Intent Preview
Review the Plan Before It Executes
Before an AI agent modifies your code, it shows every planned step with risk levels, affected files, and scope estimates. You can reorder, skip, or approve before a single line changes.
Framing
The problem
Users cannot safely delegate actions they cannot inspect before execution.
The pattern
Show the plan, scope, and risk before the system takes action.
Why chat breaks here
Reassuring assistant language does not expose concrete steps or blast radius.
Risks
Preview friction can become excessive for trivial or low-risk actions.
Avoid when
The action is cheap to reverse and pre-review costs more than correction.
Use when
Before any agent action that costs money, sends a message, or changes shared state.
DOPE evaluation
- Directability
- Reorder, skip, or modify steps before running
- Observability
- Every planned step is visible before execution
- Predictability
- Risk levels and file impacts shown upfront
- Explainability
- Risk levels include plain-language rationale, not just color codes
In the wild
- Claude Code Plan Mode (Anthropic) — Plan mode (Shift+Tab, `/plan`, or `--permission-mode plan`) researches the repo and writes a plan while every edit stays blocked until you approve it; Ctrl+G opens that plan in your editor first. No risk levels — the approval dialog only asks how to proceed. The `/ultraplan` preview was removed in August 2026.
- Cursor Plan Mode (Cursor) — Plan Mode (Shift+Tab or the mode picker) asks clarifying questions, researches the codebase, then writes a Markdown plan with file paths and code references that you edit inline before building. Still no risk levels, and the run default is now the Auto-review classifier rather than ask-before-each-tool-call.
- Replit Agent Plan Mode (Replit) — Plan mode, picked from the mode selector at the bottom left of the chat input, breaks the request into an ordered task list you review before Start building runs it. The plan is a real artifact, not a paragraph — but you refine it by chatting, not by editing rows.
- OpenAI Deep Research Plan (OpenAI) — ChatGPT proposes a research plan you can review and modify before the run begins, after clarifying questions; you scope which sites and files it may use, and can interrupt mid-run to refocus. Started from /Deepresearch, the + tools menu, or the sidebar. The plan is the contract before tokens get spent.
FAQ
When should I use the Intent Preview pattern?
Before any agent action that costs money, sends a message, or changes shared state.
When should I avoid the Intent Preview pattern?
The action is cheap to reverse and pre-review costs more than correction.
What problem does Intent Preview solve?
Users cannot safely delegate actions they cannot inspect before execution.
Why is chat the wrong fit for this?
Reassuring assistant language does not expose concrete steps or blast radius.
Related patterns
- Often paired with: Editable Plan — Preview makes scope visible; the editable plan lets you change it before kickoff.
- Often paired with: Approval Gates — Preview at the start, gates inside the run — full coverage for delegated work.
- Alternative to: Reasoning Trace — Plan upfront vs reasoning chain after the fact for the same auditability.