copilot-cli-modes

Copilot CLI Running Modes

Overview

Copilot CLI provides 7 distinct running modes, each optimized for different tasks. Understanding when to use each mode is the key to effective AI-assisted development. Modes can be combined — for example, Plan → Autopilot + Fleet is a common power workflow.

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Mode Quick Reference

Mode	Trigger	Autonomy	Modifies Code?	Best For
Interactive	Default	Low — asks at every step	Yes (with permission)	Day-to-day coding, Q&A, small changes
Plan	Shift+Tab or /plan	Low — creates plan, waits for approval	No (planning only)	Complex features, multi-file refactors
Autopilot	Shift+Tab (cycle) or --autopilot	High — works until done	Yes (needs --allow-all)	Well-defined tasks, CI, batch ops
Fleet	/fleet prefix	High — parallel subagents	Yes	Large parallelizable tasks
Research	/research	High — autonomous research	No (report only)	Deep technical investigation
Chronicle	/chronicle	N/A — reads history	No	Standups, tips, self-improvement
Delegate	/delegate	Full — runs in cloud	Yes (creates PR)	Async work, other repos

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1. Interactive Mode (Default)

What It Is

The standard back-and-forth mode. You prompt, Copilot responds, you guide the next step. Copilot asks for permission before making changes and checks in with you at decision points.

When To Use

• Day-to-day coding tasks
• Quick bug fixes
• Single-file changes
• Exploratory questions about the codebase
• Tasks where you want control at every step

Usage Scenarios

Codebase onboarding:

How is logging configured in this project?
What's the pattern for adding a new API endpoint?
Explain the authentication flow

Quick fix:

The login form doesn't validate email format. Fix the validation in src/components/LoginForm.tsx

Git operations:

Create a PR for this branch with a detailed description
Rebase this branch against main

Key Commands

• Type your prompt and press Enter
• Shift+Tab to cycle to other modes
• /model to switch AI models mid-session
• /clear or /new to start fresh between unrelated tasks

Tips

• Keep sessions focused — use /clear between unrelated tasks
• Use /context to see how much context window you've used
• Copilot reads copilot-instructions.md automatically

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2. Plan Mode

What It Is

A structured planning mode where Copilot analyzes your request, asks clarifying questions, and produces a detailed implementation plan with tasks and checkboxes — before writing any code. Plans are saved to plan.md in your session folder.

When To Use

• Complex multi-file features
• Refactoring with many touch points
• New feature implementation
• Any task where you want to review the approach before execution

When NOT To Use

• Quick bug fixes
• Single-file changes
• Simple questions

How To Activate

• Press Shift+Tab to toggle into plan mode (prompts show "plan" indicator)
• Or use /plan command from normal mode

Usage Scenarios

Feature planning:

/plan Add OAuth2 authentication with Google and GitHub providers

Refactoring:

/plan Migrate all class components to functional components with hooks

Architecture change:

/plan Extract the payment processing logic into a separate microservice

What Happens

1. Copilot analyzes your request and codebase
2. Asks clarifying questions to align on requirements
3. Creates a structured plan with checkboxes
4. Saves plan to plan.md
5. Waits for your approval before implementing
6. After approval, you can:
   • Implement manually — Proceed with the plan
   • Implement on autopilot — "Accept plan and build on autopilot"
   • Implement on autopilot + fleet — "Accept plan and build on autopilot + /fleet"

Viewing & Editing Plans

• Ctrl+Y — open plan in your default Markdown editor
• /session plan — view current plan in CLI

The Power Workflow: Explore → Plan → Code → Commit

1. Explore:  "Read the authentication files but don't write code yet"
2. Plan:    /plan Implement password reset flow
3. Review:  Check the plan, suggest modifications
4. Build:   "Proceed with the plan"  (or autopilot)
5. Verify:  "Run the tests and fix any failures"
6. Commit:  "Commit these changes with a descriptive message"

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3. Autopilot Mode

What It Is

Hands-off autonomous mode. Copilot works through a task without waiting for your input after each step, continuing until the task is complete, a problem occurs, or you press Ctrl+C.

