Reference · 3 min read

Permission modes

The five steering modes in Miton — Chat, Plan, Confirm, Autoedit, and Full access — and what each allows without asking.

Product stage: Pre-release development
Last reviewed: 2026-07-23
Successful result: The change is visible in the active project.

Who this is for: anyone who wants to control how much the agent can do on its own in the current chat session.

Steering modes (also called execution modes) are a per-session setting. They work together with your workspace trust level — trust sets the outer boundary; mode sets the inner policy. See permissions taxonomy for how the two combine.

For a walkthrough, see Permissions and safety in the handbook.

The five modes at a glance

Mode	Reads files	Writes files	Runs shell / network
Chat	Yes	No	No
Plan	Yes (planning prompts)	No	No
Confirm	Yes	Ask first	Ask first
Autoedit	Yes	Yes	Ask first
Full access	Yes	Yes	Yes (within trust)

Confirm is the recommended default when you want to stay in control — Miton shows an approval step before file writes, shell commands, and similar actions.

Mode details

Chat

Read-only conversation. Use this when you want answers and exploration without any risk of file or command changes.

Plan

Read-only with planning-oriented prompts injected. Use this to design an approach before switching to Confirm or Autoedit to implement it.

Confirm

Ask before writes and before shell, network, plugin, and memory actions. This is the balanced default for most work — you approve each sensitive step in chat.

Policy summary shown in the UI: Confirm mode requires explicit approval for shell, network, and file writes.

Autoedit

File writes proceed automatically; shell and network actions still require approval. Use this when you trust file edits but want a checkpoint before commands run.

Full access

All capabilities the workspace trust level allows, without per-step prompts. Use only in folders you fully trust. Untrusted or restricted workspaces still block actions regardless of mode.

Changing the mode

Where	How
Mode chip	Click the mode label in the roster bar above the chat input
Mode badge	Click the badge above the message list
Slash command	Type `/mode` to list modes or `/mode confirm` (etc.) to switch
Settings	Settings → Advanced → Steering modes sets the default for new sessions

Mode changes apply on the next tool call. Each session remembers its own mode until you close it.

Per-call overrides

When Miton gates an action, the prompt offers:

Allow once — proceed for this call only
Always allow — allow this tool for the rest of the session
Deny — block the call; the agent continues or stops depending on context

What modes do not do

Replace workspace trust — an untrusted folder blocks writes even in Full access
Sync across sessions — each session has its own mode; set a default in Settings
Apply to other people’s machines — mode is local to your session