Modes
Choose whether Athena works on its own, asks before each change, or only plans.
A mode sets how much Athena does without asking you. Choose it in the picker beside the send button, or press Shift+Tab in the box to switch to the next one. The mode you choose stays until you change it.
| Mode | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | Works on its own, asking only what only you can decide | Most requests. This is the default. |
| Manual | Asks before it deploys, pushes, changes settings or adds anything that costs | When you want to see each change before it goes live |
| Plan | Looks into it and shows you a plan before changing anything | Big changes, or when you aren't sure what you want yet |
Auto
Athena works to the end of the request without stopping. It still asks you, in every mode, for the things only you can decide:
- its questions before it starts, such as who signs in. See Questions before it starts.
- removing a background worker, key value store or scheduled task. It says what goes, how much memory it frees and what it saves a month, and removes nothing unless you choose Yes, remove.
- a key or password your app needs, in a secure form.
- permission to push a fix to your own repository. See Troubleshoot your app.
In Auto, a new app's machine starts as soon as you send the first request.
Manual
Athena works as in Auto, but stops and asks before each of these:
- setting up the machine and services for your app
- deploying, with the list of files that differ from what's live
- pushing a fix to your own repository, with the exact lines it removes and adds
- setting an environment variable
- restarting your app
- adding a scheduled task or a domain
- turning database backups on or off
Each question opens a card that says what Athena wants to do. Answer it with one of three buttons:
| Button | What happens |
|---|---|
| Yes | Athena goes ahead, and asks again at the next change. |
| Yes, don't ask again | Athena goes ahead, and the rest of this request runs in Auto. |
| No | Athena doesn't do it. Type what to do instead in the box on the card, and it follows that. |
Athena doesn't ask about each file it edits. It asks before the changes go live, and shows you the files then.
Closing the card, with the × or Esc, stops the request.
Plan
Athena reads what it needs, such as the code, the project, the logs and the live app, and may ask you questions. It changes nothing. It can't deploy, push, set a variable or add a service, and it never starts a machine.
It ends with the plan in plain words: what it found, what it would change and why, what that adds or costs, and anything it's unsure of. A card at the bottom of the page then asks Would you like to go ahead with this plan?
| Answer | What happens |
|---|---|
| Yes, build it in Auto | Athena builds the plan on its own. The picker switches to Auto. |
| Yes, build it in Manual | Athena builds the plan, asking before each change goes live. The picker switches to Manual. |
| No, keep planning | Nothing happens until you send another message, which Athena answers in Plan mode. |
| Your own words | Athena changes the plan with what you wrote, still in Plan mode. |
Building the plan is a new request in the same conversation, so Athena starts from what it found. Closing the card leaves the plan in the conversation and changes nothing.
The /plan command does something similar in any mode: Athena writes out what it would change and waits for you to reply "go ahead". See Slash commands.