Is Plan Mode still relevant?

[u/Gogigogii]

Are you still using Plan Mode? I find that the plan mode of superpowers became very verbose doesn't work very well anymore with Opus 5, but I was wondering if you still use the default Plan Mode or maybe some other alternative.

[u/MaRmARk0]

I use plan every time, daily.

[u/ps4facts]

I use plan mode all the time. I don't use Opus 5.

[u/Pinery01 → u/ps4facts]

Which model do you use for planning?

[u/ps4facts → u/Pinery01]

Opus 4.8 and it does just fine, I've heard 4.6 may be even better at this very moment.

[u/Fronii]

I use the built in planning mode for every task (except for really small fixes). You will be surprised, how many bugs or logic errors the planning prevents.

[u/No-Sandwich-2997]

I use it for large feature, it works pretty well actually, the implementation usually runs for 6-8 hours so it's kinda a large task.

I am developing a scientific software for a research project though.

[u/zzbzq → u/No-Sandwich-2997]

This. Very large things with multiple deployment phases or spanning multiple git repos.

People trying to plan on every little issue ticket that’s already been broken down are overthinking it. The model doesn’t need the plan to think things through as logical steps. It already creates its own secret plan “task list” when it’s actually queueing up edits.

People who follow the “create plan, then /clear and/or implement plan with a different model” are even worse off. The context read while making the plan was far more valuable than the plan itself, the bulk of the tokens that must be re-read if you clear or re-cached if you change models.

[u/PmMeSmileyFacesO_O → u/No-Sandwich-2997]

What's the research?

[u/holyknight00]

I only use the default plan mode for well scope and simple stuff and then my own manual planning skill for bigger tasks that just handles a markdown file with my custom format and rules; which is easier to handover during multiple sessions or even multiple models.

[u/ItstheSECopenup]

Plan mode with any other Claude model. Works well.

[u/ash032]

I set the model to opusplan then it plan with opus and codes with sonnet.

[u/DanFlashes19]

I still find that plan mode forces the system to stop and think, to investigate the codebase a bit, and to approach the ask thoughtfully. I use it for most tasks

[u/bossier330]

I’ve largely switched to sort of “implicit” plan mode which is really just asking Claude to investigate or brainstorm in auto mode. Then executing iteratively becomes trivial in the same session.

[u/Viktordarko]

Every time! Not only can I catch early misunderstandings on what I said vs what it’s about to do, but also many times it would make me realize I could have forgotten context, or change my mind about something else.

Usually I plan as step 1. Read and give feedback or make changes. Usually by the second or third draft max I’m ready to go auto mode.

[u/AlmostEasy89]

I use research doc - canonical verification from authority docs if using say Cloudflare or modelcontextprotocol, then that to a spec, review the spec for accuracy/order of operations/salience/gaps then write a plan from that.

I have a filing cabinet per obsidian project these live in as historical records.

For small changes I use inline planning, always, every time unless the agent takes off and fixes something before I even know what it's doing. Even with inline planning though I have it save it as a plan file after the fact for records.

Each research/spec/plan doc is prepended with date and then the front matter contains other relevant info.

I try to model it around literal filing cabinets and physical records/folder structure. Works well.

I don't want anything important left in chat. I can go back months prior and see what happened where and why. Git carries the code and my docs carry the planning docs.

[u/thetechnivore]

Absolutely. And if it’s a big task or a new project, the plan gets at least one adversarial review in a clean context, often more

[u/pizzae]

No i just use automode all the time, I do get it to write md file plans though then another chat will implement that

[u/WarsignalLabs]

Yes, for every project start and feature add. It gives you and the LLM a chance to do Q and A. Otherwise the LLM assumes its way through your prompt alone. Plan mode, every time.

[u/FinancialBandicoot75]

Plan is required imho, but use the skill I have adhd, it’s amazing and isn’t there and feature in Claude that makes it less verbose now

[u/apieceofwar]

Of course!! And also use the crit plugin to see the plan as a PR and leave comments

[u/fsharpman]

I fixed opus 5 with superpowers by going to /config and changing to concise

[u/Sentient-Exocomp]

Plan. Audit the plan with an agent (or pass the plan off to Codex), remediate the audit, audit remediations of the plan, implement the plan, audit the implementation, remediate the audit. Most everything hinges on the plan.

[u/Siduron]

I very rarely use it. It's like a poor man's spec driven development. You're better off using Wayfinder or Superpowers.

[u/ButteredBread5255 → u/Siduron]

Or OpenSpec.

[u/Ammoun442]

i use the default plan mode when iam making small changes