Auto Approve & YOLO Mode

Control which actions Cline can take without asking for approval.

Auto Approve lets you decide which actions Cline can take without prompting you each time. It keeps you out of approval popups during routine work while letting you keep tight control over high-risk actions.

If you find yourself repeatedly clicking approve for the same safe operations, Auto Approve fixes that.

How It Works

Auto Approve is evaluated per tool call. When Cline is about to read a file, edit a file, run a command, or use the browser, he checks your Auto Approve settings for that category.

A few details matter:

• Workspace vs outside workspace: “Read all files” and “Edit all files” only extend the base toggle. If the base toggle is off, the “all files” option does nothing.
• Terminal commands: Cline treats commands as either safe or requiring approval. “Execute safe commands” covers safe commands. “Execute all commands” extends to commands flagged as requiring approval.
• Notifications: If enabled, Cline sends OS-level notifications when approval is required, and when an auto-approved terminal command has been running for 30 seconds.

Permissions

Setting	What It Allows
Read project files	Read files, list files, search in your workspace
Read all files	Read files outside your workspace (requires base toggle)
Edit project files	Create and edit files in your workspace
Edit all files	Edit files outside your workspace (requires base toggle)
Execute safe commands	Run terminal commands marked safe
Execute all commands	Run commands requiring approval (requires base toggle)
Use the browser	Browser tool for web fetching and searching
Use MCP servers	MCP tools and resources
Enable notifications	Notifies you about long-running commands

“Read all files” and “Edit all files” only matter if their base toggle is enabled. They extend access outside your workspace.

Safe vs Approval-Required Commands

Cline does not use a fixed allowlist. The model marks each command with a requires_approval flag based on the command and arguments. These are examples, not guarantees.

Commonly treated as safe:

• npm run build, npm test - Build/test output
• git status, ls -la, cat package.json - Read-only commands

Commonly requires approval:

• npm install <pkg> - Modifies dependencies
• rm -rf <path> - Deletes files
• mv <a> <b> - Moves files (can overwrite)
• sed -i ... - In-place file edits

Recommendations

A good default setup:

• Enable Read project files
• Leave edits, commands, browser, and MCP off until you have a specific reason

If you enable edits, use Checkpoints so you can roll back quickly.

---

YOLO Mode

YOLO mode is Auto Approve on steroids. Check the box and Cline auto-approves everything: file changes, terminal commands, browser actions, MCP tools, even mode transitions.

Warning: This is dangerous. YOLO mode disables all safety checks. Cline executes whatever he decides without asking permission.

What Gets Auto-Approved

When YOLO mode is enabled:

• All file operations anywhere on your system
• All terminal commands including potentially destructive ones
• Browser actions
• MCP server tools
• Mode transitions (Plan to Act)

When to Use YOLO Mode

Rapid prototyping where you want zero friction and don’t care about potential mistakes. Perfect for throwaway experiments.

Trusted, repetitive tasks where you’ve validated Cline’s approach and want to eliminate approval overhead.

Demonstration purposes where you want to show Cline’s capabilities without interruptions.

What Could Go Wrong

Cline could:

• Delete important files without warning
• Execute commands that modify system settings
• Make network requests to external services
• Overwrite configuration files
• Install or uninstall packages
• Commit and push changes to version control

Best Practices for YOLO Mode

• Start with isolated environments. Use throwaway projects or sandboxed environments first.
• Be specific with requests. Vague instructions + unlimited permissions = unpredictable results.
• Monitor the output. Cline still shows what he’s doing. Watch the terminal and file changes.
• Keep version control handy. Git becomes your safety net.

Enabling YOLO Mode

Navigate to Cline Settings → Features and check “YOLO Mode.” No confirmation dialogs. Once enabled, Cline auto-approves all actions immediately. Uncheck to disable.