Claude Code plan mode: how to enter, approve and edit

Try 3 questions on this

Pick an answer to see why each option is right or wrong.

1. You want to try plan mode on a single review session this afternoon. The session should be in plan mode from its very first prompt, and the change should not reach your other projects or the other sessions you have open. You start Claude Code from your terminal. What's the correct approach to start that session in plan mode?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building.

   Not that one: A is right. In the game your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   The answerA.Start it with claude --permission-mode plan, which opens the session in plan mode for that invocation only.The permission mode a session starts in can be set on the command line: claude --permission-mode plan starts that one invocation in plan mode, leaving every other project and session untouched. The documentation gives the flag directly under plan mode: "You can also start in plan mode from the CLI."Your answerB.Set claudeCode.initialPermissionMode to plan in your editor's user settings, which opens the session in plan mode for that invocation only.claudeCode.initialPermissionMode sets the starting mode for conversations the VS Code extension starts. A terminal session never reads it, and it persists across sessions rather than applying to one run.Your answerC.Set defaultMode to plan in .claude/settings.json, which opens the session in plan mode for that invocation only.defaultMode set to plan in .claude/settings.json is how you make plan mode the default for a project's terminal sessions. It applies to every session started there, including the ones you wanted left alone.Your answerD.Prefix your first prompt with /plan, which opens the session in plan mode for that invocation only.Prefixing a prompt with /plan puts that single prompt through planning. It is a per-prompt tool, so it does not put the session itself in plan mode.

   Written from code.claude.com/docs/en/permission-modes.md

2. Claude has finished exploring and presents its plan for the refactor, then asks how you want to proceed. The plan is nearly right, but two of its steps are in the wrong order and one of them names the wrong directory. You want to correct that text yourself, in your own editor, before Claude proceeds. What's the most effective way to make those corrections?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building.

   Not that one: B is right. In the game your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   Your answerA.Press Shift+Tab at that prompt, which opens the proposed plan in your default text editor for you to edit.Shift+Tab cycles the session's permission mode. Pressed here it leaves plan mode without approving a plan, which discards the review you were in the middle of rather than opening the plan.The answerB.Press Ctrl+G at that prompt, which opens the proposed plan in your default text editor for you to edit.The approval prompt has a key for exactly this: "Press Ctrl+G to open the proposed plan in your default text editor and edit it directly before Claude proceeds." The edited plan is the one Claude then works from, so the correction costs no extra turn.Your answerC.Run /rewind, choose Restore conversation, and send your original prompt again with the two corrections written into it./rewind restores an earlier point in the conversation or the code. Restoring the conversation drops the plan Claude just built and makes you run the exploration again.Your answerD.Choose 'No, keep planning' at that prompt, which opens the proposed plan in your default text editor for you to edit.'No, keep planning' keeps the session in plan mode and hands the work back to Claude, which rewrites the plan from what you tell it. It never opens the plan in your editor.

   Written from code.claude.com/docs/en/permission-modes.md

3. Your reviewer wants a guarantee that a session cannot change a file in the repository while it works out an approach. A colleague proposes running those sessions in plan mode and points at the rule that edits stay blocked until you approve the plan. Exploring this repository normally means running its codegen script, which writes generated sources. How should you evaluate this proposal?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building.

   Not that one: B is right. In the game your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   Your answerA.Accept it: plan mode stops Claude editing your source, and the codegen script writes through a file edit, so it stays blocked until the plan is approved.Claude's file editing tools are what the block covers. A codegen script writes through the shell, so nothing in plan mode inspects or refuses the writes it makes.The answerB.Reject it: plan mode stops Claude editing your source, but the shell commands it runs while exploring still run, and the codegen script writes files.Plan mode is scoped to Claude's own edits: "Claude reads files, runs shell commands to explore, and writes a plan, but does not edit your source."Your answerC.Reject it: plan mode stops Claude editing your source only until the plan is written, so the guarantee lapses before the reviewer has read anything.Edits stay blocked until you approve the plan, so the block does not lapse when the plan is written. The gap the reviewer cares about is the commands, not the timing.Your answerD.Accept it: plan mode stops Claude editing your source, and the shell commands it runs while exploring are blocked as well, so nothing is written.Running shell commands is part of what plan mode permits: the mode's row in the permission table reads "Reads, plus classifier-approved commands when auto mode is available". Those commands execute, so their side effects reach disk.

   Show the full explanation and doc quotes

   The commands are part of exploring, and approved commands run, so a script that writes generated sources can write during planning. The block is a block on Claude editing, not a read-only filesystem.

   Written from code.claude.com/docs/en/permission-modes.md