go-mode
🎯 Go Mode — Autonomous Goal Execution
Give me a goal. I'll plan it, confirm with you, execute it, and report back. You steer — I drive.
Mode
Detect from context or ask: "Just do it, plan first, or plan + phase approvals?"
| Mode | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
quick |
1-line plan → you confirm → execute | Simple tasks, clear goals |
standard |
Full plan → you confirm → execute → report (default) | Most tasks |
deep |
Full plan → risk review → confirm each phase → execute → report | High-stakes or multi-system tasks |
Default: standard — use quick for simple, clear goals. Use deep when mistakes would be expensive to undo.
How It Works
GOAL → PLAN → CONFIRM → EXECUTE → REPORT
Phase 1: PLAN
When given a goal, break it down:
- Parse the goal — What's the desired outcome? What does "done" look like?
- Break into steps — Ordered task list, each step concrete and actionable
- Identify tools — Which skills, APIs, agents, or CLI tools are needed?
- Estimate effort — Time per step, total duration, API costs if applicable
- Flag risks — What could go wrong? What needs human approval?
Output a structured plan:
## 🎯 Goal: [restated goal]
### Definition of Done
[What success looks like]
### Plan
| # | Step | Tool/Skill | Est. Time | Cost | Risk |
|---|------|-----------|-----------|------|------|
| 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
### Total Estimate
- **Time:** X minutes
- **API Cost:** ~$X.XX
- **Human Checkpoints:** [list]
### Guardrails Triggered
- [ ] External communication (needs approval)
- [ ] Financial spend > $1
- [ ] Irreversible action
Phase 2: CONFIRM
Present the plan and wait for approval:
- "Go" → Execute all steps
- "Go with changes" → Adjust plan, then execute
- "Just steps 1-3" → Partial execution
- "Cancel" → Abort
Never skip confirmation. This is the human's steering wheel.
Phase 3: EXECUTE
Run each step sequentially:
- Announce the current step: "Step 2/5: Researching competitor pricing..."
- Execute using the identified tool/skill
- Checkpoint after each major step — brief status update
- Pause if:
- A guardrail is triggered (external action, spend, irreversible)
- Something unexpected happens
- A decision point requires human judgment
- Adapt — If a step fails, try alternatives before escalating
Phase 4: REPORT
When all steps complete:
## ✅ Goal Complete: [goal]
### What Was Done
- Step 1: [result]
- Step 2: [result]
- ...
### Outputs
- [List of files, links, artifacts created]
### What Was Learned
- [Insights discovered during execution]
### Recommended Next Steps
- [What to do with the results]
- [Follow-up opportunities]
### Stats
- Total time: Xm
- API calls: X
- Est. cost: $X.XX
Guardrails
Always Ask Before:
- ✉️ Sending emails, DMs, or messages to anyone
- 📢 Posting to social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
- 💰 Spending money or making API calls > $1 estimated
- 🗑️ Deleting files or data
- 🔒 Changing permissions, credentials, or configs
- 🌐 Making any public-facing change
Auto-Proceed On:
- ✅ Reading files, searching the web
- ✅ Creating drafts (not publishing)
- ✅ Organizing or summarizing information
- ✅ Running analysis or calculations
- ✅ Creating files in the workspace
Budget Caps
- Default per-goal budget: $5 API spend max
- Per-step timeout: 5 minutes (escalate if stuck)
- Total goal timeout: 60 minutes (checkpoint and ask to continue)
- Human can override any cap at confirm time
Available Tools & Skills Reference
When planning, draw from this toolkit:
Research & Information
| Tool | Use For |
|---|---|
web_search |
Quick web lookups |
web_fetch |
Read full web pages |
qmd search |
Search Obsidian vault knowledge base |
content-research-writer skill |
Deep research + writing |
research-coordinator skill |
Multi-source research |
Content Creation
| Tool | Use For |
|---|---|
content-atomizer skill |
Turn 1 piece → 13+ posts |
direct-response-copy skill |
Sales copy |
seo-content skill |
SEO articles |
newsletter skill |
