Plan Mode

Plan mode is where the agent thinks before it touches anything. It explores read-only, writes a plan, and hands it to you in a review surface. You comment, it revises, you approve, then implementation starts.

Start here

Or press shift+tab until the banner reads plan, or launch with cmd --plan.

In plan mode the agent can read files, search, and reason. It cannot edit files, run shell commands, or apply patches. When it's done it writes the plan to ~/.commandcode/plans/<name>.md and opens plan review, a GitHub-style reader where one line is always selected, you leave inline comments, and you resolve with a verb:

The permission modes

Plan mode is one rung on the permission-mode cycle. shift+tab moves between them: default → auto-accept → plan → back to default.

Two modes sit off the cycle. dont-ask is selected from settings or --permission-mode dont-ask, and shift+tab from it moves to auto-accept and rejoins the normal cycle. bypass is only reachable by launching with --yolo, which also adds it to the cycle as a fourth rung (plan → bypass → default).

To jump straight to a mode without cycling, use /mode or its shorthands: /mode:default, /mode:auto-accept, /mode:plan.

Complete guidePermissions→

Modes are only the baseline. The complete guide covers allow/ask/deny rule syntax, the decision ladder every tool call runs, safety behaviors, and the full mode-by-operation decision table.

Command Code creates a checkpoint before modifying files in any mode, so an auto-accept run is always rewindable.

Picking a mode

The usual loop: start in plan, explore and agree on the approach, approve the plan, let it run in auto-accept, rewind with checkpoints if something goes sideways.

Plan review

Plan review turns a plan into a first-class, persistent artifact you can read, comment on, revise, and approve, instead of a block of text that scrolls away.

• One mode: REVIEW. Read line by line, comment on any line, resolve with a verb. There is no separate "edit mode"; plan edits go through your $EDITOR.
• Plans persist. Every plan is saved to ~/.commandcode/plans/ as markdown and indexed, so canceling a review never throws the plan away.
• Comments are review artifacts, not plan text. They live in a sidecar overlay and only reach the agent inside a prompt; they are never written into the plan document.
• Review rounds. When the agent revises a plan, the next round diffs against the last one: changed lines render green so you re-review only what moved.
• Deterministic. A harness backstop guarantees the review is offered even when a weaker model writes a plan and simply stops.

How it works

Inside the reader one line is always selected, comments pin inline under their line, and the bottom bar holds the review verbs:

● marks a commented line and ↳ is your comment pinned beneath it. In a revised round, changed lines render green. The hint row at the very bottom carries the rest: type + enter to comment, ctrl+n/ctrl+p to jump changes, ? x ! for quick comments, ctrl+g to edit.

Four ways in

All of these open the same surface, scoped to a plan written during the current session.

1. Finishing plan mode. The agent writes the plan and calls exit_plan_mode, which opens plan review as the approval surface: the plan is the approval prompt. Approving here can also switch you into auto-accept mode so implementation runs without further prompts.
2. Asking for it. Outside plan mode, say "review plan" / "open plan review". The agent calls the plan_review tool, which opens the panel for the most recent plan file, instead of pasting the plan back as a wall of text.
3. /plan-review. Jumps straight into a review of this session's latest plan.
4. /plans. Opens the full-screen plan browser: every plan from this session and past sessions, with status badges, comment counts, and search. /plans <name> jumps straight into a named plan.

The automatic backstop. Some models write a plan file and stop without ever presenting it. When a run ends naturally with a plan that was written but never reviewed (in default or plan mode), the harness presents the review panel itself. Approving continues the run with an instruction to implement; declining lets the run end so you can steer. Modes that mean "don't interrupt me" (auto-accept, bypass, and dont-ask) skip the backstop.

Reading and commenting

The reader renders the plan like a document: headings, code, quotes, and tables styled per line. Long lines wrap at a comfortable reading width (80 columns when there's room, otherwise 60) rather than truncating.

Navigating:

Commenting is Figma-style: start typing on a line and a draft box opens inline, directly under that line, exactly where it will sit once pinned.