Agent mode
Agent mode is the setting in an AI coding tool where the model can act rather than only answer: creating and editing files, running terminal commands, and iterating on the result. It contrasts with a chat or ask mode, which explains and suggests without touching your code.
Nearly every tool in this category now has some version of it, and they differ in how much they attempt per request and how much approval they ask for along the way.
Switching into agent mode should change how you prompt. Chat rewards a question. Agent mode rewards a brief: what outcome you want, which files are in play, what must not change, and how to verify the result. The same words that produce a good explanation produce a mediocre implementation.
What this means in practice
Cursor's Agent mode applies changes as reviewable diffs. Windsurf's Cascade (now Devin Local) is its equivalent. Copilot's agent mode is more conservative per request. Claude Code is effectively always in agent mode, which is why its prompts carry boundaries by default.
Prompts for the tools this applies to
Related terms
- Ask mode
Ask mode is the read-only setting in an AI coding tool: the model answers questions about your code and explains what it finds, but does not edit files or run commands.
- Plan mode
Plan mode makes an AI coding tool propose an approach before it edits anything.
- Composer mode
Composer is Cursor's multi-file editing interface, where you describe a change and the tool proposes coordinated edits across several files at once, presented as diffs you review together rather than one file at a time..
- YOLO mode
YOLO mode is the informal name for running an AI agent with approvals disabled, letting it edit files and run commands without asking each time.
- Agentic coding
Agentic coding is using an AI tool that plans and executes a whole task in your codebase rather than completing one line at a time.