Q
When should I plan first?
Multi-file changes, unfamiliar subsystems, production-adjacent code — anywhere a wrong first edit costs more than a planning pass.
Glossary · Plan Mode (Read-Only Exploration)
Plan Mode (Read-Only Exploration).
Look before the agent leaps.
Direct answer
Plan mode constrains the agent to read-only tools — search, read, trace, summarize — producing a step plan (and risk notes) without editing anything. It separates understanding from acting: review the plan, then execute scoped. Best paired with a written spec and blast-radius analysis (callers, dependents, covering tests) before the first edit lands.
In Anvaya
How We Implement It.
01Plan Mode (Read-Only Exploration)anv --plan-only plus in-TUI plan stepper with tool-call cards; plans draw on repomap callers/blast-radius and packed memory of past attempts.
Questions
Asked About Plan Mode (Read-Only Exploration).
Q
What makes a good agent plan?
Goal restatement, file/symbol inventory, ordered steps, test strategy, rollback notes, and explicit unknowns. Vague plans predict vague diffs.
Q
Does planning cost extra tokens?
Less than rework: a planning pass costs hundreds of tokens and prevents thousand-token wrong-turn threads.
Stop Starting From Zero.
One binary. 11+9 Rust crates. 545 tests. Hand-written HNSW index. Three transport modes. Four providers, Ollama, Anthropic, OpenAI, Siemens. Zero API keys required to start. Mind remembers everything after the first session.