Cycling through plan mode via Shift+Tab injects "work without stopping for clarifying questions" reminder even when no plan was approved

Resolved 💬 4 comments Opened May 14, 2026 by stefanosch04 Closed Jun 25, 2026

Summary

When the user cycles in and out of plan mode via Shift+Tab (without ever approving a plan via ExitPlanMode), Claude Code injects two system-reminders into the next turn:

  1. ## Exited Plan Mode — You have exited plan mode...
  2. The user has asked you to work without stopping for clarifying questions. When you'd normally pause to check, make the reasonable call and continue; they'll redirect if needed.

The second reminder appears to be intended for the "user approved a plan, now go execute" flow, but it fires unconditionally on any plan-mode exit — including a stray Shift+Tab cycle. The agent then suppresses clarifying questions it would normally ask, which is the opposite of what the user wants.

Reproduction

  1. Start a normal conversation (no plan mode).
  2. Press Shift+Tab to enter plan mode.
  3. Press Shift+Tab again to exit plan mode without ever approving a plan.
  4. Send any message to the agent.
  5. Observe that the next assistant turn receives a ## Exited Plan Mode system-reminder followed by the "work without stopping for clarifying questions" reminder.

Expected behavior

The "work without stopping for clarifying questions" reminder should only fire when the user has actually approved a plan via ExitPlanMode (the explicit "approve plan" path), not on every plan-mode exit triggered by Shift+Tab cycling.

Environment

  • Claude Code on Windows 11
  • autoUpdatesChannel: latest
  • Model: Opus 4.7

Impact

User explicitly wants the agent to ask clarifying questions; the injected reminder overrides that preference silently. Users have no way to disable it via settings.

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