Set a default editing mode for Claude Code

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By now you probably noticed that every time you start Claude Code, it may not be in the mode that you were previously working within. Or maybe you want a specific mode that's toggled on every time you start Claude Code.

We can fix this by letting Claude Code know which mode to be set to by default, every time we start a new session.

Permission mode configuration names

Before we update the config, there's one thing that will definitely throw you for a loop. The names you type in configuration aren't the names you see on screen:

Did you notice something? It's that manual node is actually called default... even though it is not the default anymore. It used to be when Claude Code first shipped, but the default is now auto mode. They never renamed Manual mode to manual, which could be quite confusing.

So "defaultMode": "default" does not mean "use whatever the default is." It means manual mode. Just something to point out!

Start a session with a flag

The quickest way to start a new session directly within a specific permission mode is with a flag:

claude --permission-mode plan

This can be useful, but if means you need to type out the plan name every time you start. There’s a better way.

For every session

Claude Code now starts in auto mode, which means that Claude Code is moving in the direction of providing the AI with more permissions over time. If you want to push back on this, it’s very easy by updating the value in the config.

Let's dial this autonomy back a notch. Open ~/.claude/settings.json and add:

{
  "permissions": {
    "defaultMode": "acceptEdits"
  }
}

Now every time you start a new session, it will start in “Accept edits” mode instead.

You can also utilize Claude Code’s configuration settings fallback layer, so if you’d like to have different modes within different projects -- such as always starting a specific project in plan mode -- you can do that too.

Pro tip: Bypass permissions mode is a hidden mode which allows you to skip all prompts. You can set it to be the default mode by using: "defaultMode": "bypassPermissions"