Yeah, by default we err on the side of caution. That said, the auto mode classifier is fully customizable based on your team’s usage. Two ways to tune it:
1. After a command is blocked, run /permissions to retry and allow it going forward
2. More deeply configure the classifier itself: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/auto-mode-config
We are working on making these easier and more automated.
Auto mode really easily gaslights itself when it runs into a roadblock and starts deviating so far away from its intended goal that I don't let automode run without me reading what it's actually trying.
I frequently hit stop on and auto mode task to prevent it from completely flooding my context with some completely unrelated garbage.
Claude really should push away tasks that end up needing more exploration in worker contexts. That way the workers can maintain a sensible amount of context without pushing the main chat into the dumb region.
For some reason claude code hates using the read/write/grep tools and defaults to complex sed, awk, grep Bash:* runs which results in always consistently ignoring auto mode due to the classifier not knowing what to do with a 10-line long bash pipe instead of a read + pre/post read and write hooks being ignored and not firing, what is up with that?