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RightNow

Plan Mode

Release status

RightNow Agent is coming soon for Windows, macOS and Linux. Installation commands and workflows in these guides are reference material until the public release is available.

Use plan mode to explore a codebase and review an approach before implementation, when a task has more than one reasonable design.

Enter plan mode

/plan
Turn plan mode on; it activates with your next prompt.
/plan <description>
Turn plan mode on and start planning that description.
Shift+Tab
With the prompt focused, cycle Normal, Plan, Auto, and Always-approve; Auto drops out when it is disabled.
enter_plan_mode
The agent calls it to start planning without a separate approval under the default permission rules. Review and approve the completed plan before implementation.
text
/plan Design the authentication migration before changing files

The status flag shows plan while plan mode is active. rightnow --no-plan is accepted, but plan mode stays available in 1.0.5: /plan, Shift+Tab, and the agent's enter_plan_mode still work.

What plan mode blocks

Reads and searches run as usual. Edit tools may change only the session's plan.md; attempts to edit other files are rejected even when always-approve is armed.

Plan mode is not a general sandbox

The edit gate does not inspect shell commands, so shell redirection can still write files, and under always-approve those commands run without asking. Each subagent has its own plan-mode state: a write-capable subagent can edit files unless its own tools or permissions prevent it.

The plan file

The plan is <RIGHTNOW_HOME>/sessions/<encoded-cwd>/<session-id>/plan.md, where the working directory is encoded rather than copied. Here, <RIGHTNOW_HOME> means the effective product home; see Configuration.

A useful plan gives the context for the change, the recommended approach, the critical files and utilities to reuse, and end-to-end verification steps.

Run /view-plan, /show-plan, or /plan-view to reopen the saved preview.

Review and approve

When planning finishes, exit_plan_mode opens plan.md from disk in a scrollable preview. Excerpt at full width with no pending comments; the plan body varies with your task:

rightnow · review a plan
/plan
✓ Plan mode: on
# Plan-review text regions (excerpt)
plan.md
Waiting on plan approval
a approve  |  s request changes  |  c comment  |  y copy plan  |  q quit plan
a
Approve and start implementation, including pending comments (the label then reads approve w/ comments).
s
Request changes: type revision notes in the prompt, then press Enter.
c
Comment on the selected line or range.
y
Copy the complete plan.
q
Abandon the plan and turn plan mode off.
Tab
Move focus between the preview and the prompt.
Esc
Return focus from the prompt to the preview.

Feedback sends the agent back to planning, and plan mode stays on. If the plan file is empty or missing, the approval view still offers approve, request changes, and quit.

Related guides

Continue with Permissions and Safety, Subagents and Background Tasks, or Sessions.

If planning fails to start or the preview does not open, run rightnow doctor and use the Troubleshooting guide.