The argument in one line.
Entering plan mode without first having a detailed conversation gives the agent too little context to plan well -- the conversation IS the planning, and plan mode is just the commit step.
Read if. Skip if.
- You use Cursor, Claude Code, or another agentic coding tool and find the agent regularly builds something close-but-wrong on the first pass.
- You reach for plan mode as your first move and wonder why the resulting plan is full of assumptions you didn't intend.
- You work across multiple agent tabs simultaneously and need a system for keeping parallel workstreams coherent.
- You're building a product with a small team or solo and want the agent to behave more like a collaborator than a code-executor.
- You already have a disciplined prompt-engineering workflow and are looking for framework-level architecture content -- this is workflow, not theory.
- You're not using agentic coding tools at all; the advice is specific to Cursor/Claude-style multi-turn agent sessions.
The full version, fast.
Most people use plan mode by typing a single instruction and letting the agent plan immediately -- which means the agent fills the gaps with assumptions, producing a plan that doesn't match what you actually had in mind. The alternative is to spend real time in conversation first: discuss requirements, surface tradeoffs, agree on constraints, and only trigger plan mode once the agent clearly understands the target. After plan mode runs, save the output as a markdown file so both you and future agent tabs have a shared reference. The demo builds a mobile companion app for Pluto, choosing Expo over native SwiftUI after a structured back-and-forth about cross-platform tradeoffs.
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01 · Hook and premise
States the claim: his planning method beats standard plan-mode use. Frames plan mode as a commit step, not an entry point.

02 · How most people use plan mode
Live demo: single-line prompt into plan mode in Cursor. Argues the agent is making too many assumptions when it has one line of context.

03 · The method: conversation first
Explains his workflow: multiple back-and-forth exchanges, discussing tradeoffs, confirming the agent understands intent, then entering plan mode.

04 · Why save the plan as a markdown file
The .md file is for the human as much as the agent -- it lets parallel tabs share context and lets you return to a feature days later without re-explaining.

05 · Sponsor: Depot CI
Sponsor read for Depot CI -- a faster CI engine positioned as an alternative to GitHub Actions.

06 · Live demo: planning the Pluto companion app
Full real-time demo of the conversational planning method. Prompts the agent to brainstorm companion app ideas, reviews output, discusses iOS-first vs cross-platform tradeoffs.

07 · Tradeoffs: Expo vs native SwiftUI
The agent outlines honest caveats of Expo vs native -- chat streaming is the perf trap, virtualisation must be designed in from day one.

08 · Roadmap generation and final plan file
Agent builds a phased build roadmap and saves it as a markdown file under the plan folder. This is what gets handed to any future agent tab.

09 · Close and CTA
Wraps up the demo, asks for subscribe toward 100K, tells viewers to comment what they want next.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- A one-line plan-mode prompt gives the agent one line of context -- everything else is the agent's assumption, not yours.
- Plan mode is most useful as a commit step, not an entry point; the conversation before it is where the real planning happens.
- Saving the plan as a markdown file means you can hand it to any agent tab, any time, without re-explaining context.
- Running multiple agent tabs in parallel is only safe when each tab has the same underlying plan file to read from.
- Asking an agent to brainstorm before telling it what to build surfaces tradeoffs you hadn't considered -- which is the point.
- The agent will overestimate how long a build takes because it thinks in human-hours; three hours of agent time routinely covers what the model estimates as two weeks.
- A good companion app scope question is: what can only a phone do that the desktop version can't -- not, how do I shrink the desktop app.
- Expo's native UI components (Expo UI, stable in SDK 52) close most of the gap between React Native and SwiftUI fidelity.
- Chat streaming is the one place React Native reliably stumbles on feel -- virtualised message lists must be designed from day one, not bolted on.
- The markdown plan file is as much for the human as for the agent -- it's a reference when you return to a feature days later with no memory of where you left off.
Plan mode works best as the last step, not the first.
The gap between what you imagined and what the agent builds is almost always a context gap -- and the way to close it is conversation, not a better single prompt.
- Plan mode is most useful as a commit step, not an entry point; the conversation before it is where actual planning happens.
- A single-line prompt into plan mode leaves every structural decision to the agent, which means the plan reflects the agent's defaults, not your product thinking.
- Spending time in back-and-forth conversation before plan mode gives the agent the same mental model you have -- after which plan mode produces a plan you'd actually approve.
- Discussing tradeoffs explicitly before asking the agent to plan forces the decision to be made consciously rather than by agent assumption.
- Saving the generated plan as a markdown file means any future agent tab can pick up exactly where you left off without re-briefing.
- When running multiple agent tabs in parallel, the shared plan file is what keeps them from diverging.
- The feature that makes a mobile companion valuable is what only a phone can do, not what the desktop app already does -- that framing naturally scopes the MVP to push notifications, approvals, and quick capture.
- Agent estimates of build time are calibrated to human engineering hours -- what an agent describes as a two-week build is often achievable in two to three hours of agent time.
- Chat streaming in React Native is a known performance trap and must be architected for token-by-token updates from day one, not optimised later.
Terms worth knowing.
- Plan mode
- A feature in Cursor (and similar tools) where the agent generates a structured plan for a task before writing any code. Acts as a dry-run step before execution.
- Agentic engineering
- A coding workflow where an AI agent handles most of the implementation autonomously, with the human acting as a director or operator rather than a line-by-line author.
- Expo / Expo UI
- A cross-platform React Native framework that lets a single codebase target both iOS and Android. Expo UI ships native-feeling components that map to UIKit and SwiftUI primitives.
- Convex
- A reactive backend-as-a-service that keeps client data warm via live subscriptions, making app UI feel instant without explicit cache management.
- Human-in-the-loop
- A design pattern where the agent pauses and requests explicit approval before taking high-stakes actions such as sending an email, spending money, or deploying code.
- Sub-agent
- A secondary agent instance spawned by a primary agent to handle a task that would otherwise block the main thread -- analogous to offloading work to a background process.
- WorkOS
- An authentication and user-management API platform used here as the auth layer for the companion app.
Things they pointed at.
Lines you could clip.
“The model is going to be making a lot of assumptions for you and that's just not good product experience.”
“These plan MD files are for me. They are for me to remember what's going on.”
“You do the plan one time and then you build and it's nothing like what you want it to be.”
“The agent will overestimate how long it's gonna take because they're thinking of human working time.”
Word for word.
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Most agentic coders treat plan mode like a shortcut -- type one line, hit enter, watch the agent guess the rest. Ras Mic built his entire product studio on a different premise: that the conversation before plan mode is where actual planning happens, and plan mode is just the step that writes it down.
Named ideas worth stealing.
Conversation-first planning
- Have a multi-turn conversation
- Discuss tradeoffs and constraints
- Confirm the agent understands the target
- Enter plan mode
- Save as a markdown file
- Build
A six-step loop that front-loads context before any code is written, so the agent has enough signal to plan accurately.
Pluto action tiers
- Approve (execute immediately)
- Draft (request human approval before acting)
- Deploy sub-agent (hand off to background agent)
- Block (refuse the task)
Four states that govern how the agent handles any incoming task, balancing autonomy with safety.
How they asked for the click.
“If you could do me a solid and subscribe to the channel. We're so close to 100K.”
Mid-demo and at close. Feels organic -- timed when agent is actively cooking so there's no value gap.







































































