Choose a mode beside the chat input, or enter /act, /plan, or /debug. Press Shift+Tab to cycle through the modes available in your session.
Act: make and verify changes
Use Act for implementation, builds, tests, flashing, serial monitoring, and instrument measurements. Hardware scripts and runtime trace recording are also available in Act. Switch to Debug for managed GDB setup, the debugger state view, or bounded instruction and coverage captures.
Plan: review an approach before implementation
Use Plan when the change involves several modules, hardware choices, or unclear requirements. Embedder can inspect code, documentation, schematics, diagnostics, and existing observations. It cannot run shell commands or edit implementation files.
The plan normally appears under .embedder/plans/. Review the affected files, assumptions, and verification steps. You can edit the plan, request changes, or approve it to begin implementation in Act mode.
Debug: investigate a hardware failure
Debug adds managed GDB setup and target-state inspection to Act’s capabilities. Use it for faults, hangs, register state, and problems that need an attached debugger.
Start with existing output, form a hypothesis, run a focused experiment, and reproduce the original condition after the fix. For longer investigations, ask Embedder to keep the findings and scripts in a hardware case.
A normal GDB connection can program and reset the target. Request an attach-only session explicitly when the current fault or RAM state matters. See GDB debugging. Modes and approvals
Modes determine which actions are available. Approval settings determine when Embedder asks before performing them. Switching to Act or Debug does not turn off confirmations.
Each chat has its own mode. A queued message keeps the mode selected when you sent it, so check queued work before changing the session’s purpose.
Resuming a conversation restores its last mode. If the saved mode is unavailable in the current environment, Embedder falls back to Act. Last modified on September 18, 2026
