[I work on Claude Code] I broadly agree with the author’s point: plan mode was useful, and is no longer useful.
In Claude Code, all plan mode does is add a little reminder to every user message along the lines of “you’re in plan mode, please don’t code yet”. It’s something I came up with late on a Sunday night many months ago, when I got tired of asking Claude to plan with me first before coding in each new session. Something people might not realize is plan mode has always been a prompt — it has never changed the toolset because doing so would break the prompt cache, and so would be expensive for users.
This worked well for a while, until a few months ago, using early versions of Fable, I realized that I wasn’t using plan mode anymore because the model just got it, and because for the increasingly complex work I asked the model to do, planning had become interactive and iterative. With Opus 5.5, I feel Opus has gotten to that point too.
For codebase understanding, I sometimes ask Claude to generate an artifact that explains some aspect of its changes. For complex diffs to core parts of the system, I will often ask it to make diagrams or even interactive demos so I can better understand the change and alternatives considered. I don’t do this very often, but it’s a useful way to explain code when you need it. I ask Claude to attach these artifacts to its PRs also, so others can understand and future Claudes have the context.
Honestly I don't agree with this. A few reasons why I feel like I will always want a plan mode:
1. I want to know whats going to happen, at least at a high level, before changes are actually made.
2. Plan mode helps me flesh out the missing details of my plan before being mid-execution
3. In situations where I have a limited budget for AI usage I will often times use a high powered model like Opus 5.5 or Fable to make a detailed plan, then scale down to a cheaper model for implementation. I feel like this saves cost in the end.
I get plan mode is basically just a small hidden prompt. I get that I can basically just preface my prompts with "make a plan only, don't make actual changes." Maybe this is just a UX trick, but it works well for my brain.
bcherny · · focus · HN ↗
In Claude Code, all plan mode does is add a little reminder to every user message along the lines of “you’re in plan mode, please don’t code yet”. It’s something I came up with late on a Sunday night many months ago, when I got tired of asking Claude to plan with me first before coding in each new session. Something people might not realize is plan mode has always been a prompt — it has never changed the toolset because doing so would break the prompt cache, and so would be expensive for users.
This worked well for a while, until a few months ago, using early versions of Fable, I realized that I wasn’t using plan mode anymore because the model just got it, and because for the increasingly complex work I asked the model to do, planning had become interactive and iterative. With Opus 5.5, I feel Opus has gotten to that point too.
For codebase understanding, I sometimes ask Claude to generate an artifact that explains some aspect of its changes. For complex diffs to core parts of the system, I will often ask it to make diagrams or even interactive demos so I can better understand the change and alternatives considered. I don’t do this very often, but it’s a useful way to explain code when you need it. I ask Claude to attach these artifacts to its PRs also, so others can understand and future Claudes have the context.
dgrin91 · · focus · HN ↗
1. I want to know whats going to happen, at least at a high level, before changes are actually made. 2. Plan mode helps me flesh out the missing details of my plan before being mid-execution 3. In situations where I have a limited budget for AI usage I will often times use a high powered model like Opus 5.5 or Fable to make a detailed plan, then scale down to a cheaper model for implementation. I feel like this saves cost in the end.
I get plan mode is basically just a small hidden prompt. I get that I can basically just preface my prompts with "make a plan only, don't make actual changes." Maybe this is just a UX trick, but it works well for my brain.