Directory-scoped auto-approve YOLO mode

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Summary

I'd love a middle ground between normal mode (approve everything) and
--dangerously-skip-permissions (approve nothing). Specifically, a mode that
auto-approves operations within a specified directory but still prompts for
anything that reaches outside it.

Use case

I run Claude Code as a project manager for a folder of documents and
sub-projects. The tasks are straightforward — reading, writing, and organizing
files within that folder. Having to approve every single file read and edit
is tedious, but full YOLO mode grants unrestricted access to my entire system,
which is more than I need or want.

(And yes, I used Claude Code to write this request... LOL)

Proposed Solution

Proposed behavior

Something like:

claude --auto-approve-in ~/Desktop/Cowork

• File reads, writes, edits, and shell commands scoped to the specified

directory: auto-approved

• Any operation that touches files or runs commands outside that directory:

prompt for approval as usual

This would make Claude Code much more practical for use cases where you trust
it with a project folder but don't want to hand over the keys to the whole
machine.

Alternative Solutions

I can't think of any way to limit it in YOLO mode, which is your point! I've I've come to trust Claude Code running in YOLO mode on my virtual machines in a sandboxed environment, and I've been using it on my main laptop now. And though I trust it, I trust it in one folder on my main laptop, not with everything, because if something goes wrong on my VM, I've got backups. But if it happens on my main computer, it would be a really, really serious inconvenience, to say the least. So I'll continue as I have been, and I'm very thankful for Claude Code as it is. This is no way a complaint. It's a great product. I started using Claude Code as a software developer, and when I saw Co-Work, I began to use it in exactly the same way, working in folders and not on code, and it works great for that. It seems faster than Co-Work and has fewer restrictions, but I still don't want to give it full run of my whole machine.

Priority

Critical - Blocking my work

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

_No response_

Additional Context

_No response_