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.

On this page

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 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, or the Command line overview.

Updated 7 October 2026 Something missing or wrong? Open an issue