> Documentation index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt). Every page as one file: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt). # Plan mode, questions and approvals Plan mode, questions and approvals [#plan-mode-questions-and-approvals] Plan mode lets the agent research and propose before it acts; questions and approval cards are how it checks with you along the way. Plan and Act modes [#plan-and-act-modes] | Mode | What the agent does | | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Act** | The default. The agent uses all of its tools. | | **Plan** | The agent looks things up and writes a plan instead of acting. | Type **/plan** in the composer and press **Enter** to switch to Plan mode, and **/act** to switch back. Nothing is sent when you switch. In Plan mode the composer reads **Describe what you'd like me to plan…**, or **Tell me what to change in the plan…** once a plan exists. The composer in Plan mode, reading Describe what you'd like me to plan… The mode stays on until you switch it. **New Chat** always starts in Act mode. | In Plan mode the agent can | It cannot | | ------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | | Search and read the web, including YouTube videos | Run code or change files in its sandbox | | Read files in its sandbox and search the Library | Generate images | | Read from connectors | Build or update apps | | Read its skills | Hand work to other agents | | Ask you questions | Schedule tasks | | Use tools from MCP servers | | Connector queries and MCP server tools stay available in Plan mode. One that changes data still asks for your approval first; see [Approval cards](#approval-cards). Approve or refine a plan [#approve-or-refine-a-plan] The plan arrives as a **Plan** card with five parts: **Context**, **Approach**, **Steps**, **Files / resources touched** and **Verification**. A Plan card for the spring campaign launch, with Approve & Execute and Refine plan below it | Button | What it does | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Approve & Execute** | Switches to Act mode and tells the agent to carry out the plan, in the same chat. | | **Refine plan** | Opens **What would you like to change about this plan?**. The agent rewrites the plan and stays in Plan mode. | The chat keeps its latest plan. Select **+**, then **View plan**, to read it again with the same two buttons, and **Copy** to copy it. When the agent works through the plan with a progress checklist, the checklist shows under **Progress**. The Plan window with the plan, Copy, Refine plan and Approve & Execute After you reload a chat, the plan shows as an ordinary reply without the buttons; use **+** > **View plan** instead. Answer the agent's questions [#answer-the-agents-questions] When the agent needs a choice from you, its questions replace the composer. A question from the agent about the newsletter's audience, with answer options, Other, Cancel and Submit * The agent asks one to three questions at a time, each with two to five answers and **Other**. * **Other** opens **Write your answer** for your own text. * With several questions, a tab per question sits above them. * **Submit** becomes available once every question has an answer. **Cancel** closes the questions so you can type instead. In a scheduled run nobody is there to answer, so the agent decides for itself. See [How scheduled runs work](/docs/platform/scheduler/how-runs-work). Approval cards [#approval-cards] Before an action that changes something outside the agent's own sandbox, the agent stops and shows an approval card. The action has not run yet. A Scheduled task approval card with Allow, Always allow for this chat and Deny | Card | Shown before | | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Data write** | A connector query or action that changes data, such as a database statement that is not a plain read. | | **Send** | A connector action that sends something, such as an email or a form. | | **MCP write** | An MCP server tool that the server marks as changing data. Tools the server does not mark run without asking. | | **Scheduled task** | Creating a scheduled task. See [Schedule an agent](/docs/platform/scheduler/scheduled-tasks). | | **Action** | A connector action whose effect the connector does not declare. | Running code, and creating or editing files in the agent's sandbox, never asks: the sandbox is the agent's own scratch space. **Details** on a card shows exactly what the agent wants to run. | Button | What it does | | ------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Allow** | Runs the action this time. | | **Always allow for this chat** | Runs it, and the agent does not ask again for the same action in this chat. | | **Deny** | Asks you for a reason, then tells the agent not to run it. | The approval card after Deny, with a reason typed in Tell the agent what to do instead * A denial needs a reason, up to 2,000 characters. The agent reads it and adjusts instead of retrying the same action. * Your answer is sent at once and the agent carries on. * A card that is no longer waiting reads **This request is no longer waiting for an answer.** * When another agent asks through a delegated task, the card names it: **asked by** and the agent's name.