The Four Permission Modes at a Glance

Permission modes decide how much Claude can do on its own before it stops to ask. There are four, and knowing what each one allows keeps you in control.

The four modes

• default — Claude asks before it acts. It prompts you before edits and before running commands. This is the careful baseline.
• acceptEdits — Claude auto-accepts file edits but still asks before running commands. Good for fast iteration on files you expect it to change.
• plan — read-only. Claude explores and proposes a plan but makes no changes at all until you approve.
• bypassPermissions — no prompts at all. Claude acts freely. This is risky and should be used only in the narrow cases a later article covers.

How they line up

Think of the four as a scale from most cautious to most free:

plan            no changes at all (read-only)
default         asks before edits and commands
acceptEdits     auto-edits, asks before commands
bypassPermissions   no prompts, acts freely

Plan and bypass sit at the two extremes. Default and acceptEdits are the everyday middle ground.

Switching between them

You cycle modes with Shift+Tab during a session, or you set one at launch:

claude --permission-mode acceptEdits

Picking one

Match the mode to the task. Reach for plan when the work is unfamiliar or complex. Stay in default when you want a check on every step. Move to acceptEdits when you trust the direction and want fewer interruptions. Save bypassPermissions for tightly controlled situations only. The rest of this series digs into each choice.