custom-claude-skills/skills/switch-mode/SKILL.md

name, description, allowed-tools

name	description	allowed-tools
switch-mode	Change engagement mode mid-session. Updates active-mode.env and last-mode so the next session launches in the new mode. Injects the new mode's workflow stance into the current conversation so it takes effect immediately (driver model cannot change without a relaunch).	Read, Write, Glob, Bash(ls *), Bash(cat *)

Switch Mode Skill

You are helping the user change their engagement mode.

Pre-gathered context

Available modes

!ls ~/dev/claude/small-scripts/data/claude-profile/modes/

Current active-mode.env

!cat ~/.claude-oreillyit/active-mode.env

Current last-mode

!cat ~/.claude-oreillyit/last-mode

Instructions

The user wants to switch engagement mode. Follow these steps exactly.

Step 1: Build the mode menu

Read each .md file in /home/paul/dev/claude/small-scripts/data/claude-profile/modes/ using the Read tool. From each file's frontmatter, extract:

• name — the mode identifier
• tag — display tag (same as name usually)
• driver — the driver model
• escalates_to — escalation model (or "none")

From the body, read the ## Purpose section to get a one-line description.

Present a numbered menu like this (order: quick, deep, hybrid, orch, chat):

Available modes:

1. quick     [Sonnet]              One small focused job — get in, get out
2. deep      [Sonnet -> Opus]      Hard design/debug, plan-first, spec-driven
3. hybrid    [Haiku -> Opus]       Long sessions, cheap driver, escalate on demand
4. orch      [Sonnet]              Parallel container agents, orchestration focus
5. chat      [Haiku]               No project, just conversation

Mark the current mode (from active-mode.env's CLAUDE_MODE) with (current).

If $ARGUMENTS is non-empty and matches a mode name, skip the menu and go directly to Step 2 with that mode.

Step 2: Confirm selection

Ask the user which mode number (or name) they want to switch to. Wait for their response. If they already specified a mode in $ARGUMENTS or the menu was skipped, confirm it: "Switching to <name> mode — confirm? (y/n)"

Step 3: Read the target mode file

Use the Read tool to read the full content of /home/paul/dev/claude/small-scripts/data/claude-profile/modes/<name>.md.

Extract all frontmatter fields:

• name
• tag
• driver
• async_ok
• autoloop
• plan_mode_auto
• spec_driven
• escalates_to

Compute the full mode file path: /home/paul/dev/claude/small-scripts/data/claude-profile/modes/<name>.md

Step 4: Write active-mode.env

Write /home/paul/.claude-oreillyit/active-mode.env with this exact format (substitute the values from the frontmatter):

CLAUDE_MODE=<name>
CLAUDE_MODE_TAG=<tag>
CLAUDE_DRIVER=<driver>
CLAUDE_ESCALATES_TO=<escalates_to>
CLAUDE_PROJECT=
CLAUDE_TIME_HORIZON=2
CLAUDE_ASYNC_OK=<async_ok>
CLAUDE_AUTOLOOP=<autoloop>
CLAUDE_PLAN_MODE_AUTO=<plan_mode_auto>
CLAUDE_SPEC_DRIVEN=<spec_driven>
CLAUDE_MODE_FILE=/home/paul/dev/claude/small-scripts/data/claude-profile/modes/<name>.md

For CLAUDE_PROJECT= — leave the value empty (no project context is carried across a mode switch initiated mid-session; the user will set it at relaunch).

Step 5: Write last-mode

Write /home/paul/.claude-oreillyit/last-mode with just the mode name and a trailing newline:

<name>

Step 6: Adopt the new workflow stance

Read the full body of the new mode's .md file (everything after the closing --- of the frontmatter). This is the mode's instructions to Claude.

Tell the user:

Mode updated to <name>. The new mode will be fully active after /clear + relaunch (driver model <current-driver> cannot change mid-session).

In this session, the following changes are active immediately:

• Workflow stance: [summarise the key stance change in 1-2 sentences based on the mode body]
• Subagent policy: [summarise from the Subagent policy section]
• Async policy: [enabled / disabled based on async_ok]
• Plan mode: [auto / manual / never, from plan_mode_auto]

Adopting new stance now.

Then behave according to the new mode's body prose for the remainder of the session. The driver model (<current-driver>) is fixed — acknowledge this if the new mode's driver differs.

Error handling

• If $ARGUMENTS is set but does not match any mode name: say "Unknown mode: <arg>. Available modes: quick, deep, hybrid, orch, chat." and show the menu.
• If the user picks their current mode: say "You are already in <name> mode. No change made." and stop.
• If a file write fails: report the error and tell the user to check permissions on /home/paul/.claude-oreillyit/.