Overview

Hooman sessions always run in one of four modes. Each mode changes the system prompt and the built-in tool allowlist so the agent stays in the right posture for the work.

Mode	Best for	Highlights
Agent	Implementation	Full tool surface including shell and filesystem writes
Plan	Scoping before coding	Plan document + checklist; no shell; leave plan only with approval
Ask	Questions & exploration	Read-oriented surface; switch out when you need to implement or design
Design	UI / decks / handoff	HTML under .hooman/design/; preview; PDF / PowerPoint-ready .pptx / Figma-ready .fig / .deck / Sketch-ready .sketch

Yolo is not a mode. It is a separate auto-approve toggle (--yolo, /yolo, ACP yolo) that still never auto-approves switch_mode.

Switching

hooman chat --mode plan
hooman exec "Summarize the auth flow" --mode ask

In chat: /mode → pick agent, ask, plan, or design.

The agent can propose a switch with switch_mode — always requires your explicit approval (including leaving plan).

VS Code and other ACP clients expose the same four values in the session controls.