The AI Agent window has a two-way toggle that decides what the Divi AI Agent is allowed to do with your request: Build or Ask.
Build is the default, used when you want to build or change something.
Ask is used when you want to ask for clarification regarding a specific module, or you want to get more information about your layout.
The difference between the two isn't a matter of tone or caution - it's a real, enforced boundary on what each mode can touch.
What Build Mode Does
In Build mode, the Agent plans out your request and then carries it out. It can add, edit, move, clone, and delete elements on your page, change design settings, work with presets and variables, and drive the builder interface on your behalf - opening panels, applying layouts, and more.
Not every action runs the moment you ask for it. Some of what the Agent does in Build mode pauses first and waits for you to approve it before it goes ahead - covered in a later article on approvals and risk levels.
What Ask Mode Does
In Ask mode, the Agent answers questions, looks at your current page to understand what's on it, searches Divi's documentation, and explains what a setting does or how a feature works.
It cannot change anything.
Note: Ask mode never adds, edits, moves, or deletes anything on your page, and it never changes a setting, no matter how you phrase the request.
Why Ask Mode Cannot Change Your Page
That guarantee isn't a matter of the Agent choosing to hold back - it's built into how Ask mode runs. Asking a question routes you to a separate version of the Agent that was only ever handed the abilities needed to look things up and explain them; the abilities that add, edit, or delete anything on your page aren't available to it at all, so there's nothing for it to slip and use by mistake.
Its own instructions also tell it to explain what it would do rather than act; if you ask it to make a change, it will suggest switching to Build mode instead of trying.
As a last line of defense, if any attempted change ever did reach the point of execution, one final check inspects it and blocks it before it can touch your page, returning an error instead of carrying it out. Several separate safeguards all have to fail at once for Ask mode to change anything, which in practice means it doesn't. This is a technical limit, not politeness.
Switching Between Modes
The mode toggle sits in the AI Agent window, alongside the other controls. Its own face always shows your current mode - Ask or Build - and hovering it shows the Change Mode tooltip. Click it to switch modes.
Click on the Modes dropdown
Select
Ask - for asking questions or clarification
Build (default) - to start building/changing the page's layout.
A few things to know about how mode behaves:
Mode is remembered per conversation, so different chats can sit in different modes at the same time.
The last mode you used is also remembered across sessions, so the composer opens in whichever mode you left it in.
If the Agent is waiting on your approval for something it started in Build mode, that approval always finishes in Build, even if you toggle to Ask before you respond to it.
When to Use Each
Situation | Mode |
You're not sure what a setting does | Ask |
You want the Agent to make the change | Build |
You're exploring a page someone else built | Ask |
You want a section, module, or design change carried out | Build |
You want an explanation before you commit to anything | Ask |
You already know exactly what you want changed | Build |
Pro tip: On a page you are not familiar with, start in Ask mode and get your bearings first. Once you know what you actually want changed, switch to Build and ask for it directly.