Bypass Permissions As The Default Mode (User Level)

30/04/2026

If you're tired of approving every Bash command, file write, and tool call — and you've decided you trust Claude enough to just let it run — you can flip the default permission mode at the user level so every new Claude Code session boots straight into bypass mode.

This is the persistent equivalent of launching with --dangerously-skip-permissions. Instead of remembering the flag (or aliasing it), you set it once in your user settings and forget about it.

How

Edit ~/.claude/settings.json and add:

{
  "permissions": {
    "defaultMode": "bypassPermissions"
  }
}

That's it. New sessions start in bypass mode. No flag needed.

The other accepted values for defaultMode are default, acceptEdits, and plan — but if you're reading this note, bypassPermissions is what you want.

Why user-level

~/.claude/settings.json applies to every project. If you only want this for one repo, set it in .claude/settings.json (project-shared, committed) or .claude/settings.local.json (project-local, gitignored) instead. User-level is the right place when this is your default posture across the board.

Disclaimers

This is dangerously skip permissions — that's literally the flag's name. It means:

• Claude can run any Bash command without asking
• It can write/delete files freely
• MCP tools fire without confirmation
• Destructive operations (rm -rf, git reset --hard, force pushes) won't get a prompt

If you wouldn't hand a junior engineer your shell with sudo, don't enable this. I do enable it because I run Claude in environments I'm comfortable losing, and because the friction of approving every action breaks the flow that makes Claude Code useful for me. Your tolerance may differ.

A reasonable middle ground is acceptEdits — auto-accepts file edits but still prompts for Bash and MCP. Worth considering if full bypass feels like too much.

Bypass isn't total — sensitive paths still prompt

Worth noting: even with bypass mode on, Claude Code still intercepts operations against paths it considers sensitive and asks for confirmation. I hit this several times on 30/04/2026 — bypass mode was clearly active (the bottom of the TUI shows bypass permissions on):

…but a cp out of ~/.claude/image-cache/ still got an approval prompt:

…and editing ~/.claude/keybindings.json triggered an "Overwrite file" confirmation with a special "allow Claude to edit its own settings for this session" option:

…and even copying the screenshot of the previous prompt — also out of ~/.claude/image-cache/ — got intercepted:

So bypass = "skip the routine confirmations", not "skip every confirmation". Anything inside ~/.claude/ — image cache, keybindings, presumably other settings and state files — still gets a guardrail, and edits to Claude's own config get a separate per-session allow option rather than being auto-approved by bypass mode. That's probably the right call (you don't want a runaway session rewriting its own keybindings silently), but don't be surprised by it.

Caveat

Claude Code moves fast. The setting key, accepted values, or behaviour could change. If bypassPermissions stops working, check claude config or the current docs for the canonical name.