Answer plans and asks
Approve the agent's plan, answer its questions, and decide its permission requests from the web, Slack, or your phone.
The agent works on its own until it needs a person. When it does, the session shows a card with the question and the buttons that answer it. This page covers the four things the agent asks for and where the card reaches you.
The plan
When a session is in Plan mode, or the agent decides to plan partway through the work, it reads your repositories and writes a plan before it changes anything. The card is titled The agent has a plan and is waiting for your approval, and it holds the plan itself. A revised plan’s card says which revision it is.
- The approve button lets the agent start editing, and it names the mode the agent works in, such as Approve and continue in Auto. The arrow beside it chooses How the work continues. Start fresh from the plan begins a new conversation with the plan, and you can still read the earlier exploration. Continue in this conversation keeps everything the agent has read so far, which suits a small plan. The card suggests one and says why. The same menu has Approve in another mode if you want the agent to work in a different permission mode.
- Request changes opens a box for your feedback. You can write overall notes, and you can click a line of the plan to comment on it or mark it for deletion. Send feedback sends it all at once. The agent revises the plan and brings it back, as many times as it takes, and any collaborator on the session can send feedback. The rounds of feedback fold into one line on the card, and a revised plan has Plan and Changes above it, so you can read what changed since the last revision.
- The expand button, Open full plan, shows the plan full screen. The More plan actions menu has Download plan and Mark completed. Mark completed closes the plan without editing anything, stops the agent, and moves the session to Done. You can still message the session later to pick it back up.
- The X on the card, Chat about this instead, lets you answer in your own words. Nothing is edited. The agent reads your message and replies with a revised plan or a question.
After you approve, the card says Approved. The agent is starting. and the work begins. If a plan asks for no changes, nobody needs to approve it. The session shows No work needed and completes.
Tip
A plan can split the work into several pull requests. You approve that split along with the plan, so check it before you approve. Pull requests explains how they merge.
Questions
The card The agent has a question (or The agent has questions) appears when the agent needs a decision it can’t make alone. Each question lists answers, and hovering over one shows whether it’s the agent’s recommendation.
- Pick an answer, or choose Other… and type your own.
- With several questions, use Next and Back to move between them.
- Choose Send answer (or Send answers). The session continues the moment you send it.
Other people on the session see the answers you’ve picked so far and who is typing, so two people don’t answer the same question.
Permission requests
How often the agent asks depends on the session’s permission mode. In Manual it asks before every edit and command, and in Accept edits before every command. In Auto and Bypass it asks only for a few steps that touch your secrets. The card The agent wants to run names the command and gives the reason. Choose Allow once to let that one call run, or Deny to refuse it.
If How the agent talks to you is set to Plain language in your settings, the card describes the step in words instead, and Show the exact request shows the full command before you decide.
Repositories
If you start a session without picking repositories, the agent picks them and adds them itself. It asks first only when a repository it wants is one you can’t read on your code host yourself. The card The agent wants to work in these repositories then lists them with their branches. Use these repositories has the agent clone them and start planning. Send back has it look again for others.
Who can answer
Collaborators on the session can answer. A viewer sees the card and the note Only participants can act on this. When a request runs with another person’s connections, the card says whose turn it is and that the request runs as them. Work together explains the roles.
The session’s page also shows how long the agent keeps waiting for your reply.
Where asks reach you
| Where | What you get |
|---|---|
| The session page | The card sits at the bottom of the page, above the message box. |
| Notifications | The bell lists everything that waits on you under Needs you. You can answer from the card, Snooze it, or choose Not mine for an ask someone else could answer. |
| Slack | A session that has a Slack conversation posts the same cards with buttons: Approve plan and Send back for a plan, one button per answer for a question, Allow and Deny for a permission, and Use these repositories and Send back for repositories. Reply in the thread to give feedback on a plan or answer a question in your own words. |
| Push notifications | A notification leads with Approve the plan?, Allow?, or Question:. Depending on your device it has Approve plan, Review, Allow once, Deny, or Reply buttons. |
To turn push notifications on, open Settings › Notifications, find Push notifications, and turn on This device. The same page lets you choose which kinds of asks reach you in each place, under Needs you, and Notifications in its Slack group sends you a Slack DM when a session is waiting on you. Your phone covers installing Evergreen on a phone.
Let the agent decide
If a session is set to Carries on without you, the agent doesn’t stop for you. It picks the recommended answer, allows its own requests, and approves its plans as written, so the run doesn’t pause. In Manual and Accept edits, a permission request still waits for you. See Autonomy for when that’s a good choice.
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