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@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
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# Agent Note: Plan mode — a logged per-agent session mode
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# Agent Note: Plan mode — a logged per-agent session mode
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Status: implemented
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Status: implemented
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+Archived: 2026-07-26
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+English | [中文](2026-07-07-plan-mode.zh.md)
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> **Superseded vocabulary (2026-07-22):** [Collapse named session modes into plan mode](../simplification/2026-07-22-plan-specific-collaboration-state.md) replaces this note's generic `dsh-mode`, `mode/set`, definition map, and `ctx.modes` design with the current plan-specific `dsh-plan-mode`, `plan/mode`, `{ section }`, and `ctx.planMode` contract. The review, boundary, reconstructability, and sandbox-orthogonality decisions below remain in force; generic API examples are retained as the historical design this simplification removed.
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> **Superseded vocabulary (2026-07-22):** [Collapse named session modes into plan mode](../simplification/2026-07-22-plan-specific-collaboration-state.md) replaces this note's generic `dsh-mode`, `mode/set`, definition map, and `ctx.modes` design with the current plan-specific `dsh-plan-mode`, `plan/mode`, `{ section }`, and `ctx.planMode` contract. The review, boundary, reconstructability, and sandbox-orthogonality decisions below remain in force; generic API examples are retained as the historical design this simplification removed.
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+> **Superseded ACP mapping:** [ACP as an automation-only protocol](../simplification/2026-07-23-acp-automation-only-protocol.md) removes the picker, config-option, and elicitation mappings described below. Plan mode remains available to human-facing interfaces.
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+
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## Problem
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## Problem
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Before this change, the harness had no durable way to put one agent into a distinct working stance. Plan mode needs the agent to explore and design under planning guidance, produce a reviewable artifact, cross an explicit approval boundary, and restore that state across resume and fork without making the model-visible request diverge from the session log.
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Before this change, the harness had no durable way to put one agent into a distinct working stance. Plan mode needs the agent to explore and design under planning guidance, produce a reviewable artifact, cross an explicit approval boundary, and restore that state across resume and fork without making the model-visible request diverge from the session log.
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@@ -118,7 +123,7 @@ No new cordis event is declared (`mode/set` rides `session/event`; the listeners
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Each behind its own decision: subagent mode inheritance via a forwarded creation-time mode option (removed as unconsumed; it returns with its first consumer), preset modes beyond `plan` (read-only, accept-edits), the idle-record primitive if pending-intent loss proves real, and — the big one — **effects self-declaration on tool definitions**: a per-tool read-only/mutating classification (the MCP `ToolAnnotations` vocabulary — `readOnlyHint`/`destructiveHint` — is the natural template, with its untrusted-hint caveat implying trust tiers). That item is what a general per-mode tool policy waits on: this Agent Note first shipped an interim per-mode name allowlist and removed it before release — a hand-maintained list mislabels the effects question, must track every tool a deployment composes, and rots silently as tools arrive — so mode-scoped tool availability (and per-tool `ask` policies) returns as a CONSUMER of declared effects, which is its restart trigger.
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Each behind its own decision: subagent mode inheritance via a forwarded creation-time mode option (removed as unconsumed; it returns with its first consumer), preset modes beyond `plan` (read-only, accept-edits), the idle-record primitive if pending-intent loss proves real, and — the big one — **effects self-declaration on tool definitions**: a per-tool read-only/mutating classification (the MCP `ToolAnnotations` vocabulary — `readOnlyHint`/`destructiveHint` — is the natural template, with its untrusted-hint caveat implying trust tiers). That item is what a general per-mode tool policy waits on: this Agent Note first shipped an interim per-mode name allowlist and removed it before release — a hand-maintained list mislabels the effects question, must track every tool a deployment composes, and rots silently as tools arrive — so mode-scoped tool availability (and per-tool `ask` policies) returns as a CONSUMER of declared effects, which is its restart trigger.
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-The canonical [`examples/acp-agent`](../../../../examples/acp-agent/) composition mounts the mode and question-tool plugins on the full ACP coding server; plan mode is an additive session feature, not a second server profile. Its snapshot suite pins the plan-shaped initial header, a real read, scripted approval, stable tool schemas across the pure-removal header delta, a subsequent edit, rejection feedback, and the keyless mode wire. A self-skipping real-API smoke boots that same leaf, verifies the file before approving the review, and verifies the approved implementation afterward.
