[BUG] Plan mode broken - "Auto mode is unavailable for your plan" blocks all input

[thomasfantou]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

When defaultMode is set to "plan" in ~/.claude/settings.json, every message returns only "Auto mode is unavailable for your plan". No actual response is produced. The session is completely unusable. This happens in both the CLI and VS Code extension. Auto mode was never requested - only plan mode.

What Should Happen?

Plan mode should work independently of auto mode eligibility. Plan mode requires manual approval of tool calls and has no logical dependency on auto mode. Messages should be processed normally.

Error Messages/Logs

Auto mode is unavailable for your plan

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set "defaultMode": "plan" in ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
"permissions": {
"defaultMode": "plan"
},
"skipAutoPermissionPrompt": true
}
2. Launch claude (CLI) or open Claude Code in VS Code
3. Type any message (e.g., "hello")
4. Only response is: "Auto mode is unavailable for your plan"
5. Change defaultMode to "default" - "Auto mode is unavailable for your plan" remains
6. Open a new context windows in default mode - it works fine.

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.1.90

Platform

Other

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

VS Code integrated terminal

Additional Information

Using Claude Max subscription (not API, not Team/Enterprise). The setting skipAutoPermissionPrompt: true has no effect. The defaultMode: "plan" is a valid enum value per the settings schema. It appears plan mode internally tries to check auto mode availability and fails, blocking the entire session instead of falling back to standard plan behavior.

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. [Bug] Auto mode unavailable error persists despite mode change in session #42449
2. [BUG] auto mode blocked for max subscribers #42608
3. [BUG] auto-mode #42576

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
• To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[KyleConnect]

Yup I'm getting the same issues in the native Claude app - just to be safe and check if I was hitting some context rot I started a new session and there it was again. They might be made because Claude Code source leaked, so they might be dealing with that on overdrive.

[thomasfantou]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. [Bug] Auto mode unavailable error persists despite mode change in session #42449
2. [BUG] auto mode blocked for max subscribers #42608
3. [BUG] auto-mode #42576

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
• To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Those other issues are failing because they try to use auto mode and error says they can't. In my case I am not even using auto mode, it am completely blocked from using plan mode

[danieldeusing]

same here when in plan mode. I have not set anything in settings.json for permissions

[lpendeavors]

having same issue, but then claude code said I need to re-authenticate which worked

[Bl0ck154]

same happened to me today

[semikashev]

So, I had to ask Claude Cowork to fix it for me — turns out the root cause is in Electron's Local Storage.

The Claude Desktop app persists the Code tab's mode selection in ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/Local Storage/leveldb/.
The key LSS-sidebar-selected-mode was set to "plan". When Plan mode is selected, the app checks auto mode availability, fails the check (since tengu_violet_kestrel.available returns false from the server for non-Team plans), and blocks the entire session instead of falling back gracefully.

? Why reinstalling doesn't help: macOS preserves ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ across app reinstalls, so the stale mode selection survives.

? Why re-authenticating doesn't help: The mode is stored client-side in LevelDB, not tied to the auth token.

Fix:

Close Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q), then clear the Local Storage and Session Storage:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/Local\ Storage/leveldb/*
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/Session\ Storage/*

Relaunch the app — the Code tab defaults to a working mode. Just avoid switching back to Plan mode until this is fixed.

[gintsmurans]

Claude code was stopping with the message "Auto mode is unavailable for your plan" even if I switched over to another option via Shift + Tab. Fixed by putting "disableAutoMode": "disable", in ~/.claude/settings.json.

[thomasfantou]

Claude code was stopping with the message "Auto mode is unavailable for your plan" even if I switched over to another option via Shift + Tab. Fixed by putting "disableAutoMode": "disable", in ~/.claude/settings.json.

That's the only thing that sorted it for me, thanks