Claude Code plan mode: how to use it, and the prompt I send in it

Plan mode makes Claude Code read your code and write a plan without editing anything until you approve it. To turn it on, press Shift+Tab until the status bar shows ⏸ plan mode on (three presses from auto mode), or type /plan followed by the task. Here’s what plan mode blocks and what it doesn’t, how to edit and approve the plan, when it’s worth the extra step, and the prompt I send in it.

By Dmitry Mishunin, who builds Meowdoro · November 10, 2026

What plan mode does
Turn it on
Edit and approve the plan
The prompt I send in plan mode
When it’s worth it
Plan mode in Codex
Questions

What plan mode does

Plan mode is one of Claude Code’s permission modes. In it, Claude reads files, runs shell commands to look around, and writes a plan, but doesn’t edit your code. Edits stay blocked until you approve the plan. Here’s how it compares with the other modes you switch between every day:

Mode	What runs without asking
Manual	Reads only
Accept edits	Reads, file edits and common file commands like `mkdir` and `mv`
Plan	Reads, plus the commands the auto mode classifier approves. No edits until you approve the plan
Auto	Everything, with a classifier checking risky actions in the background

Plan mode isn’t a sandbox. Claude can still run commands while it plans. When auto mode is available, which it is for most people now, the auto mode classifier reviews those commands and you don’t get prompts. If you’d rather approve every command that isn’t read-only, set "useAutoModeDuringPlan": false in your settings. And in a terminal session started with --dangerously-skip-permissions or another flag that makes bypass permissions available, plan mode checks neither commands nor edits.

The plan itself is a file. By default Claude Code keeps plans in ~/.claude/plans. To keep them with your project, set "plansDirectory": "./plans" or any other path inside the project, written with forward slashes.

Turn it on

In the terminal: press Shift+Tab to cycle modes. New terminal sessions start in auto mode, and from there the cycle goes manual, accept edits, plan, so it takes three presses. You’re there when the status bar shows ⏸ plan mode on.
With a command: type /plan, or /plan with the task, for example /plan fix the auth bug, and Claude starts planning right away.
From the start: run claude --permission-mode plan.
In the desktop app: in the Code tab, pick Plan in the mode selector under the prompt box. It applies to that session only.
In VS Code: click the mode indicator at the bottom of the prompt box and pick Plan, or type /plan. In plan mode, /plan open opens the plan file in the editor.
On the web and phone: the mode dropdown under the prompt box on claude.ai/code; in the mobile app, tap +, then Permission.

To make plan mode the default for every terminal session in one project, put this in the project’s .claude/settings.json:

.claude/settings.json

{
  "permissions": {
    "defaultMode": "plan"
  }
}

The VS Code extension doesn’t read that setting. There, set claudeCode.initialPermissionMode to plan in your VS Code user settings.

Edit and approve the plan

When the plan is ready, Claude shows it and asks how to go on:

Yes, and use auto mode: approve, and Claude works without asking you about each step. If auto mode isn’t available to you, this option reads Yes, auto-accept edits.
Yes, manually approve edits: approve, and review every edit as it comes.
No, keep planning: stay in plan mode and tell Claude what to change.

Before you pick, press Ctrl+G. The plan opens in your text editor, and you can rewrite it yourself: cut a step, reorder, add the thing Claude missed. It’s often faster than explaining the change in a message.

Approving takes the session out of plan mode, and Claude starts editing. To plan the next task, press Shift+Tab again or start the prompt with /plan. To leave plan mode without approving anything, press Shift+Tab.

Planning can fill a lot of context with file reads. Set "showClearContextOnPlanAccept": true, and the menu gets one more option on top: approve, clear the conversation, and implement from the plan alone. I use it when the planning took long and the plan says everything that matters. More on when a clean start beats a long conversation is in /compact vs /clear.

The prompt I send in plan mode

This is a shorter version of the prompt from our most-watched Reel. The original, for when you’re not in plan mode, is in 3 Claude Code prompts I actually send. In plan mode, a few of its lines are already done by the mode itself, so I drop them. Switch to plan mode, change the first line, and paste:

I want to add dark mode to the settings page.

