> See and set what your AI may change on its own, connector by connector, and check the payments switch, from a terminal. # Modes and payments See and set what your AI may change on its own, connector by connector, and check the payments switch, from a terminal. A mode says how much your AI may change on a connector without asking you. Three commands cover it from a terminal: `status` shows the modes, `policy` sets one, and `money` shows the payments switch. ## The four modes | In the command | In the app | What it lets through | | --- | --- | --- | | `ask` | Ask before every change | Every change waits for your approval. | | `ask-final` | Ask before deleting or sending | On its own, except deleting or sending. Not everything can be undone. | | `auto` | Change on its own | Everything applies on its own and shows in your history. | | `readonly` | Read only | No change. | `ask-final` is the mode Delta MCP suggests. A connector moved by `mcpdelta use` starts in it, unless it already had a mode. See [Modes](https://www.mcpdelta.com/docs/modes) for what each one means in practice. ## See the modes ``` # every connector behind Delta MCP, its mode, and the payments switch mcpdelta status ``` You get one block per connector, then one line for payments: ``` github Claude Code, Cursor ask-final : on its own, except deleting or sending; not everything can be undone payments: ask for your approval ``` If no connector goes through Delta MCP, `status` says so and points to `mcpdelta use`. A mode written by a newer version shows as unknown, and every change then waits for your approval. ## Set a mode ``` # every change waits for you mcpdelta policy github ask # on its own, except deleting or sending mcpdelta policy github ask-final # everything on its own mcpdelta policy github auto # no change at all mcpdelta policy github readonly ``` Use the connector’s name as `status` shows it. The command prints what the mode lets through and says it holds right away, open conversations included. A name that is not a connector stops with an error and exit code 1. Anything but the four modes is a usage error, exit code 64. From the command line a mode applies to a whole connector. Settings for a single action: not yet. ## Payments The payments switch is separate from the modes. It has two values: `ask`, the default, and `auto`. ``` # see the switch mcpdelta money # make payments ask for your approval again mcpdelta money ask ``` The first command prints either `payments: ask for your approval` or `payments: happen on their own (set in the app)`. The second sets the switch to `ask`, from the next decision, in every conversation. `mcpdelta money auto` is refused with exit code 1: turning payments on is done in the app, not here. Any other word is a usage error, exit code 64. Why `auto` is refused: any program that runs commands as you, an AI with a shell included, could run it. The command can tighten payments but never loosen them. Not yet: in this version the app has no payments setting, and nothing reads this switch. A payment follows the connector’s mode like any change. An action named for paying, buying, refunding or transferring counts as sending, so `ask-final` asks and `auto` lets it through. The help and `status` say that under `auto` paying asks for your approval: in this version it doesn’t. The rule and the approval card will be described on the Payments page, when it is written. Next: [History and undo](https://www.mcpdelta.com/docs/cli-history), or the [Command line overview](https://www.mcpdelta.com/docs/cli).