Auto-approve file edits with acceptEdits mode

acceptEdits mode lets Claude create and edit files in your working directory without prompting. The status bar shows ⏵⏵ accept edits on while this mode is active.

In addition to file edits, acceptEdits mode auto-approves common filesystem Bash commands: mkdir, touch, rm, rmdir, mv, cp, and sed. These commands are also auto-approved when prefixed with safe environment variables such as LANG=C or NO_COLOR=1, or process wrappers such as timeout, nice, or nohup. Like file edits, auto-approval applies only to paths inside your working directory or additionalDirectories. Paths outside that scope, writes to protected paths, rm and rmdir removals targeting a critical path, and all other Bash commands except the built-in read-only set still prompt.

When the PowerShell tool is enabled, acceptEdits mode also auto-approves Set-Content, Add-Content, Clear-Content, and Remove-Item on in-scope paths, along with their common aliases. The same scope and protected-path rules apply, and Remove-Item gets its own check. A positional argument that contains a quote character, such as the apostrophe in Set-Content .\notes.txt "It's done", still prompts even on in-scope paths, because Claude Code can't statically validate an argument whose quoted and unquoted readings differ. Pass the content through a named parameter such as -Value to avoid the prompt.

Use acceptEdits when you want to review changes in your editor or via git diff after the fact rather than approving each edit inline.

Press Shift+Tab once from Manual mode to enter it, or start with it directly:

claude --permission-mode acceptEdits