codewhale/docs/MODES.md

Modes and Approvals

DeepSeek TUI has two related concepts:

• TUI mode: what kind of visible interaction you’re in (Plan/Agent/YOLO).
• Approval mode: how aggressively the UI asks before executing tools.

TUI Modes

Press Tab to cycle through the visible modes: Plan → Agent → YOLO → Plan. Press Shift+Tab to cycle in reverse.

• Plan: design-first prompting. Read-only investigation tools stay available, but shell and patch execution stay off.
• Agent: multi-step tool use. Approvals for shell and paid tools (file writes are allowed without a prompt).
• YOLO: enables shell + trust mode and auto-approves all tools. Use only in trusted repos.

Compatibility Notes

• /normal is a hidden compatibility alias that switches to Agent.
• Older settings files with default_mode = "normal" still load as agent; saving rewrites the normalized value.

Escape Key Behavior

Esc is a cancel stack, not a mode switch.

• Close slash menus or transient UI first.
• Cancel the active request if a turn is running.
• Discard a queued draft if the composer is empty.
• Clear the current input if text is present.
• Otherwise it is a no-op.

Approval Mode

You can override approval behavior at runtime:

/config
# edit the approval_mode row to: suggest | auto | never

Legacy note: /set approval_mode ... was retired in favor of /config.

• suggest (default): uses the per-mode rules above.
• auto: auto-approves all tools (similar to YOLO approval behavior, but without forcing YOLO mode).
• never: blocks any tool that isn’t considered safe/read-only.

Small-Screen Status Behavior

When terminal height is constrained, the status area compacts first so header/chat/composer/footer remain visible:

• Loading and queued status rows are budgeted by available height.
• Queued previews collapse to compact summaries when full previews do not fit.
• /queue workflows remain available; compact status only affects rendering density.

Workspace Boundary and Trust Mode

By default, file tools are restricted to the --workspace directory. Enable trust mode to allow file access outside the workspace:

/trust

YOLO mode enables trust mode automatically.

MCP Behavior

MCP tools are exposed as mcp_<server>_<tool> and use the same approval flow as built-in tools. Read-only MCP helpers may auto-run in suggestive approval modes; MCP tools with possible side effects require approval.

See MCP.md.

Related CLI Flags

Run deepseek --help for the canonical list. Common flags:

• -p, --prompt <TEXT>: one-shot prompt mode (prints and exits)
• --workspace <DIR>: workspace root for file tools
• --yolo: start in YOLO mode
• -r, --resume <ID|PREFIX|latest>: resume a saved session
• -c, --continue: resume the most recent session
• --max-subagents <N>: clamp to 1..=20
• --profile <NAME>: select config profile
• --config <PATH>: config file path
• -v, --verbose: verbose logging