You want Copilot to analyze a request and build a plan in the terminal before it writes any code. What do you use?
Why C is the answer
Plan mode in Copilot CLI
Plan mode analyzes the request, asks clarifying questions and builds a plan before any code is written. Shift + Tab cycles between modes.
In detail
- Plan mode in Copilot CLI builds a plan before it writes code.
- Shift + Tab cycles between modes.
Use case
An illustrative scenario, not a real incident.
A developer wants to see the approach before any code changes. Plan mode in Copilot CLI asks clarifying questions and builds a plan to approve.
See it in different ways
flowchart TD A["copilot"] --> B["Interactive session"] B --> C["Ask and execute mode"] B --> D["Plan mode"] E["copilot -p"] --> F["Programmatic run"]
mindmap
root((Copilot))
Editor
Inline suggestions
Chat
Agent mode
GitHub
Cloud agent
Code review
Spaces
Terminal
Copilot CLI
Plan modestateDiagram-v2 state "Request" as s0 state "Clarifying questions" as s1 state "Plan" as s2 state "Implementation" as s3 [*] --> s0 s0 --> s1 s1 --> s2 s2 --> s3: approved s3 --> [*]
Key point: Plan mode thinks before it writes.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Copilot CLI with --verbose logging turned on
- Verbose logging shows more output, and does not create a plan.
- B. A pull request summary generated on GitHub
- A summary describes a pull request that already exists.
- D. A path-specific instructions file in the repository
- An instructions file gives rules, not a plan.