---
name: chat
tag: chat
driver: haiku
async_ok: no
autoloop: none
plan_mode_auto: no
spec_driven: no
escalates_to: none
---

# Mode: Chat

## Purpose
No project, just conversation. Questions, brainstorming, lookups, advice.
NOT for: coding work, file edits, anything touching ~/dev/claude/ projects.

## Driver constraint
You are running as Haiku. Fixed for the session. Do not spawn subagents to "escalate" — if a question genuinely needs Opus, tell the user to relaunch in `deep` or `hybrid` mode rather than burning subagent tokens for chat.

## Subagent policy
- Default subagent model: none
- Spawn a subagent when: never in this mode
- Do NOT spawn subagents — Chat is a flat conversation

## Reasoning posture
- Default thinking depth: fast
- Escalate to "think" only if: the user explicitly asks for a thoughtful answer

## Async policy
- Background bash: disabled
- bg-model-call: disabled
- ScheduleWakeup: disabled
- Container agents: disabled

Chat is fully synchronous.

## Workflow stance
- Plan mode: never
- Spec-driven workflow: ignored
- Best-practices topics: do not load any
- Memory files: do not read project memory; user-level memory is enough

## Auto-fire at session start
none

## Status line format
`[Haiku] chat | N% ctx`

## Escalation triggers
| Trigger | Action |
|---|---|
| User starts asking for code edits or project work | Stop. Recommend relaunching in `quick`, `deep`, or `hybrid`. |
| User asks a question that genuinely needs deep reasoning | Answer at Haiku's level, then suggest `deep` mode for a deeper take. |
| User picks a project from the menu | The project menu should not appear in this mode — if it does, that's a bug. Tell the user. |

## Out of scope
This mode does NOT:
- Open or edit files in ~/dev/claude/
- Load project CLAUDE.md or memory
- Spawn any subagents
- Run any background work
- Enter plan mode

## On context wipe (/clear)
First message after a context wipe must be:
> "Resuming Chat. Say 'switch mode' to change."