diff --git a/apps/vscode/CHANGELOG.md b/apps/vscode/CHANGELOG.md
index 3232b0b7..0f326b55 100644
--- a/apps/vscode/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/apps/vscode/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## 1.120.0 (unreleased)
 
+- Protect code cell options from formatting (<https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto/pull/655>).
+
 ## 1.119.0 (Release on 2025-03-21)
 
 - Use `QUARTO_VISUAL_EDITOR_CONFIRMED` > `PW_TEST` > `CI` to bypass (`true`) or force (`false`) the Visual Editor confirmation dialogue (<https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto/pull/654>).
diff --git a/apps/vscode/src/providers/format.ts b/apps/vscode/src/providers/format.ts
index acb0c691..f6ab48d5 100644
--- a/apps/vscode/src/providers/format.ts
+++ b/apps/vscode/src/providers/format.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import {
   virtualDocUri,
   withVirtualDocUri,
 } from "../vdoc/vdoc";
+import { languageOptionComment } from "./option";
 
 
 export function activateCodeFormatting(engine: MarkdownEngine) {
@@ -205,7 +206,18 @@ async function formatActiveCell(editor: TextEditor, engine: MarkdownEngine) {
 }
 
 async function formatBlock(doc: TextDocument, block: TokenMath | TokenCodeBlock, language: EmbeddedLanguage) {
+  const optionComment = languageOptionComment(language.ids[0]) + "| ";
   const blockLines = lines(codeForExecutableLanguageBlock(block));
+  let optionLines = 0;
+  if (optionComment) {
+    for (const line of blockLines) {
+      if (line.startsWith(optionComment)) {
+        optionLines++;
+      } else {
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+  }
   blockLines.push("");
   const vdoc = virtualDocForCode(blockLines, language);
   const edits = await executeFormatDocumentProvider(
@@ -226,7 +238,7 @@ async function formatBlock(doc: TextDocument, block: TokenMath | TokenCodeBlock,
         );
         return new TextEdit(range, edit.newText);
       })
-      .filter(edit => blockRange.contains(edit.range));
+      .filter(edit => blockRange.contains(edit.range) && edit.range.start.line > block.range.start.line + optionLines);
     return adjustedEdits;
   }
 }
diff --git a/apps/vscode/src/providers/option.ts b/apps/vscode/src/providers/option.ts
index eff92603..885322ec 100644
--- a/apps/vscode/src/providers/option.ts
+++ b/apps/vscode/src/providers/option.ts
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ function handleOptionEnter(editor: TextEditor, comment: string) {
   }
 }
 
-function languageOptionComment(language: string) {
+export function languageOptionComment(language: string) {
   // some mappings
   if (language === "ojs") {
     language = "js";