Verboo Code: how to plan before coding with /plan

You ask for a change that touches six files, the agent starts editing, and only at the third file do you realize it picked an approach you did not want. Verboo Code's /plan prevents that: the agent first reads the project and writes a plan to a file, and only starts editing after you approve it. This guide covers the commands, where the plan is saved, and the options in the approval dialog.

What does /plan do in Verboo Code?

It turns on plan mode for the current session. In this mode the agent explores the code, designs the approach and saves the plan to a Markdown file instead of editing your project. The description in the source is literal: "Enable plan mode or view the current session plan".

/plan

The CLI replies Enabled plan mode. From then on, describe the task as usual. The mode applies only to the session where you turned it on.

How do I see the plan the agent wrote?

Run /plan again while already in the mode. The CLI shows the current plan with the file path. If the agent has not written anything yet, the reply is Already in plan mode. No plan written yet.

/plan

To edit by hand, use /plan open: it opens the plan file in your external editor. It works once a plan has been written. Change the text, save, close: the agent works from the version on disk.

/plan open

Where is the plan saved?

In a .md file named with three random words (adjective, verb and noun), inside ~/.verboo/plans/. If you set VERBOO_CONFIG_DIR, the plans/ folder lives inside it.

Setting	Where the plan ends up
Default	~/.verboo/plans/<random-name>.md
VERBOO_CONFIG_DIR set	$VERBOO_CONFIG_DIR/plans/
plansDirectory in settings.json	The folder you point to, relative to the project root

The plansDirectory setting is for versioning plans alongside the code. It must point inside the project: if the path leaves the root, the CLI ignores it and falls back to the default folder.

{
  "plansDirectory": "docs/plans"
}

How do I approve the plan and let the agent code?

When the plan is ready, the agent calls the internal ExitPlanMode tool, which opens the approval dialog with the plan on screen. It only asks for approval on tasks that involve writing code: if you asked for a pure research pass through the project, the agent just answers, with no dialog.

The dialog options, as written in the source:

Option	What happens
Yes, clear context ... and auto-accept edits	Clears the context (showing how much was used), approves and lets edits through without asking one by one
Yes, auto-accept edits	Keeps the context and lets edits through without asking one by one
Yes, manually approve edits	Keeps the context and keeps asking permission for each edit
No, keep planning	Rejects the plan, you write what should change and the agent redoes it

Depending on what is enabled in your install, the label of the approval option changes: instead of auto-accept edits you may see use auto mode or bypass permissions. The clear-context option only appears when clearing makes sense. Two useful shortcuts in the dialog: Ctrl+G opens the plan in your editor so you can tweak it before approving, and Shift+Tab approves straight away with auto-accept edits.

How do I enter plan mode without typing /plan?

Two ways. The first is Shift+Tab, which cycles the session's permission modes. In the source, the order from the default mode is default, acceptEdits, then plan; after plan it moves on to another mode or back to default, depending on what is available.

The second is to start the session already in plan mode with the --permission-mode flag:

verboo --permission-mode plan

You can also make it the default with defaultMode in settings.json, but for most tasks turning plan mode on demand is more practical. The agent itself has a tool to propose entering plan mode when a task looks big, and then you approve or decline.

Does the plan survive if I close and resume the session?

Yes, in most cases. When you resume a session, Verboo Code reattaches the same plan file to that session. If the file is gone from disk, it tries to recover the content from snapshots and the conversation history.

This pairs with /resume: you plan today, close, and tomorrow continue from the same plan. If the conversation grows long during execution, /compact summarizes the history without losing the plan file, which stays on disk.

When should I use /plan and when not?

Use it when the change touches several files, has more than one possible approach, or the requirement is loose: a new feature, a refactor, an architecture change. Skip it for small tweaks like renaming a variable or fixing a typo; the plan only adds a round trip.

• Use /plan when going the wrong way would mean undoing several files.
• Pair it with /goal for the long run after the plan is approved.
• If something goes off track anyway, /rewind undoes the edit.
• To control what the agent can run, see /permissions.