Multi Edit File

Multi Edit File

Use this bundled skill for manual text-file changes. The gateway resolves all affected paths, validates the full request, applies exact replacements in memory, and only then commits the file operations. If validation fails, no file is written.

Prefer multi_edit_file over shell redirection or ad hoc scripts for normal source/config/docs edits because the gateway can audit affected paths, enforce allowed-directory policy, and return a compact delta.

Input Modes

Legacy single-file edit:

{
  "path": "src/example.rs",
  "edits": [
    {
      "old_string": "old text",
      "new_string": "new text",
      "replace_all": false,
      "startLine": 42
    }
  ],
  "cwd": "D:/path/to/workspace",
  "skillToken": "..."
}

Multi-file exact edits:

{
  "files": [
    {
      "path": "src/a.rs",
      "edits": [
        {
          "old_string": "old",
          "new_string": "new"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "path": "src/b.rs",
      "edits": [
        {
          "old_string": "enabled: false",
          "new_string": "enabled: true"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "cwd": "D:/path/to/workspace",
  "skillToken": "..."
}

Structured file operations:

{
  "operations": [
    {
      "type": "edit",
      "path": "src/a.rs",
      "edits": [
        {
          "old_string": "old",
          "new_string": "new"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "create",
      "path": "src/new.rs",
      "content": "pub fn new_file() {}\n"
    },
    {
      "type": "delete",
      "path": "src/old.rs"
    },
    {
      "type": "move",
      "from": "src/name_old.rs",
      "to": "src/name_new.rs"
    }
  ],
  "cwd": "D:/path/to/workspace",
  "skillToken": "..."
}

Fields

• path plus top-level edits keeps compatibility with the original single-file mode.
• files is for multiple existing files, each with its own path and edits.
• operations supports edit, create, delete, and move.
• cwd is required when more than one allowed directory is configured.
• skillToken is required for normal calls. The documentation read for this SKILL.md is the only call that does not require it.

Edit fields:

• old_string must be exact current file text after normalizing CRLF to LF.
• new_string is the replacement text.
• replace_all replaces every occurrence of old_string in the current in-memory state.
• startLine is optional and 1-based. Use it when the same old_string appears more than once and you want the closest match to that line.

Create and move fields:

• content is required for create.
• overwrite defaults to false. When false, create or move fails if the target already exists.
• from and to are required for move.

Rules

1. Read relevant current content with read_file before editing unless the exact text is already in context. Use terminal reads only if read_file is disabled, unavailable, or unsuitable.
2. Use exact old_string text copied from the current file, including indentation. Do not include the line-number prefix or tab from read_file output.
3. Keep old_string as small as practical while still unique. If it is not unique, either set replace_all or provide startLine.
4. Do not set old_string equal to new_string.
5. Do not use an empty old_string; use create for new files, or include surrounding existing text for insertions.
6. Do not touch the same path more than once in one call. Put all replacements for one file into a single edit operation.
7. Order edits inside one file so a later old_string does not target text produced by an earlier new_string.
8. For TS, TSX, JS, and JSX template strings, write ${...} exactly. Do not escape the dollar sign as \${...} unless the target source code truly needs a literal ${...} string.

Result And Events

On success, the result includes added, modified, deleted, moved, a compact delta with byte counts and affected path metadata, and a warnings array when the gateway detects likely syntax hazards such as unbalanced delimiters or accidental \${...} in TS/JS files. Warnings do not block the write; inspect and verify them before continuing.

The admin event stream records an editPreview event before policy confirmation and a finished event after completion.