Claude Code switches to auto mode by default

Anthropic announced that it will switch the auto mode of its coding tool Claude Code to the default setting for Pro, Max, and Team accounts starting August 14. Auto mode was first introduced as a test feature back in March, framed as an attempt to balance speed and control.

No approval required, except for 'destructive' actions

According to Anthropic, auto mode proceeds without requesting human approval at every step, unless an action is judged to be "irreversible, destructive, or aimed outside your environment."

The company also shared results from its own testing. In a study involving 1,053 paying testers, auto mode caught 89% of harmful actions, while manual human review caught only 13.6%. Anthropic attributed this gap to the fact that "manual review becomes habitual, with users approving 97% of Claude Code's permission request prompts."

Development team already uses only auto mode

Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, wrote on X that "my team and I have been using only auto mode for months. I don't think I can go back to permission prompts." Anthropic said that alongside this switch, it has added safety features including prompt injection screening and customizable hard-deny rules to prevent data leaks.