Nilux runs every tool through an approval step, so you stay in control of what touches your machine. Permission modes let you dial how much you confirm — from reviewing every action to full autopilot. The current mode is shown in the bottom bar; cycle it any time with Shift+Tab.
The four modes
- Default — Nilux asks before anything that changes your system (editing files, running commands). Read-only actions (reading files, searching) run without asking.
- Accept edits — file creates and edits are auto-approved on top of read-only; other actions (shell commands, etc.) still ask.
- Plan — read-only. Nilux researches and proposes a plan but cannot edit files or run commands (see Plan mode).
- Auto — everything is auto-approved with no prompts, except genuinely dangerous commands (see the guardrail).
Switching modes
Shift+Tab— cycle Default → Accept edits → Plan → Auto → Default./mode— open a menu to pick a mode./mode <name>— jump straight to one, e.g./mode auto.
Dangerous-command guardrail
Even in Auto, critically dangerous commands — like rm -rf, dd, disk writes, force-resets, or piping a download straight into a shell — always stop for your explicit confirmation, and can't be bypassed by an autonomous run or a saved allow-rule. And because deleting a file can't be undone, plain file deletions (rm, del) also always ask in Auto. Everything else runs, but Nilux never wipes your system or deletes files without asking.
Plan mode
Get a plan before any code is touched.
- Enter — Shift+Tab to Plan, or Nilux may ask to enter plan mode for a non-trivial task.
- While planning — Nilux explores read-only and designs an approach; it can't edit or run anything.
- Review — when the plan is ready, approve it to leave plan mode and start building, or keep planning and tell Nilux what to change (Send feedback adds inline notes).
- Just exiting — if there's nothing to implement (a research answer), Nilux simply asks “Exit plan mode? Yes / No.”
- Your plan is saved — an approved plan is stored with the project and survives
/clear, so a long task keeps its thread; Nilux stays aware of it across the session.
Plan model
By default, planning uses your current model. In /config you can set a Plan model to run just the planning phase on a stronger reasoning model while everyday work stays on your usual one.
Cost note: planning is not a separate agent — it shares your conversation's context window. Choosing a different Plan model switches models mid-conversation, so that model re-processes your whole current context from scratch on the first planning turn — without the cache discount — and again when you leave plan mode. On a large context that's a real cost, so pick a different Plan model only when the stronger planning is worth it. Leaving it on the default (inherit) never switches and costs nothing extra.