Development Modes

When the AI needs to take an action — editing a file, running a command, searching your codebase — it makes a tool call. Development modes control whether those tool calls require your approval.

Toggle between modes with Shift+Tab during a chat session. The current mode is shown in the status bar.

You can also boot directly into a specific mode with --mode, which works in both interactive and non-interactive runs:

nanocoder --mode yolo                    # interactive, yolo
nanocoder --mode plan run "audit auth"   # run mode, plan only
nanocoder --mode=auto-accept             # fused form also works

Accepts normal, auto-accept, yolo, or plan. Invalid values exit with an error. When --mode is omitted, interactive sessions default to normal and run mode defaults to auto-accept.

Normal Mode

The default mode. Every tool call requires your explicit confirmation before execution.

• See exactly what the AI wants to do before it happens
• Approve or reject each action individually
• Best for unfamiliar codebases, sensitive operations, or when you want full control

When to use: Starting a new project, working with code you don't fully understand, or when the AI is making changes you want to review carefully.

Auto-Accept Mode

Automatically accepts and executes most tool calls without confirmation. Some high-risk tools like bash commands still require approval.

• Significantly faster for iterative workflows
• All tool execution results are still displayed — you can see what happened
• The AI can chain multiple actions without waiting for approval
• Bash commands and destructive git operations (hard reset, force delete, stash drop/clear) still prompt for confirmation

When to use: Tasks you trust the AI to handle — code generation, refactoring well-understood code, running tests, or when you want to step back and let the AI work through a problem.

Yolo Mode

Automatically accepts and executes every tool call without exception — including bash commands and destructive git operations.

• No confirmation prompts at all — everything runs immediately
• Bash commands, hard resets, force deletes, stash drops — all auto-accepted
• The status bar turns red to make it clear you're in yolo mode

When to use: When you fully trust the AI and want zero interruptions. Use with caution — there are no safety nets other than basic tool validators.

Plan Mode

A dedicated exploration and planning workflow. The AI investigates your codebase with the tools available in plan mode and produces a structured plan — it cannot edit files, run shell commands, or perform git/task mutations.

What Happens in Plan Mode

The AI is instructed to:

1. Investigate first — read files, follow imports, check call sites, and understand the full picture before proposing changes
2. Produce a structured plan including:
   • Summary of what needs to happen and why
   • Files to modify, create, or delete
   • Step-by-step approach (numbered, ordered)
   • Dependencies and risks
   • Open questions
3. Do not execute changes — plan mode is for analysis and planning only

Available Tools

Plan mode removes mutation tools and leaves only read-only and interaction tools:

Category	Tools Available
Exploration	read_file, find_files, search_file_contents, list_directory
Git (read-only)	git_status, git_diff, git_log
Diagnostics	lsp_get_diagnostics
Web	web_search, fetch_url
Interaction	ask_user, agent

The following are excluded: all file mutation tools (write_file, string_replace, delete_file, etc.), execute_bash, all task management tools, and git write tools (git_add, git_commit, git_push, git_pull, git_branch, git_stash, git_reset).

The Plan → Execute Workflow

Plan mode is designed as the first step of a two-phase workflow:

1. Plan — switch to plan mode with Shift+Tab, describe your task, and let the AI explore and produce a plan
2. Execute — switch back to normal, auto-accept, or yolo mode with Shift+Tab, then tell the AI to execute the plan

Your conversation history (including the plan) is preserved when you switch modes, so the AI has full context when it starts executing.

Plan Mode with Tune

When Tune is active with the minimal profile, plan mode uses an even leaner tool set:

Profile	Plan Mode Tools
full	All plan-mode tools listed above
minimal	read_file, find_files, search_file_contents, list_directory

Because the minimal tune profile already limits the available tools, ask_user, agent, diagnostics, web tools, and git tools are not available in that configuration.

Simplified Prompts

Plan mode also adjusts the system prompt — coding practices and constraints sections are excluded (since the AI isn't writing code), and git/diagnostics sections use read-only variants focused on gathering information rather than acting on it.

When to use: Understanding how to approach a complex task before committing to changes, exploring an unfamiliar codebase, or when you want a detailed plan to review and refine before execution.