Reviewing plans with SimpleEdit

Review the plan before the agent writes the code. A mistake in a plan costs one comment. The same mistake in code costs a review round.

This guide shows two ways to review a plan:

• Threads on the plan doc, while you shape the plan with the agent.
• A plan PR in the Review Room, when you want a full review of the plan as a change.

Part 1: Shape the plan with Threads

Ask for a plan doc

Ask the agent to write its plan to a markdown file in the worktree, for example plans/<topic>.md. A file is better than a chat message: you can comment on each part, and the plan survives a restart or a hand-off.

Read the plan in the rendered view

1. Open the plan file in the session’s editor.
2. Use the Markdown view mode control in the tab bar. Select Preview only to read the rendered doc, or Editor and preview to see the source next to it.

Comment on a part of the plan

1. In the preview, move the pointer over a paragraph, heading, list item, table, code block or quote.
2. Select the + button that appears next to it.
3. Type your comment and press Enter.

The thread shows under its block. It is anchored to the source lines of that block. The same thread also shows in the editor, in the diff, on the Agent threads tab and on the phone.

Let the agent answer

SimpleEdit sends your comment when the agent is idle and its prompt is empty. The agent answers in the thread and changes the plan. When the plan changes, the thread moves with its lines.

Good comments for a plan:

• “This step changes the public API. Who calls it today?”
• “Split this into two PRs: the schema change first.”
• “What happens when the user is offline here?”

Repeat until you agree with the plan.

Part 2: Review a plan PR in the Review Room

When a plan is large, or when you want to review it like code, review it as a change in the Review Room. You can do this before a PR exists.

Review the plan branch before it is a PR

1. Make sure the agent committed the plan on its branch.
2. In the session’s right column, open the Git log tab and select Review branch. You can also run Review branch in Review Room from the command palette.
3. You can also ask the agent to request a review of its branch. The review opens as a tab in the session’s workspace, and the session header shows Review ready.

The Review Room shows the plan as a diff. Use it like any other review:

• Select + New thread or a line to start a thread.
• Ask the Companion, a read-only agent, about the plan. For example: “Which files does step 3 touch today?”
• Ask the Author, the agent that wrote the plan, while its session runs.
• Pick Review and select Draft to write a comment for each thread you want to send back.

Reviewing a PR stack explains the three recipients in full.

When you are done, select Submit reviews…. The dialog says: “A local branch: your review goes back to the session that asked for it, and nowhere else.” It never posts to GitHub. The agent gets your comments and changes the plan.

Continue when the branch becomes a PR

When the agent opens a PR for the branch, the review continues as the next round of that PR. Your threads and Viewed marks come with it. From then on, you can also post the review to GitHub.

Tips

• Keep the plan short. A plan the agent can read in one go is a plan you can review in one go.
• Ask the agent to put open questions at the top of the plan. Answer them with threads.
• When the plan is approved, ask the agent to turn it into a Workflow. See Running a Workflow.