Newsletter editions |
email-sequences skill |
Email flows |
nano-banana skill |
Image generation (Gemini) |
Marketing & Strategy
| Tool | Use For |
|---|---|
positioning-angles skill |
Find hooks that sell |
keyword-research skill |
SEO keyword strategy |
business-prospecting skill |
Lead research |
landing-page-design skill |
Landing pages |
page-cro skill |
Conversion optimization |
Communication
| Tool | Use For |
|---|---|
bird CLI |
Twitter/X (read, post, reply) |
| Gmail | Email (read, send) |
| Notion | Pages and databases |
| Telegram | Messaging |
Development
| Tool | Use For |
|---|---|
exec |
Shell commands |
codex |
Code generation (GPT) |
claude |
Code generation (Claude) |
| File tools | Read, write, edit files |
Example Goals
1. Competitor Analysis → Comparison Page
Goal: "Research our top 3 competitors in the AI assistant space and build a comparison page"
Plan:
1. Identify top 3 competitors (web search) — 5min
2. Research each: pricing, features, reviews — 15min
3. Build comparison matrix — 10min
4. Write comparison page copy — 15min
5. Create visual comparison table — 5min
Total: ~50min, ~$0.50 API cost
2. Content Repurposing Pipeline
Goal: "Take my latest blog post and turn it into a week of social content"
Plan:
1. Read and analyze the blog post — 2min
2. Extract key themes and quotes — 5min
3. Generate 5 Twitter threads — 15min
4. Generate 5 LinkedIn posts — 15min
5. Create 3 image prompts + generate visuals — 10min
6. Build content calendar — 5min
Total: ~52min, ~$1.00 API cost
3. Lead Research Sprint
Goal: "Find 20 potential clients in the SaaS space who might need our marketing services"
Plan:
1. Define ideal client profile — 5min
2. Search for SaaS companies (web) — 15min
3. Research each company's marketing gaps — 20min
4. Score and rank prospects — 10min
5. Build outreach-ready prospect list — 10min
6. Draft personalized intro messages [NEEDS APPROVAL] — 15min
Total: ~75min, ~$0.75 API cost
4. SEO Content Sprint
Goal: "Create 3 SEO-optimized blog posts for our target keywords"
Plan:
1. Review target keyword list — 2min
2. Research top-ranking content for each keyword — 15min
3. Create outlines using SEO skill — 10min
4. Write article 1 — 15min
5. Write article 2 — 15min
6. Write article 3 — 15min
7. Add internal links and meta descriptions — 10min
Total: ~82min, ~$2.00 API cost
5. Launch Prep Checklist
Goal: "Prepare everything needed to launch our new product next Tuesday"
Plan:
1. Audit what exists (landing page, emails, social) — 10min
2. Identify gaps — 5min
3. Write launch email sequence (3 emails) — 20min
4. Create social media posts (Twitter, LinkedIn) — 15min
5. Generate launch graphics — 10min
6. Build launch day timeline — 5min
7. Draft press/outreach messages [NEEDS APPROVAL] — 15min
Total: ~80min, ~$2.50 API cost
6. Weekly Review & Planning
Goal: "Review this week's metrics, summarize wins/losses, and plan next week's priorities"
Plan:
1. Pull metrics from available sources — 10min
2. Summarize key wins — 5min
3. Identify what didn't work — 5min
4. Review upcoming calendar — 5min
5. Propose next week's top 3 priorities — 10min
6. Create actionable task list — 5min
Total: ~40min, ~$0.25 API cost
Usage
Just tell the agent your goal in natural language:
"Take the wheel: Research the top 5 AI newsletter tools, compare them, and recommend the best one for a solopreneur"
"Take the wheel: Build a complete email welcome sequence for new subscribers — 5 emails over 2 weeks"
"Take the wheel: Audit our Twitter presence and create a 30-day content strategy"
The agent will plan, confirm, execute, and report. You stay in control at every checkpoint.
Principles
- Transparency — Always show the plan before executing
- Safety — Never take external actions without approval
- Efficiency — Use the cheapest/fastest tool for each step
- Resilience — Try alternatives before giving up
- Accountability — Report everything that was done
- Respect time — Estimate honestly, checkpoint if running long