First, read the files this touches. Tell me in a few lines how it works now.

Then write a plan: what you'll change, in which files, in what order. And what could break.

Start the plan with tests: which ones you'll write first, and which should fail until it's done.

If anything is unclear, ask me. Don't guess.

If it goes wrong halfway, stop and tell me.

What plan mode does for you, and what each line still adds:

No “Don’t write any code yet.” Plan mode blocks edits on its own. Outside plan mode, keep that line.
“Tell me how it works now.” Claude reads the files in plan mode anyway, but it doesn’t show you what it understood. If the summary is wrong, the plan will be wrong too, and this is the cheapest place to catch it.
“What could break.” A plan lists changes. This line makes it list risks too.
“Start the plan with tests.” Claude can’t write tests while it plans, so I ask for them as the first step. The failing tests are how you’ll know it’s done.
“Ask me. Don’t guess.” A question during planning costs one message. A guess costs code you have to undo.
No “We’ll change the plan until it’s right. When I say go…” The approval menu does that now: No, keep planning is “not yet”, and approving is “go”.
“If it goes wrong halfway, stop and tell me.” After you approve, Claude keeps going on its own, usually in auto mode. This line is the brake.

Most of my time with Claude Code goes into this plan, not into the code. I rewrite it with Ctrl+G or send it back several times before I approve.

When it’s worth it

Plan mode is one more step before any code, and it isn’t always worth it.

Worth it: a change across several files, code you don’t know well, anything you’d hate to undo, and every run you won’t watch, like a task you leave for the night (the overnight prompt).
Skip it: a typo, a one-line fix, or a change where you already know exactly what to edit. Asking for a plan there takes longer than reading the diff.
Also skip it when you want to check every edit anyway. In Manual mode you approve each change before it’s made.

Plan mode doesn’t make the plan good. You do, by reading it. If you approve without reading, you’ve just added a step.

Plan mode in Codex

Codex has a plan mode too. In the Codex CLI, type /plan, or add a request after it, for example /plan Propose a migration plan for this service, and Codex switches the chat to plan mode and proposes a plan before it starts the work. /plan isn’t available while Codex is still working. The prompt above works in Codex as it is: it’s plain text.

Where Meowdoro fits

We built Meowdoro, a focus timer around the MacBook notch for people who work with Claude Code and Codex. Planning is the part where I need to be at the keyboard; the rest I don’t watch. When Claude finishes a plan, the session waits for your approval, and the notch shows that it needs you, so a plan doesn’t sit there while you’re in another window. During a break nothing reaches you, and the plan waits. Meowdoro doesn’t switch modes or approve anything for you. Try it and tell us what’s missing.

Questions

How do I turn on plan mode in Claude Code?

Press Shift+Tab until the status bar shows ⏸ plan mode on, type /plan with your task, or start with claude --permission-mode plan. In the desktop app and VS Code, pick Plan in the mode selector.

What’s the keyboard shortcut for plan mode?

Shift+Tab. From auto mode, where new sessions start, it takes three presses: manual, accept edits, plan.

Can Claude run commands in plan mode?

Yes, to explore. It can’t edit your files until you approve the plan. With auto mode available, the classifier reviews its commands; set useAutoModeDuringPlan to false to approve them yourself.

How do I edit the plan before approving it?

Press Ctrl+G to open it in your text editor, or choose “No, keep planning” and tell Claude what to change.

Where does Claude Code save plans?

In ~/.claude/plans by default. The plansDirectory setting moves them to a folder inside your project.

How do I exit plan mode?

Approve the plan, which switches the session to the mode you chose, or press Shift+Tab to leave without approving.

Plan mode, the approval menu, shortcuts and settings: the Claude Code documentation on permission modes, commands, VS Code and settings, read on November 10, 2026. Codex: the OpenAI documentation on CLI commands, read on November 10, 2026. The task in the prompt is an example; replace it with yours.