Plan mode and goals

Veyyon ships plan mode and goal mode as engine features. They are separate modes with different tools and continuation behavior.

Spec — not shipped: three enforced chat phases, <proposed_plan> cards, Shift+Tab collaboration cycling, and a plan_mode_reasoning_effort config key. Veyyon’s plan mode works as described below.

Plan mode (shipped)

Plan mode is read-focused exploration that drafts a plan file before you approve implementation.

Enabling

• Setting: plan.enabled (default true; toggle in /settings Advanced → Plan).
• Slash: /plan toggles plan mode; /plan <prompt> enters plan mode and submits the prompt.
• Related: /plan-review reopens plan review while plan mode is active.

Plan mode blocks goal mode and vibe mode (and vice versa).

Behavior

When plan mode is on:

1. Veyyon selects a plan file path (per-session) and sets mode state on the session.
2. Active tools are adjusted: resolve is added for plan approval; built-in write may be activated so the agent can draft the plan file.
3. The agent explores and writes the plan using read-oriented work plus plan-file write/edit as configured.
4. Finalization uses the resolve tool with plan approval semantics (plan_approval), not a <proposed_plan> XML tag.
5. Exiting: /plan again (with confirmation if a draft exists) pauses or disables plan mode; session records mode entries in the session file.

Plan mode uses the plan model role when configured.

Goals (shipped)

Goal mode tracks a persistent objective on a saved session and can auto-continue when idle.

Enabling

• Setting: goal.enabled (default true).
• Slash commands:
  • /goal set <objective> — create or replace goal
  • /goal show — status, tokens, budget
  • /goal pause / /goal resume
  • /goal drop — remove goal
  • /goal budget <N|off> — token budget
• /guided-goal — interview flow before enabling goal mode

Goal mode blocks plan mode and vibe mode.

Goal state

Stored on the session. Fields include:

id, objective, status, tokenBudget?, tokensUsed, timeUsedSeconds, createdAt, updatedAt

Statuses: active, paused, budget-limited, complete, dropped.

Goal tool

When goal mode is active, the agent can call the goal tool with ops: create, get, complete, resume, drop. Continuation prompts inject on idle turns per goal.continuationModes.

Walkthrough (real commands)

$ veyyon

/goal set Add workspace-write default for headless runs and document it in the handbook

Work in normal mode; use /goal show for progress. When blocked, /goal pause. When done, the agent should complete via the goal tool or you /goal drop.

Spec — not shipped (goal card richness)

Goal state and long sessions describes a richer goal card (verification ledger, working-set fields, reviewer carry-forward) as a future expansion layer. The shipped card is the bounded objective + budget + status model above.

See also

• Sessions — goals require a persisted session
• Context: goal state — architecture notes