Documentation / The agent

Unattended mode

The agent asks only during analysis, decides and records the rest, and carries on by itself until it finishes, without bypassing any limit.

In unattended mode the agent works on its own: it asks questions only during analysis, decides and records everything else, applies its changes (you can undo them) and carries on by itself until it finishes.

It's useful for long tasks with a clear goal: migrating a module, completing a specification, raising the coverage of a package.

Turn it on

Any of these ways:

  • The Unattended button in the message box bar, next to attach and the model selector.
  • The Unattended toggle in the mission bar.
  • Saying it in your request: “work on your own until…”, “don't stop until…”, “in unattended mode”.

The setting is per conversation.

What changes

Moment Normal mode Unattended mode
Questions It can ask in any phase. Only during Analysis, all at once. After that it picks the recommended option and records the decision.
Change proposals Wait for your review. Applied automatically, with a checkpoint.
Commands Ask for authorization. Only safe commands from a list run; the rest are rejected.
Turns Finishes and waits. Keeps going on its own until the acceptance criteria are met.

Every decision made without asking is recorded in the mission: “Decided without asking (unattended)”.

Answer the analysis questions carefully. They're your only chance to steer the work before the agent continues on its own.

Allowed commands

Only build, test and read commands run:

  • Maven and Gradle.
  • npm, yarn and pnpm for test, run, install and ci.
  • cargo, go and dotnet for build and test.
  • pytest, tsc, eslint and prettier.
  • git status, git diff, git log and git show.
  • Reading files: ls, cat, grep, find and the like.

Pipes, chaining and redirections, cd outside the project and find -delete are never allowed.

What never runs unattended

These limits can't be turned off.

  • Publishing to the remote: git push is not available in unattended mode.
  • Destructive commands: they're rejected and left pending.
  • Database changes: “Database changes never run unattended.”
  • Protected paths: environment files, keys, certificates and SSH configuration stay untouched.
  • MCP connector tools that write: they always wait for a person.

Undo

All changes are applied with a checkpoint. You can undo the whole task at once with ↺ Undo task or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Z. See Review changes.

With the agent team

If the cross-review passes, the team's result is applied to your working copy without a commit. You decide when and how to commit.

Not the same as autonomy

Feature What it controls
Unattended mode Whether the agent keeps going on its own until it finishes, without asking you.
Autonomy (Cautious, Balanced, Autonomous, and Agent → Autonomy…) Which actions are approved automatically in a normal conversation.

In Subscription mode (Claude Code, Kiro, Codex, Antigravity), missions are always interactive.