When To Use

• Well-defined tasks with clear goals
• Implementing a plan you've already reviewed
• Batch operations (writing tests, fixing lints)
• CI/CD workflows and scripting
• Large tasks that require many steps

When NOT To Use

• Open-ended exploration
• Tasks requiring nuanced judgment calls
• Vague or ambiguous instructions
• Tasks where you want to guide each step

How To Activate

• Press Shift+Tab to cycle to autopilot mode
• Or use --autopilot flag from command line
• Or accept a plan with "Accept plan and build on autopilot"

Usage Scenarios

Implement a reviewed plan:

# After creating a plan in plan mode:
"Accept plan and build on autopilot"

Programmatic usage (CI/scripts):

copilot --autopilot --yolo --max-autopilot-continues 10 -p "Write unit tests for all functions in src/utils/"

Batch linting:

copilot --autopilot --allow-all -p "Run the linter, fix all errors, and commit the changes"

Permissions

When entering autopilot, you're prompted:

1. Enable all permissions (recommended) — equivalent to --allow-all / --yolo
2. Continue with limited permissions — auto-denies tool requests needing approval
3. Cancel

Use /allow-all or /yolo mid-session to grant full permissions later.

Safety Controls

• --max-autopilot-continues N — cap the number of autonomous steps (prevents runaway loops)
• Ctrl+C — stop the agent at any time
• Each continuation shows premium request usage: Continuing autonomously (3 premium requests)

Comparison Table

Flag	What It Does	Autonomy Level
--allow-all / --yolo	Auto-approves all tool permissions	Still interactive (asks at decision points)
--no-ask-user	Suppresses clarifying questions	Semi-autonomous (no extra premium requests)
--autopilot	Full autonomous execution	Fully autonomous (continues until done)

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4. Fleet Mode (/fleet)

What It Is

Parallel task execution. The main agent acts as orchestrator, breaking a large task into independent subtasks and assigning them to subagents that run simultaneously. Each subagent has its own context window.

When To Use

• Large tasks with multiple independent steps
• Writing tests for many modules at once
• Refactoring several unrelated files
• Updating dependencies across packages
• Any parallelizable work where speed matters

When NOT To Use

• Sequential tasks where each step depends on the previous one
• Small, focused single-step tasks
• Tasks where you need fine-grained control over order

How To Activate

Prefix your prompt with /fleet:

/fleet Write comprehensive unit tests for all controllers in src/controllers/

Usage Scenarios

Parallel test writing:

/fleet Write unit tests for UserService, OrderService, and PaymentService. Each test file should cover happy paths, error cases, and edge cases.

Multi-file refactoring:

/fleet Rename all instances of "userId" to "accountId" across the following directories: src/models/, src/services/, src/controllers/

Documentation generation:

/fleet Generate JSDoc comments for all exported functions in src/utils/, src/helpers/, and src/lib/

Using specific agents per subtask:

/fleet Use @tester to create tests for src/auth/. Use @technical-writer to update the API docs in docs/. Use @security-auditor to review src/payments/.

Using specific models per subtask:

/fleet Use Claude Opus 4.5 to refactor the database layer. Use GPT-5.3-Codex to generate the migration scripts.

Combining with Autopilot

The most powerful workflow: Plan → Autopilot + Fleet

1. Shift+Tab into plan mode
2. Create a detailed implementation plan
3. Select "Accept plan and build on autopilot + /fleet"
4. Copilot decomposes the plan, runs subtasks in parallel, and works to completion

Cost Consideration

Fleet spawns multiple subagents, each consuming premium requests independently. A /fleet task may use more total premium requests than the same task done sequentially. Use /model to check your current model's multiplier.

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5. Research Mode (/research)

What It Is

A specialized deep-research agent that produces comprehensive Markdown reports with citations. Unlike normal chat (optimized for quick answers), /research is optimized for thoroughness — reports can be hundreds of lines with architecture diagrams, code snippets, and citations.

When To Use

• Deep technical investigation
• Understanding codebase architecture
• Comparing technologies or approaches
• Understanding how a library/framework works internally
• Cross-repository research

When NOT To Use

• Quick questions ("what does this function do?")
• When you need code changes (research produces reports, not edits)
• Time-sensitive interactions (research takes longer)

How To Activate

/research TOPIC

Usage Scenarios

Codebase architecture:

/research What is the architecture of this codebase?

→ Produces architecture diagrams, component breakdowns, data flow descriptions

Technology comparison:

/research What's the difference between JWT and session-based authentication? Include pros, cons, and when to use each.

→ Narrative explanation with trade-off tables

Internal patterns:

/research How are feature flags implemented at our organization?

→ Searches org repos first, maps internal patterns

Deep-dive into a component:

/research How is the session management system implemented in this repo? Trace the full flow from login to token refresh.

→ Walks through actual code, follows imports, traces call chains

How a technology works:

/research How does React implement concurrent rendering? Show the actual source code and internal architecture.

