# Plans

> Decide whether work needs a plan review, keep completed plans as an audit trail, or discard them
> automatically after successful work.

## Choose a planning mode

Open `/settings/controls`, move to **Planning mode**, and press **Enter**:

- `off` exposes no plan tools for future runs;
- `on` lets the Lead author and execute plans without a separate approval gate; and
- `review` holds a proposed plan for your approval before execution.

Press **Ctrl+T** to choose global or workspace scope. These controls save immediately and apply to
the next run. `/planning/review` and `/planning/normal` are quick workspace routes for switching
between reviewed and ordinary planning.

## Keep or discard future plans

Move to **Plan history** in `/settings/controls` and press **Enter**:

- **Keep plans** leaves completed plans available in `/plans`.
- **Delete after success** removes a plan after the successful run record has been written.

<figure class="tui-shot">
  <img src="/images/tui/plan-retention-choice.png" alt="Plan history picker with Keep plans and Delete after success choices" loading="lazy" decoding="async" />
  <figcaption>Retention is a persistent global or workspace default for future runs.</figcaption>
</figure>

`keep` is the default. `discard` is deliberately narrower than “always delete”: a crash,
cancellation, or failed run leaves the plan available for diagnosis and recovery.

The expanded Plan history row shows the configured value, effective value, source, and when the
change applies.

<figure class="tui-shot">
  <img src="/images/tui/plan-retention-default.png" alt="Run controls screen focused on Plan history with global keep-plans details" loading="lazy" decoding="async" />
  <figcaption>Use Ctrl+T before changing the row when the policy should apply only to this workspace.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Manage one saved plan

Open `/plans`. The history shows lifecycle and retention beside every plan. With a plan selected:

- press **Enter** to open its complete detail;
- press **V** to switch only that plan between `keep` and `discard`;
- press **D** to delete a non-active plan after confirmation;
- press **F** to cycle status filters;
- press **T** to cycle retention filters; and
- use **[** and **]** when another history page is available.

<figure class="tui-shot">
  <img src="/images/tui/plan-history.png" alt="Plans history showing a completed kept plan and the delete and keep-delete actions" loading="lazy" decoding="async" />
  <figcaption>V changes retention for the selected plan; D is a separate confirmed deletion.</figcaption>
</figure>

Changing an active plan to `discard` does not immediately erase it. The plan provider applies that
retention if the related run later completes successfully. For a plan whose run has already ended,
**V** changes only the saved retention metadata; use **D** for explicit removal.

## Follow the current plan

Press **Ctrl+P** to open the current or latest available plan. Use **Tab** to move between task
progress and history when both are available. A plan opened from history returns to history on
**Escape**; a directly opened plan returns to the run.

Plans can survive across sessions. Keep them when the intended work and its results matter as an
audit trail; use discard for routine successful work where the terminal run record is enough.

## See also

- [Daily use](/guide/daily-use)
- [Workflows](/guide/workflows)
- [Configuration](/reference/configuration)
- [Commands](/reference/commands)

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[Canonical HTML](https://clarvis.dev/guide/plans)

[Documentation index](https://clarvis.dev/llms.txt)