Claude Code plan mode: how to ask for a plan before any edit

Before you start

You need Claude Code installed and a project folder open in a terminal, both from lesson 1. Anthropic's common workflows page recommends plan mode for changes you want to review before they touch disk, so pick a task that touches more than one file.

Run claude --version first. Anthropic's permission modes page says that with Claude Code v2.1.283 or later, new interactive terminal and VS Code sessions start in auto mode, in which a classifier model reviews actions instead of you. That starting point decides how many presses of Shift+Tab it takes to reach plan mode.

Ask for a plan before any edit

Plan mode is a permission mode. You switch it on with Shift+Tab in the session, with /plan at the prompt or with a launch flag. The block below shows the last two, and the steps cover all three.

# Start a session in plan mode
claude --permission-mode plan

# Inside a running session, plan one task
/plan fix the auth bug

1. Open a terminal in your project and run claude. The status bar under the prompt names the active mode, such as ⏵⏵ auto mode on or ⏸ manual mode on.
2. Enter plan mode. Press Shift+Tab until the status bar shows ⏸ plan mode on, or type /plan followed by a task. On Windows, Anthropic lists Alt+M as the replacement when Shift+Tab does nothing.
3. Describe the task. Name the symptom, the folder to look in and what done looks like. Claude looks through your files, runs shell commands, then writes a plan. It does not edit your source.
4. Read the plan. If a step is wrong, choose "No, keep planning" and tell Claude what to change. To edit the plan yourself, press Ctrl+G and it opens in your default text editor.
5. Approve the plan when it is right. Choose "Yes, manually approve edits" to review each edit, or "Yes, and use auto mode" to let Claude work on. Approving leaves plan mode, and Claude starts editing.

What happens between the plan and the first edit

Claude researches, and you decide. Anthropic's page says plan mode tells Claude to research and propose changes without making them, and that edits stay blocked until you approve the plan.

Shell commands during planning follow the session. When auto mode is available and the useAutoModeDuringPlan setting is on, which it is by default, the classifier reviews the commands instead of asking you. Without auto mode, any command outside the built-in read-only set prompts you for approval.

One session type does not block edits at all. In an interactive terminal session with bypass permissions available, Claude is still told to plan without editing, but an edit it attempts runs without a prompt. Plan mode keeps its blocks in claude -p runs and in the VS Code chat panel.

Plan mode among the six permission modes

The cycle, as the page documents it for the terminal: from auto, the first Shift+Tab switches to Manual, and the next ones run through accept edits and then plan. So plan mode is three presses from a session that started in auto. /plan skips the counting.

Not every mode is in that cycle. Auto appears when it is available, bypassPermissions appears only after you start with a flag or setting that enables it, and dontAsk never appears. You set dontAsk with --permission-mode dontAsk.

The other surfaces name plan mode too. In VS Code you click the mode indicator and pick Plan. The desktop app has a mode selector under the prompt box, and a Plan pick there applies to the current session only. On claude.ai/code the dropdown offers Accept edits, Plan and Auto.

How Claude Code's creator and his team use plan mode

Boris Cherny created Claude Code at Anthropic. In the setup thread he posted on X in January 2026, he says most of his sessions start in plan mode. When the goal is a pull request, he goes back and forth with Claude until he likes the plan, then lets it edit, and it usually lands the change in one pass. He wrote "shift+tab twice" for the way in. Sessions now start in auto mode, so today it is three presses, or /plan.

At the end of that month he shared the team's own tips. One engineer has a first Claude write the plan and a second Claude review it as a staff engineer. Another goes back to planning the moment a task goes sideways, instead of pushing on. Both are the "No, keep planning" choice from the steps above, used before any edit lands.

By May 2026 his number one tip was auto mode, because it ends permission prompts and lets him run several sessions side by side. That is the "Yes, and use auto mode" choice at the end of a plan. Take it once you trust the plan, and the manual choice while you still want to read each edit.

Screenshots of X's own embeds of the posts, taken on 5 November 2026, with the time in UTC. X cuts the second post short with Show more. Select a screenshot to open the post on X.

Common mistakes

• Pressing Shift+Tab once and typing a task. From auto it lands on Manual, not plan. Read the status bar for ⏸ plan mode on, or type /plan instead.
• Approving on autopilot. The first approve option starts Claude in auto mode. Pick "Yes, manually approve edits" when you want to see each edit. Where auto mode is not available, the first option reads "Yes, auto-accept edits".
• Planning from a vague prompt. "fix the login bug" gives Claude little to plan from. Anthropic's rewrite of that prompt also asks for a failing test that reproduces the bug before the fix.
• Pinning plan mode where the extension does not look. A project's .claude/settings.json can set defaultMode to plan, but the VS Code extension never reads project settings for the starting mode. Use claudeCode.initialPermissionMode in your VS Code user settings.
• Trusting plan mode in a session started with bypass permissions. Its blocks are not enforced there, so use plain Manual mode if you need a real stop.

Try it yourself

• Start claude --permission-mode plan in a project and ask for a plan to add input validation to one form or function. Check that the status bar shows ⏸ plan mode on and that git status still lists no changed files.
• Press Ctrl+G, change one step in your editor, save, and return to the session.
• Choose "No, keep planning", say what to change, then approve with "Yes, manually approve edits" and read each edit.
• In a normal session, press Shift+Tab repeatedly and write down the status bar text for every mode you pass through.

Next: slash commands

You can now make Claude think before it touches your code. Lesson 3 covers the slash commands, including /plan, and how to write your own.

Plan mode has a helper behind it: Plan is one of the built-in subagents, as our subagents post explains. A good plan also depends on what Claude already knows about the project, which is what a CLAUDE.md file is for.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Claude Code docs: Choose a permission mode (read November 4, 2026)https://code.claude.com/docs/en/permission-modes
2. Claude Code docs: Commands (read November 4, 2026)https://code.claude.com/docs/en/commands
3. Claude Code docs: Interactive mode (read November 4, 2026)https://code.claude.com/docs/en/interactive-mode
4. Claude Code docs: Common workflows (read November 4, 2026)https://code.claude.com/docs/en/common-workflows
5. Claude Code docs: Model configuration (read November 4, 2026)https://code.claude.com/docs/en/model-config
6. Claude Code docs: Best practices (read November 4, 2026)https://code.claude.com/docs/en/best-practices
7. Boris Cherny on X: tip 6, plan mode, 2 January 2026 (read November 5, 2026)https://x.com/bcherny/status/2007179845336527000
8. Boris Cherny on X: tips from the Claude Code team, 31 January 2026 (read November 5, 2026)https://x.com/bcherny/status/2017742745365057733
9. Boris Cherny on X: use auto mode, 24 May 2026 (read November 5, 2026)https://x.com/bcherny/status/2058519809214607704