→ Fetches real source from GitHub, prioritizes code over docs

Viewing & Sharing Reports

• Ctrl+Y — open the latest report in your editor
• /share gist research — save as a GitHub gist
• /share file research [PATH] — save to a local file
• Reports stored at: ~/.copilot/session-state/SESSION-ID/research/

Report Types

The agent adapts its output format based on query type:

Query Type	Format	Example
Process/how-to	Step-by-step guide	"How do I add an endpoint?"
Conceptual	Narrative + trade-offs	"What's the difference between X and Y?"
Technical deep-dive	Architecture diagrams + code	"How is X implemented?"

Tip: Be explicit about the report type you want. "Give me a technical deep-dive into X with architecture diagrams" produces better results than "What is X?"

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6. Chronicle Mode (/chronicle)

What It Is

A session history analysis tool. Copilot records every session locally (prompts, responses, tools used, files modified) in a SQLite database. Chronicle reads this history to generate standups, tips, and self-improving custom instructions.

When To Use

• Start of day: generate standup report
• Periodically: discover productivity tips
• When Copilot keeps making the same mistake: generate corrective instructions
• To recall past work: search your coding history

How To Activate

Note: Chronicle is experimental. Enable with /experimental on or --experimental.

Subcommands

Standup report:

/chronicle standup
/chronicle standup last 3 days

→ Summarizes recent work: branch names, PR links, status checks

Personalized tips:

/chronicle tips

→ Analyzes your usage patterns and suggests features/workflows you're underusing

Self-improving instructions:

/chronicle improve

→ Analyzes sessions where Copilot misunderstood you or there was lots of back-and-forth, then generates custom instructions to fix the patterns

Rebuild session index:

/chronicle reindex

→ Rebuilds the session store from disk (after deletion, migration, or corruption)

Usage Scenarios

Monday morning standup:

/chronicle standup last 3 days

→ "Last Friday you worked on the auth refactor (branch: feat/oauth2), created PR #42, and fixed 3 test failures. Thursday you debugged the payment timeout issue..."

Discovering unused features:

/chronicle tips

→ "You rarely use plan mode before complex tasks. Try /plan for multi-file changes — models achieve higher success rates with a concrete plan."

Fixing recurring miscommunication:

/chronicle improve

→ Generates a custom instruction like: "When I say 'fix the tests', I mean fix failing tests only — do not refactor passing tests or add new ones."

Data Location

~/.copilot/session-state/{session-id}/
├── events.jsonl          # Full session history
├── workspace.yaml        # Metadata
├── plan.md               # Plans (if created)
└── research/             # Research reports

~/.copilot/session-store.db  # SQLite index for chronicle

Session Management

• /session — view current session info
• /session checkpoints — view compaction checkpoints
• /session plan — view current plan
• copilot --continue — resume last session
• copilot --resume — pick a session to resume

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7. Delegate Mode (/delegate)

What It Is

Offloads a task to Copilot cloud agent, which runs asynchronously and creates a pull request with the results. You can continue working locally while the cloud agent works in the background.

When To Use

• Tangential tasks you don't want to block on
• Documentation updates
• Refactoring separate modules
• Changes to other repositories
• Long-running tasks you can review later

When NOT To Use

• Core feature work requiring tight control
• Active debugging
• Interactive exploration

How To Activate

/delegate PROMPT

Usage Scenarios

Tangential task:

/delegate Add dark mode support to the settings page

→ Cloud agent creates a PR while you keep coding locally

Documentation:

/delegate Update the API documentation to reflect the new authentication endpoints

Cross-repo work:

/delegate In the frontend repo, update the API client to use the new /v2/users endpoint

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Mode Composition Cheat Sheet

Scenario	Mode Combination	Command
Quick fix	Interactive	Just type the prompt
Complex feature	Plan → Autopilot	Shift+Tab to plan, then "Accept plan and build on autopilot"
Large parallelizable task	Plan → Autopilot + Fleet	Plan, then "Accept plan and build on autopilot + /fleet"
Deep investigation	Research	/research How does X work?
CI automation	Autopilot (programmatic)	copilot --autopilot --yolo --max-autopilot-continues 10 -p "..."
Background work	Delegate	/delegate Update the docs
Morning ritual	Chronicle	/chronicle standup last 3 days
Productivity review	Chronicle	/chronicle tips then /chronicle improve

Decision Tree

Is the task well-defined?
├── No  → Is it a question?
│        ├── Quick question → Interactive mode
│        └── Deep investigation → /research
└── Yes → Is it complex (multi-file)?
          ├── No  → Interactive mode
          └── Yes → Plan mode first
                    └── Plan approved?
                        ├── Parallelizable? → Autopilot + /fleet
                        ├── Sequential?     → Autopilot
                        └── Tangential?     → /delegate