Permission modes
Decide how much the terminal does before asking you, and what an approval or denial means.
Permission modes decide how much the terminal does before asking you. New sessions start in auto. Press Shift+Tab to cycle the common modes (auto, accept-edits, plan, bypass), or run /permissions to open the full picker, which also includes default.
| Mode | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| auto | The terminal judges each action and asks only when it decides one needs you. Recommended for most sessions. |
| plan | Nothing happens yet: the terminal researches and proposes a plan you approve first. Use it when you want to see the approach before anything runs. |
| accept-edits | File changes go through without asking; everything else still prompts. Use it when the prompts you keep approving are file edits. |
| default | The terminal asks before acting. Reading and searching don't prompt; anything that changes something does. Use it when you want to confirm every step. |
| bypass | No prompts at all. Nothing asks, including actions you might have wanted to see first. Use it rarely and deliberately. |
Approve or deny an action
When a mode requires approval, the prompt offers three choices:
- "Yes, this time": runs the action once.
- "Yes, and don't ask again for this tool": stops the prompts for that kind of action for the rest of the session.
- No, with feedback: opens a text field; what you type becomes the reason for the no, and the terminal works from it.
Esc rejects without comment.
A denial is a hard stop: the requested action doesn't run.
Plan mode
In plan mode nothing runs: the terminal reads, researches, and presents a plan for your approval. Approving offers two ways forward: approve and let the resulting changes through, or approve and confirm each change yourself. You can also keep planning, with feedback on what to change, and nothing runs until you approve.
Learn more
- The composer:
Shift+Taband the other keys that drive a session. - The live browser: how actions in the browser follow your permission mode.