Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
A user who asks for a plan first may expect to review it before Copilot changes files, even if they haven't switched to Plan mode.
In an evaluation on Windows with CLI 1.0.88, a developer gave the same chess-app task to two different models. The prompt included "Make a plan first." Plan mode wasn't enabled. One model created a todo plan; the other shared a brief architectural outline. Both started editing source files before the developer had reviewed a detailed plan.
The developer had to interrupt the work to get a plan to review. In one run, they said:
You didn't give me a plan to review before you started working!
Both models then presented detailed plans and got approval.
Proposed solution
If a user clearly asks to review or approve a plan before implementation, switch to Plan mode and show that the mode has changed.
For ambiguous requests that also ask for implementation, offer a choice before editing files: "plan and wait for review" or "plan and continue implementing." When the user explicitly asks to plan and then implement, continue without another approval step.
Example prompts or workflows
The original prompt:
Wire up the chess app end to end - Go for chess engine with full rules, Python for game management, and TS for frontend UX only. Make a plan first. At the end, I want a fully playable game that I can launch in the local browser, with a basic AI opponent. I have two agents working on this so use unique ports to make sure you don't conflict with each other when launching locally.
Other examples:
- "Show me the implementation plan and wait for my approval before editing." Switch to Plan mode and wait.
- "Make a plan, then implement it without waiting for me." Present the plan and continue.
Additional context
The original prompt also asked for implementation and didn't explicitly require approval, so continuing was a reasonable reading. This is a request to make that workflow clearer; we haven't established a bug. The feedback comes from one task across two model runs and doesn't tell us how common this is.
Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
A user who asks for a plan first may expect to review it before Copilot changes files, even if they haven't switched to Plan mode.
In an evaluation on Windows with CLI 1.0.88, a developer gave the same chess-app task to two different models. The prompt included "Make a plan first." Plan mode wasn't enabled. One model created a todo plan; the other shared a brief architectural outline. Both started editing source files before the developer had reviewed a detailed plan.
The developer had to interrupt the work to get a plan to review. In one run, they said:
Both models then presented detailed plans and got approval.
Proposed solution
If a user clearly asks to review or approve a plan before implementation, switch to Plan mode and show that the mode has changed.
For ambiguous requests that also ask for implementation, offer a choice before editing files: "plan and wait for review" or "plan and continue implementing." When the user explicitly asks to plan and then implement, continue without another approval step.
Example prompts or workflows
The original prompt:
Other examples:
Additional context
The original prompt also asked for implementation and didn't explicitly require approval, so continuing was a reasonable reading. This is a request to make that workflow clearer; we haven't established a bug. The feedback comes from one task across two model runs and doesn't tell us how common this is.