feature
Plan mode
Ask Claude to think and propose a plan first — without touching a single file — so you approve the approach before any work happens.
Plan mode makes Claude lay out *what it intends to do* as a numbered plan and stop. Nothing changes until you read it and say go. It's the difference between 'just do it' and 'show me your plan, then do it' — perfect for anything bigger than a one-line fix.
In plan mode, Claude is read-only. It can look at your files, think the problem through, and write out a numbered plan — but it won’t change a single thing until you’ve read the plan and said go. The work hasn’t started; you’re approving the approach first.
This is where the real savings hide. The cheapest possible place to catch a wrong turn is in a plan you can read in ten seconds — far cheaper than letting it run and then untangling the result. So read the plan like a skeptic. If step 3 would break existing users, say so, and Claude revises before anything happens. A plan is a draft to argue with, not a contract to rubber-stamp.
Use it for anything bigger than a one-line fix — and the bigger and less reversible the task, the more a plan earns its keep. It pairs naturally with checkpoints: plan mode keeps the wrong work from starting, checkpoints give you a clean way back if it does.
why it helps Catch a wrong approach in ten seconds of reading, instead of ten minutes of undoing.
examples
Add a dark-mode toggle to the settings page — plan it first, don't change anything yet.Step 3 will break existing users. Revise the plan to migrate them safely.tips & best practices
- Use it for anything bigger than a one-line fix — the bigger the task, the more a plan saves you.
- Read the plan like a skeptic: the cheapest place to catch a wrong approach is before it runs.
- A plan is a draft to argue with, not a contract to rubber-stamp — tell Claude what to change.