData shape, handling both regular editors and notebook cells.
• Constructor autoruns guarded: The HIDE/SHOW autorun no longer calls this._zone.value in hover mode (which would force instantiation). The diff-adjustment autorun uses rawValue?. so it only acts when the zone already exists.
• InlineChatRunOptions API unchanged: External callers (extensions, actions) don't need changes.
• as unknown as T used in test mocks: Partial<T> as T was insufficient for deeply-nested mock objects; unknown intermediary was chosen over any to satisfy lint rules.

Changes

• run() split into _runHover() and _runZone() - dispatches based on _renderMode
• New _resolveModelId(location) - resolves language model ID without zone widget
• New _buildLocationData() - builds IChatLocationData from editor state without zone widget
• Constructor autoruns guarded - _zone.value -> _zone.rawValue?. where appropriate for hover mode
• New test file inlineChatController.test.ts - verifies sendRequest options (location, locationData, modelId, modeInfo) match expected values in hover mode

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR optimizes inline chat hover mode by avoiding lazy instantiation/configuration of InlineChatZoneWidget and instead submitting requests directly via IChatService.sendRequest() against the session’s ChatModel, keeping the existing zone mode flow intact.

Changes:

• Split run() into _runHover() (direct sendRequest) and _runZone() (existing widget-based flow).
• Added hover-mode helpers _resolveModelId() and _buildLocationData() to replicate widget-derived request options.
• Added a new browser test suite to validate hover-mode sendRequest option parity (location, locationData, modelId, modeInfo).

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/vs/workbench/contrib/inlineChat/browser/inlineChatController.ts	Adds hover-mode direct request submission path and supporting model/location resolution helpers; guards autoruns to avoid forcing zone widget instantiation.
src/vs/workbench/contrib/inlineChat/test/browser/inlineChatController.test.ts	New tests asserting hover-mode sendRequest parameters match expected parity behaviors.

Copilot's findings

• Files reviewed: 2/2 changed files
• Comments generated: 3