Agent Mode
Mode Agen
A preset that bundles permissions and behaviour, like a profile for the agent.
An agent mode is a named preset that changes how the agent behaves: which tools it may use, whether it asks before acting, whether it plans first or writes code immediately. Plan mode, accept-edits mode, and read-only mode are the familiar examples.
The mode is mostly about risk. A mode that asks before every write and a mode that writes freely differ far more in what they can damage than they differ in the model they run.
Modes also shape the output. A planning mode produces a plan, a doing mode produces changes, and confusing the two is a common source of frustration: asking for code and getting a plan, or asking for a plan and getting a diff. Name the mode you want when the request is ambiguous.
Related terms
Agent
A model with tools, a system prompt, and a loop that lets it act and observe results.
Human in the Loop
A person who reviews, approves, or corrects the agent's work at key points.
Guardrails
Checks that stop or constrain an action before it happens.
Approval
The moment a person says yes before the agent does something it cannot undo.
Harness
Everything around the model that turns it into an agent: tools, system prompt, permissions, hooks.
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