Allow modals to opt out of blocking autosave by mchisolm0 · Pull Request #51801 · zed-industries/zed

mchisolm0 · 2026-03-18T01:39:16Z

Currently, autosave behavior is guarded by

if the item has lost focus and
an unconditional check if a modal is active.

This allows the TabSwitcher to block autosave when it gains focus, preventing autosave from ever triggering for the file which lost focus.

This PR allows modals to opt out of blocking autosave, however, I am concerned having autosave trigger immediately on TabSwitcher getting focus may cause the unwanted formatting and cursor jumps mentioned in the comment above the item.rs change. I have a PR built on this one which only triggers autosave when the TabSwitcher focuses the new tab (#51802)

Add ModalView::blocks_focus_change_autosave with a default of true so existing modals continue to block autosave.
Thread the check through ModalViewHandle, ModalLayer, and Workspace and use it when deciding whether to autosave items on focus change.
Implement TabSwitcher to return false.

Closes #47968

Before you mark this PR as ready for review, make sure that you have:

Added a solid test coverage and/or screenshots from doing manual testing
Done a self-review taking into account security and performance aspects
N/A Aligned any UI changes with the UI checklist

Recording of fix

TabSwitcher.fix.with.immediate.autosave.mp4

Release Notes:

Fixed tab switcher not triggering autosave

- Add ModalView::blocks_focus_change_autosave with a default of true so existing modals continue to block autosave. - Thread the check through ModalViewHandle, ModalLayer, and Workspace and use it when deciding whether to autosave items on focus change. - Implement TabSwitcher to return false.

maxdeviant · 2026-03-19T16:20:33Z

Thanks for taking a look!

We have an alternative solution open in #51949 that we are discussing that would supersede this one.

@bennetbo

…x command palette (#51949) This PR adjusts the logic that was added in #45166 to just apply to the specific case of interacting with the command palette in Vim and Helix modes (hereafter referred to collectively as "Vim mode"). In that PR, we would suppress the auto-save on focus change for _any_ modal in the workspace, regardless of whether we were actually in Vim mode or not. This would cause issues where moving between files some other way—such as the tab switcher or the file finder—would cause the buffers to never be saved. We now only suppress the auto-save on focus loss behavior when in Vim mode and the active modal is the command palette. In all other cases, we save the file. Closes #47968. Supersedes #51801 and #51802. Note: the way we are identifying the active modal as the command palette isn't the best, but @bennetbo and I didn't have any other cleaner solutions. It's a bit tricky, as the logic lives in the `workspace`, which isn't able to know about the `CommandPalette` due to `command_palette` depending on `workspace`. There may be some other way we could achieve this with more indirection, but it's unclear whether it would be worth it at this time. Release Notes: - Changed `{ "autosave": "on_focus_change" }` to now always save on focus loss, except for when activating the command palette when in Vim/Helix mode. Co-authored-by: Bennet Bo Fenner <bennetbo@gmx.de>

maxdeviant · 2026-03-19T16:53:46Z

Closing in favor of #51949.

@bennetbo

…x command palette (zed-industries#51949) This PR adjusts the logic that was added in zed-industries#45166 to just apply to the specific case of interacting with the command palette in Vim and Helix modes (hereafter referred to collectively as "Vim mode"). In that PR, we would suppress the auto-save on focus change for _any_ modal in the workspace, regardless of whether we were actually in Vim mode or not. This would cause issues where moving between files some other way—such as the tab switcher or the file finder—would cause the buffers to never be saved. We now only suppress the auto-save on focus loss behavior when in Vim mode and the active modal is the command palette. In all other cases, we save the file. Closes zed-industries#47968. Supersedes zed-industries#51801 and zed-industries#51802. Note: the way we are identifying the active modal as the command palette isn't the best, but @bennetbo and I didn't have any other cleaner solutions. It's a bit tricky, as the logic lives in the `workspace`, which isn't able to know about the `CommandPalette` due to `command_palette` depending on `workspace`. There may be some other way we could achieve this with more indirection, but it's unclear whether it would be worth it at this time. Release Notes: - Changed `{ "autosave": "on_focus_change" }` to now always save on focus loss, except for when activating the command palette when in Vim/Helix mode. Co-authored-by: Bennet Bo Fenner <bennetbo@gmx.de>

@bennetbo

…x command palette (zed-industries#51949) This PR adjusts the logic that was added in zed-industries#45166 to just apply to the specific case of interacting with the command palette in Vim and Helix modes (hereafter referred to collectively as "Vim mode"). In that PR, we would suppress the auto-save on focus change for _any_ modal in the workspace, regardless of whether we were actually in Vim mode or not. This would cause issues where moving between files some other way—such as the tab switcher or the file finder—would cause the buffers to never be saved. We now only suppress the auto-save on focus loss behavior when in Vim mode and the active modal is the command palette. In all other cases, we save the file. Closes zed-industries#47968. Supersedes zed-industries#51801 and zed-industries#51802. Note: the way we are identifying the active modal as the command palette isn't the best, but @bennetbo and I didn't have any other cleaner solutions. It's a bit tricky, as the logic lives in the `workspace`, which isn't able to know about the `CommandPalette` due to `command_palette` depending on `workspace`. There may be some other way we could achieve this with more indirection, but it's unclear whether it would be worth it at this time. Release Notes: - Changed `{ "autosave": "on_focus_change" }` to now always save on focus loss, except for when activating the command palette when in Vim/Helix mode. Co-authored-by: Bennet Bo Fenner <bennetbo@gmx.de>

@bennetbo

…x command palette (zed-industries#51949) This PR adjusts the logic that was added in zed-industries#45166 to just apply to the specific case of interacting with the command palette in Vim and Helix modes (hereafter referred to collectively as "Vim mode"). In that PR, we would suppress the auto-save on focus change for _any_ modal in the workspace, regardless of whether we were actually in Vim mode or not. This would cause issues where moving between files some other way—such as the tab switcher or the file finder—would cause the buffers to never be saved. We now only suppress the auto-save on focus loss behavior when in Vim mode and the active modal is the command palette. In all other cases, we save the file. Closes zed-industries#47968. Supersedes zed-industries#51801 and zed-industries#51802. Note: the way we are identifying the active modal as the command palette isn't the best, but @bennetbo and I didn't have any other cleaner solutions. It's a bit tricky, as the logic lives in the `workspace`, which isn't able to know about the `CommandPalette` due to `command_palette` depending on `workspace`. There may be some other way we could achieve this with more indirection, but it's unclear whether it would be worth it at this time. Release Notes: - Changed `{ "autosave": "on_focus_change" }` to now always save on focus loss, except for when activating the command palette when in Vim/Helix mode. Co-authored-by: Bennet Bo Fenner <bennetbo@gmx.de>

cla-bot bot added the cla-signed The user has signed the Contributor License Agreement label Mar 18, 2026

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mchisolm0 mentioned this pull request Mar 18, 2026

TabSwitcher delayed autosave #51802

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2 tasks

SomeoneToIgnore self-assigned this Mar 19, 2026

maxdeviant mentioned this pull request Mar 19, 2026

workspace: Only suppress auto-save on focus transfer for the Vim/Helix command palette #51949

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maxdeviant closed this Mar 19, 2026

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Allow modals to opt out of blocking autosave#51801

Allow modals to opt out of blocking autosave#51801
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mchisolm0:tabswitcher-trigger-autosave

mchisolm0 commented Mar 18, 2026 •

edited by miguelraz

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mchisolm0 commented Mar 18, 2026 •

edited by miguelraz

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