Use an MCP Server So Your AI Agent Reads Current Docs
A vibe-coded Stripe integration buries nine decisions in one handler. A teaching clause plus a plan-mode gate surfaces all nine - only three are worth your own trip to the docs.
#plan-mode
10 posts tagged #plan-mode.
Review AI-Generated Code by Blast Radius, Not Uniformly
Your daily review-minute budget is fixed, but a missed bug's dollar cost isn't. Spend the same minutes unevenly by blast radius and cut expected losses by roughly half, without reviewing more.
Subagents in AI Coding Agents: Isolate Search From Reasoning
Route a codebase search to a subagent pinned to a cheap model and two things happen at once: the search itself costs a fifth as much, and only a hundredth of it ever reaches the window where your expensive model is about to think.
AI Agent Plan File Checklists: The Counter-Signature
A relay of fresh sessions inherits every earlier decision through the plan file's checkboxes. But the model that ticks a box has every incentive to believe its own diff. An unaudited checklist is a bet, and this is the arithmetic that prices it.
AI Plan Review: Catch Blind Spots With a Different Model
An agent reviewing its own plan misses the same defaults it always misses. Gate plan-mode exit on a different vendor's model, and a FAIL verdict re-engages planning before any code exists.
AI Agent Permissions: Gate Irreversible Actions, Not Diffs
Permission systems that gate on scariness ask about everything and protect nothing. Gate on reversibility instead, and the same 12-call session drops to 3 interrupts without losing the one that counts.
AI Agent Requirements Doc: Catch a Wrong Destination Early
A requirements doc fixes the destination, a phased plan fixes the journey - and every technique on this blog for keeping a long build sharp only protects the journey. Here's what the destination costs when nobody checks it first.
Multi-Agent Orchestrator vs Swarm: the Channel Math
Full mesh and hub-and-spoke need exactly the same number of channels at three agents, which is why every swarm demo looks fine. Add a fourth specialist and the mesh pulls ahead for good - 45 paths against 10 by the time you reach ten.
Plan Mode's Real Value: the Agent Interrogates You First
A plan built from a vague prompt is a guess in a nicer font. ClarEval shows what skipping the interview costs: about 11 build attempts before one passes, versus about 1 if you ask first.
Long AI Coding Builds: Plan File Relay Instead of One Session
Auto-compact looks like memory because the session keeps running. Each pass is a lossy summary, and the loss compounds: two passes leave a Phase 1 decision a 25% chance of still being known. A plan-file relay holds 100% at any phase count.