Plan before you build

When to plan

Plan when the change touches several parts of your project, when you’re not sure how it should work, or when you don’t know the code involved. That’s Claude Code’s advice too, and OpenAI’s Codex guide lists “skipping planning on multi-step and complex tasks” as a common mistake.

Skip it for small, clear changes. Claude Code’s rule of thumb: “If you could describe the diff in one sentence, skip the plan.” A diff is the set of changes.

How to do it in Enjoy

1. Switch to a planning mode. In the computer app, open the agent settings from the button in the message box that shows your agent’s name, and choose a mode in the Permissions column:
   • Claude Code: Plan, “Explore and propose a plan before changing your source files.”
   • Codex: Read-only, “Explore files without changing them.”
   • Grok Build and OpenCode: Plan.
   • Antigravity has no planning mode, so ask for a plan in your message instead.
2. Ask for a plan. Describe the goal and ask the agent to question you about anything unclear. The mode applies to your next message.
3. Answer its questions. Questions appear as cards in the conversation. Pick an option or type your own answer, then select Confirm or Send answer. When it asks several at once, answer each one and send them together with the button at the bottom, such as Send 3 answers. The agent waits for your answers before it continues.
4. Review the plan and reply with changes. Keep going back and forth until it matches what you want. Claude Code may show its finished plan in an approval card titled Allow Claude to use ExitPlanMode?. Choose Allow once, then Confirm, to let it leave Plan mode and start on the plan right away. Choose Decline, then Confirm, to keep it in Plan mode.
5. Switch back and go. Choose your usual mode again in Permissions, such as Auto for Claude Code or Approve for me for Codex, and reply: “Go ahead with the plan.” Each message uses the mode selected in Permissions, so switch back even if you let Claude Code leave Plan mode.

The web app and iPhone app can’t change permission modes. From them, ask in words: “Don’t change anything yet. Give me a plan first and wait for my go-ahead.” A request in words relies on the agent following it. A planning mode is built into the agent.

An example

With Plan selected, you send:

“I want people to book classes on my yoga site and get a confirmation email. Look at how the site works now, ask me what you need to know, then propose a plan. Don’t change any files yet.”

The agent asks whether bookings need payment and how many spots each class has. You answer, and it proposes a plan. You reply “Skip payments for now,” and it updates the plan. Then you switch back to your usual mode and send: “Save this plan as a doc called ‘Booking plan’, then go ahead.”

Common pitfalls

• Planning everything. Claude Code’s guide notes planning “adds overhead.” Use it where a wrong start would be expensive.
• Approving a plan you skimmed. The plan is your cheapest chance to catch a misunderstanding.
• Forgetting to switch back. In a planning mode, the agent won’t change your files, even after you approve the plan in words.
• Losing a long plan. Ask the agent to save it as a doc, so a later conversation can follow it. See Keep project knowledge in docs.