# Plan Mode: the build steps before anything runs > Plan Mode reads the document and writes a numbered build plan of 4 to 10 steps, naming features, dimensions and sketch planes. It never edits. Build this hands the plan to Agent Mode. URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/ Updated: 2026-08-28 --- - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Plan Mode Reads the document, writes the build plan, performs none of it. You approve the plan and Agent runs it. Plan Mode needs any paid plan. On Free it is visible in the menu and disabled. See [what unlocks each mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#entitlements). ## What it produces One plan, committed as a numbered list of **4 to 10 steps**, every step pending. Each step names the feature, its key dimensions, and the plane or face its sketch goes on, in the units the document is set to. One major feature per step, no tool names, no code. A step reads like `Sketch closed L-profile 80x50 mm legs on Front Plane, extrude 6 mm`, so you can picture it before approving it. Around the plan the answer carries a short summary, feasibility notes, any blocker, and a line telling you to switch to Agent Mode to execute it. Before planning a change to a feature that already exists, Plan traces what is built on that feature and names the affected children in the plan. ## What it reads first Document metadata and the full feature tree on every turn. Beyond that it probes only what the plan needs: mass properties, the details of a named feature, the parent sketch when feasibility turns on it, the component and mate lists for an assembly, and a screenshot only when the layout judgment cannot be made from the tree. All of those reads are read-only. Plan is never given a tool that changes a document. ## Worked examples **Plan a mounting bracket for this motor: 4 mm plate, four M6 clearance holes on the bolt pattern, 20 mm standoff.** Reads the motor face and its hole pattern, then commits steps for the base sketch and extrude, the standoff, the hole set on the measured pattern, and the edge breaks, with the dimensions written into each step. **Plan how to add a cooling fin array to this housing without breaking the existing draft.** Traces what is built on the draft feature, names the children the fins would affect, and orders the plan so the fins land before the dress-up rather than after it. **Plan the repair for the failed loft in this part.** A repair plan, not a diagnosis. Plan stays in Plan Mode and writes the steps to fix it. If you want to know why it failed, that is Debug Mode. **Plan the assembly for this gearbox from the parts in the folder.** One step per component insert and per real joint, with the mate type named. It stops and says so if a component it needs is not resolvable rather than inventing one. ## Approving the plan The plan arrives in a card with two buttons, **Build this** and **Deny**. **Build this** switches the composer to Agent Mode and sends a new turn carrying the plan and the original request that produced it. Because you already approved the plan, that Agent turn does not stop for a second approval prompt. **Deny** marks the plan denied and leaves it in the transcript. Nothing runs. You can edit the request and plan again. While the Agent turn runs, a bar above the composer shows the current step and the count, for example `3/7`, and expands to the full step list. ## What it cannot do - Edit anything. Plan never receives a mutating tool or the VBA tool. - Run its own plan. Only the Build this button, or switching to Agent yourself, executes it. - Diagnose. "What is wrong with this part" belongs in [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/); Plan answers "what would you do about it". - Invent around a gap. If the request is infeasible, or needs a selection you have not made, it says exactly that instead of writing a plan that cannot run. ## Where to go next - The plan looks right: press Build this, or read [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) first for what it can and cannot change. - The plan is close but wrong in one step: rewrite the request with the correction. [Writing prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) covers naming the reference precisely. - You are not sure what to build yet: [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) proposes options before you commit to one. On this page - [What it produces](#what-it-produces) - [What it reads first](#what-it-reads) - [Worked examples](#examples) - [Approving the plan](#approve) - [What it cannot do](#cannot) - [Where to go next](#next)