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+The ACP automation composition does not mount plan mode or the question tool. Human-facing compositions own plan selection and review; focused plan-mode tests and interactive-interface snapshots pin its logged state, guidance, review, and stable tool schemas.
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## FAQ
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## FAQ
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@@ -138,13 +143,13 @@ Behavioral clarifications of the chosen design; rejected designs live in [Altern
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**How does plan mode relate to the sandbox's read-only mode?** They are separate axes that never touch: the mode is the collaboration stance (a `mode/set` fold), the sandbox mode is an enforcement knob (a `bash/sandbox-mode` fold, [the sandbox Agent Note](2026-07-06-sandbox.md)) — plan mode neither reads nor caps it, exactly as Codex keeps its Plan/Default presets separate from its sandbox and approval settings. A user who wants kernel-enforced read-only while planning sets both: flip the mode picker AND the sandbox-mode option, in either order; each switch changes only its own fold, so there is no interference and no restore step to crash out of. The log attributes each axis to its own event — the stance to `mode/set`, the confinement to `bash/sandbox-mode`.
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**How does plan mode relate to the sandbox's read-only mode?** They are separate axes that never touch: the mode is the collaboration stance (a `mode/set` fold), the sandbox mode is an enforcement knob (a `bash/sandbox-mode` fold, [the sandbox Agent Note](2026-07-06-sandbox.md)) — plan mode neither reads nor caps it, exactly as Codex keeps its Plan/Default presets separate from its sandbox and approval settings. A user who wants kernel-enforced read-only while planning sets both: flip the mode picker AND the sandbox-mode option, in either order; each switch changes only its own fold, so there is no interference and no restore step to crash out of. The log attributes each axis to its own event — the stance to `mode/set`, the confinement to `bash/sandbox-mode`.
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-**Why aren't sandbox mode, approval policy, or the model themselves modes?** They are individual environment knobs and belong to ACP's `session/set_config_option`; the division this proposal pins is picker-to-modes / knobs-to-config-options, recorded in [the feature matrix](../../../../packages/ui/acp/acp-feature-support.md) now that both this stack's picker and the sandbox stack's config options are landed. A mode definition may later bundle env facts (applied through `ctx.envState` where mounted) so a Codex-style preset stays a single mode; fusing approval policy into the mode CONCEPT itself is rejected in [Alternatives considered](#alternatives-considered).
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+**Why aren't sandbox mode, approval policy, or the model themselves modes?** They are individual environment knobs independent of collaboration state. The retired ACP mapping is recorded by the [automation-only protocol decision](../simplification/2026-07-23-acp-automation-only-protocol.md). A mode definition may later bundle env facts (applied through `ctx.envState` where mounted) so a Codex-style preset stays a single mode; fusing approval policy into the mode CONCEPT itself is rejected in [Alternatives considered](#alternatives-considered).
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## Prior art
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## Prior art
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A survey of shipped plan modes (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Cline, Windsurf, Codex) shows the same five parts everywhere — the low-authority tool policy, plan artifact, approval moment, execution-state switch, and durable state that [Problem](#problem) builds on.
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A survey of shipped plan modes (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Cline, Windsurf, Codex) shows the same five parts everywhere — the low-authority tool policy, plan artifact, approval moment, execution-state switch, and durable state that [Problem](#problem) builds on.
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-The mode surface is a LIST everywhere it is advertised, never a boolean: Claude Code's picker offers `plan` beside `acceptEdits` (plus an auto-mode entry into plan), and Codex exposes `Plan` beside `Default` as collaboration-mode presets while keeping approval and sandbox settings separate. This is the surface [the ACP feature matrix](../../../../packages/ui/acp/acp-feature-support.md) records as the gap, and what sizes the vocabulary as named modes rather than a flag.
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+The mode surface is a LIST everywhere it is advertised, never a boolean: Claude Code's picker offers `plan` beside `acceptEdits` (plus an auto-mode entry into plan), and Codex exposes `Plan` beside `Default` as collaboration-mode presets while keeping approval and sandbox settings separate. The ACP transport does not advertise this human-facing control.
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The deployment-owned example prompt borrows the instrumental behavior, not product-specific mechanics. From Codex: remain in plan mode despite imperative implementation language, explore before asking, distinguish repository facts from user-owned choices, and make the plan decision-complete across APIs, data flow, failures, tests, and assumptions. From Claude Code: prohibit mutations and commits, prefer existing patterns, use questions only for requirements or approach choices, and finish through the exit tool rather than a prose approval request. It deliberately omits Codex protocol tags and Claude's plan-file or phased-subagent machinery because those belong to their runtimes, not this plugin contract.
