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/plan is a TUI overlay on the parent turn. It is not a fourth permission mode, and it is not a dispatch of the plan subagent. While it is on, the footer reads ⏸ plan mode on, writes and shell tools are stripped from the parent, and the harness is the one that writes the plan file. Plan mode exists only in an interactive session. A task on the command line never enters it, including seri -- "plan this" and a positional /plan. See Launching seri.

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How to enter and leave

Ctrl+O is a single-byte chord, the same class as the queue’s Ctrl+P/Ctrl+N. Typed /plan still works. Tab still completes slash commands. Shift-Tab still cycles /mode when the overlay is off and no panel owns the keyboard. While plan mode is on, Shift-Tab does nothing, and the footer reads ctrl+o to leave instead of shift+tab to cycle. A /plan typed while a turn is running is a command error. Wait for the turn to finish. Ctrl+O during a turn is the same error. The overlay is not saved with the session. --continue and --resume come back with it off.

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What happens in a plan-mode turn

  1. Clarify, if needed. The model can ask up to 3 questions, each with 2 to 6 options, plus optional free-text notes. It skips this panel when it already knows enough.
  2. Research. The parent can read the tree itself. It prefers dispatch_subagents with explore or plan when isolation helps. Nested dispatch is allowed, not required.
  3. Submit. submit_plan is the only write in this overlay. The harness writes a markdown file under your profile’s plans/ directory and then ends the turn.
  4. Review. Approve, request changes, or cancel.
The model does not get write_file, edit, bash, or powershell on that parent turn. A child inherits the read-only gate. It does not inherit the overlay, so it cannot call submit_plan.

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Questions

When the model asks, a panel sits on the input the same way an approval does. Tab, Shift-Tab, left, and right switch tabs inside that panel. They do not complete a command and they do not cycle /mode for as long as the panel owns the keyboard.

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Where the file goes

Plans are always global. They never land in the repository. plans is a reserved profile name, because that directory already lives under the default root. See Profiles. The filename is a slug of the title the model submitted. A collision gets a numeric suffix. Cancel during review unlinks that file, and only if its path is inside this directory.

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Review

Escape on the review panel is request-changes. Ctrl-D is /exit. Empty /plan during review is abandon: the file is unlinked and the overlay turns off, the same as cancel. /plan with a task while a review is open is a command error. Approve or cancel first. The message queue does not drain while review is open.

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The overlay and /mode

Plan mode is not a PermissionMode. /mode and Shift-Tab still cycle the stored session mode when the overlay is off. While it is on, the indicator stays ⏸ plan mode on, the gate stays read-only, and Shift-Tab does not cycle. Empty /plan or Ctrl+O is how you leave. --dangerously-skip-permissions does not lift that. A plan-mode turn is read-only even under that flag. Permissions covers the three stored modes.