Modes

A mode decides which tools the engine may use. You still have to grant a folder, the shell, tests, or web search. The mode does not grant those by itself. Grants are in Permissions.

general

Talk. There are no project tools. It will not edit the folder you have open, and it will not run a shell.

coder

Work in a folder. The first reply is a plan. After you allow it, coder can edit, run tests, and use MCP servers you have granted. This is the mode a project uses when you have not set another. The working pattern is in Coding.

researcher

Read, search, fetch, and brief. It does not make general writes, and it does not run a shell. Use it when you want a briefing from the files and the web, not a change on disk.

secretary

Drafts only. Writing goes into the draft folder, not into the project at large. The drafts it is built for are a letter, a memo, an agenda, and a standup.

Switch in the window

The window shows the mode you are in, with the folder, the model, and the turn count. Choose another mode there, on the session you have open. The next turn uses the mode you chose. The messages already in the session stay.

You can also set a default mode in config. That is what a new session starts with. It does not rewrite a session you already have open until you switch it.

Your own copy of a mode

Add a file under the modes folder. If it has the same name as a built-in mode, yours replaces that built-in. The other built-in modes stay as they are. The folder is listed in Files. You do not edit anything inside the installed app to do this.