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The deployment-owned example prompt borrows the instrumental behavior, not product-specific mechanics. From Codex: remain in plan mode despite imperative implementation language, explore before asking, distinguish repository facts from user-owned choices, and make the plan decision-complete across APIs, data flow, failures, tests, and assumptions. From Claude Code: prohibit mutations and commits, prefer existing patterns, use questions only for requirements or approach choices, and finish through the exit tool rather than a prose approval request. It deliberately omits Codex protocol tags and Claude's plan-file or phased-subagent machinery because those belong to their runtimes, not this plugin contract.
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@@ -186,7 +191,7 @@ What holds now, pinned by the unit, protocol, snapshot, and real-API tiers:
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- Native tool schemas and Code Mode's SDK stay byte-identical across default, plan, and custom-mode transitions; only the configured guidance section changes.
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- Native tool schemas and Code Mode's SDK stay byte-identical across default, plan, and custom-mode transitions; only the configured guidance section changes.
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- Plan mode changes nothing on the enforcement axes: the toolset, the sandbox mode, escalation, and the approval policy behave identically in plan and default — pairing the mode with the independent sandbox/approval knobs is how a deployment hardens planning.
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- Plan mode changes nothing on the enforcement axes: the toolset, the sandbox mode, escalation, and the approval policy behave identically in plan and default — pairing the mode with the independent sandbox/approval knobs is how a deployment hardens planning.
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- Mode definitions are changeable from `cordis.yml` with no code edit; the complete plan instructions are required there, while missing plan config, malformed definitions, and unknown keys fail at load and unknown mode names fail at `set()`.
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- Mode definitions are changeable from `cordis.yml` with no code edit; the complete plan instructions are required there, while missing plan config, malformed definitions, and unknown keys fail at load and unknown mode names fail at `set()`.
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-- `exit_plan_mode` is always advertised, rejects outside plan, drops only plan guidance after approval, and carries keep-planning feedback in a corrective `isError`; ACP mode updates and each surface's user-interaction provider carry the human side.
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+- `exit_plan_mode` is always advertised, rejects outside plan, drops only plan guidance after approval, and carries keep-planning feedback in a corrective `isError`; each human-facing surface's user-interaction provider carries the review.
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- The docs tail shipped with the landing: READMEs, regenerated catalogs (persistence log, config, cordis services, tools), the packages map and architecture rows, and the cookbook row.
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- The docs tail shipped with the landing: READMEs, regenerated catalogs (persistence log, config, cordis services, tools), the packages map and architecture rows, and the cookbook row.
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-The accepted costs: a pending user flip set while idle is lost if the process dies before the next turn (the UI re-applies; the idle-record primitive is the escape hatch if this bites in practice). A mode transition changes the system prompt at order 50, so the cache path from that point onward changes, but the tool schemas and Code Mode SDK no longer churn. **A mode restrains by guidance alone**: a model that ignores the section CAN mutate during plan — the review moment, the session log, and independent sandbox, approval, and filesystem policies are the containment surface. Hardening planning means setting those knobs, not widening the mode; the removed enforcement shapes and their effects-declaration restart trigger remain in [Alternatives considered](#alternatives-considered) and [Deferred](#deferred). The ACP mode surface carries the picker while sandbox, approval, and model selectors remain config options under the division pinned in the [FAQ](#faq) and [feature matrix](../../../../packages/ui/acp/acp-feature-support.md). If ACP removes session modes in favor of config options, the picker mapping can migrate without changing the logged mode state or model surface.
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+The accepted costs: a pending user flip set while idle is lost if the process dies before the next turn (the UI re-applies; the idle-record primitive is the escape hatch if this bites in practice). A mode transition changes the system prompt at order 50, so the cache path from that point onward changes, but the tool schemas and Code Mode SDK no longer churn. **A mode restrains by guidance alone**: a model that ignores the section CAN mutate during plan — the review moment, the session log, and independent sandbox, approval, and filesystem policies are the containment surface. Hardening planning means setting those knobs, not widening the mode; the removed enforcement shapes and their effects-declaration restart trigger remain in [Alternatives considered](#alternatives-considered) and [Deferred](#deferred). Human-facing interfaces own the plan picker and review interaction; the ACP automation transport carries neither.
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