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Overview

The Planning feature allows Agent mode to create an implementation proposal and plan before modifying code or executing commands.
For medium to large tasks (such as multi-file feature development, refactoring, or high-risk changes), Planning provides clear visibility, controlled execution flow, and a definite implementation path. With Planning enabled, Qoder generates a structured proposal and plan based on your natural language requirements. You can review and adjust this plan before letting the agent execute it step by step automatically.

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When to Use Planning

We recommend enabling Planning in the following scenarios:
  • Handling complex features that involve multiple modules or files.
  • Expecting multiple iterations (design, implementation, testing, cleanup, etc.).
For smaller changes (such as “fix a typo” or “rename a variable”), you can directly use the agent to execute and save time without using Planning.

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How to Use Planning in Agent Mode

The Planning agent is built into Agent mode and requires no separate configuration. You can invoke it in two ways:
  • Automatic invocation: Agent mode will intelligently determine when planning is needed based on your request.
  • Explicit invocation: Use the /plan command to explicitly request the Planning agent.
Detailed usage steps are as follows:

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1. Describe Your Task

Choose to explicitly invoke using /plan, or directly describe your requirements in natural language. When describing, we recommend including the following information:
  • The goal of the change or the feature to be implemented.
  • Any constraints (such as “cannot break existing API” or “must maintain current behavior for legacy paths”).
  • Optional: mention important file or module paths.
The clearer and more specific your description, the better the generated plan will match your actual needs.

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2. Generate a Plan

When Planning is enabled in the session, Qoder will:
  • Analyze your requirements and relevant engineering context.
  • Generate a complete plan for you based on requirements, including objectives, technical approach, tech stack, implementation plan, and more.
At this stage, no files are modified and no commands are executed—the output is only a reviewable plan.

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3. Review and Adjust the Plan

Before execution begins, you can modify the plan according to your expectations, such as:
  • Edit the proposal content to make it more precise and understandable.
  • Add steps that the AI didn’t cover but you consider important.
You can also directly collaborate with Qoder in natural language to adjust the plan, such as: “Add a step to update documentation at the end.”

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4. Start Execution

Once you confirm the plan is correct, you can start execution:
  • The agent will read files, modify code, run commands, or call MCP tools just like in normal Agent mode.
  • To-do statuses will be updated in real-time at the bottom of the chat (not started/in progress/completed).
Depending on your settings, some operations (especially terminal commands or MCP tool calls) may still require manual confirmation before execution.

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5. Adjustments During Execution

During plan execution:
  • You can view status changes for each to-do item at any time.
  • If you find issues with the plan itself or execution results, you can pause, explain new requirements in the chat, and then let Qoder update the plan before continuing.
  • For blocking issues (such as test failures, missing dependencies, etc.), Qoder will clearly indicate them in the conversation and plan the next steps accordingly.
This way, you always maintain decision-making power while the agent handles the specific mechanical work.

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6. Wrap-up and Review

After all to-do items are completed (or you actively terminate execution):
  • Qoder can summarize what work was completed step by step during this execution (such as which files each To-do modified).
  • You can combine the diff view, local testing, or PR workflow to perform normal code review of the final results.
  • If there are follow-up work requirements, you can start a new Planning process again to continue iterating.

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Best Practices

  • Clearly describe goals: Write your first prompt as if assigning a task to a colleague, explaining the scope, constraints, and acceptance criteria.
  • Enable Planning by default for high-risk tasks: Such as refactoring, interface adjustments, changes involving core paths, etc.
  • Iteratively optimize the plan: If the first version of the plan is not ideal, you can have Qoder adjust it, such as “focus more on the testing part” or “minimize changes to public interfaces.”
  • Keep each step small enough: A good to-do item should allow you to see its scope of impact within a relatively small diff.
By leveraging Planning, you can maintain the high efficiency of the agent while obtaining a carefully designed implementation proposal, achieving a better balance between safety and efficiency.