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Agree the approach before the work starts. It’s the cheapest way to avoid a confidently wrong afternoon.

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The two modes

Plan mode — your coworker can look but not touch. It researches, reads files, works out what’s involved, and comes back with a proposed approach. Nothing is changed, nothing is sent. Build mode — the full toolset. This is the normal way a coworker works. Switch with /plan and /build. The current mode shows as a chip under the message box, so you always know which one you’re in.
The message box with the Plan chip active alongside the effort and model chips

Plan mode is on — your coworker will research and propose, not act.

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Why plan first

Your coworker is fast, which is exactly the problem on a job where the wrong approach is expensive. Plan mode puts a checkpoint between “I understand the task” and “I’ve done it”. It’s also the fastest way to find out you were misunderstood. A plan takes seconds to read; an afternoon’s work takes an afternoon to undo.

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When you’d use it

  • Anything touching live customer data
  • A job you can’t easily undo — sending, deleting, publishing
  • Work you’re going to be judged on
  • A task you’ve described badly and know it
  • The first time you give a coworker an unfamiliar kind of job
  • Anything expensive, so you’re not paying for the wrong thing twice

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How it goes

1

Ask in Plan mode

Type /plan, then describe the job. Your coworker researches without changing anything.
2

Read what it proposes

Steps, and usually the assumptions it’s making. The assumptions are the interesting part — that’s where a misunderstanding shows.
3

Correct it

“Skip step 3” or “the file is the second one, not the first”. Still nothing has happened.
4

Switch to Build

/build, and it does the work you agreed.

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Good to know

Read the assumptions, not just the steps. The steps usually look fine. The line that says “I’ll treat blank rows as zero” is the one that matters.
Plan mode is genuinely read-only, not a promise to behave. It’s a safe way to point a coworker at something sensitive.
You don’t need it for everyday work. Reserve it for jobs that are expensive, irreversible, or badly described.

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Common questions

It’s the agreed approach, not a script. If reality differs — a file isn’t what it expected — your coworker adapts and tells you, rather than following a plan that’s stopped making sense.
Yes. Switch back at any point, which is useful when a task turns out bigger than expected.
A little, and it routinely saves more by preventing work you’d have thrown away.
Plan mode checks the approach before. Thorough review checks the result after. On genuinely important work, use both.

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Next steps

Thorough review

The check at the other end.

Approvals

What pauses for you anyway.

Slash commands

How to switch.

Watching progress

Following the plan as it runs.