Day 13

Plan Mode

Use /plan to review Claude's strategy before it executes — catch mistakes before they happen.

0 / 4 tasks

Why plan first?

For complex tasks, having Claude execute immediately risks it going down the wrong path and making many changes you have to undo. Plan mode lets Claude think through the approach, show you the steps, and get your approval before writing a single line of code.

Using Plan mode

bash

claude
> /plan Migrate our authentication from JWT to session-based auth

# Claude will output a plan like:
# 1. Audit all JWT-related files
# 2. Install flask-session
# 3. Refactor login endpoint
# 4. Update middleware
# 5. Update tests
# 6. Remove JWT dependencies

# You review, ask questions, suggest changes:
> Before step 3, add: 2.5. Create a session store config in core/config.py
> Now execute the plan

# Claude executes step by step

💡 Use Plan mode for any task that touches more than 3 files or involves architectural changes. The overhead is small, the safety net is large.

Practice Tasks

0 / 4

Plan a refactor medium

Use /plan to plan a non-trivial refactor in your codebase. Review the plan and suggest at least one improvement.

Execute a plan medium

After reviewing and approving a plan, execute it and verify each step completes correctly.

Plan a feature hard

Plan a complete feature implementation from scratch. Verify the plan is complete before executing.

Plan a migration hard

Plan a database migration or dependency upgrade. Identify risks in the plan before executing.

← Module 2: CLAUDE.md ↑ Module overview Day 14: Loop Mode →