Autopilot, Review or Assisted: how much to trust an agent
Gravity has three approval modes. Here is what each one does, what they cost in speed, and which one to pick for which kind of work.
An agent that can write files and run commands is useful because it can act, and risky for the same reason. Gravity does not force one level of trust on you. It has three development modes, and you can change them whenever the work changes.
Autopilot
Autopilot is the default. Agents execute without asking: file writes, edits and deletions happen immediately, shell commands run, and tool calls to connected MCP servers go ahead. It is the fastest mode and a good match for greenfield projects, clear specifications and codebases you trust and can verify.
Review
Review asks for approval before destructive operations. A card with a diff or a preview appears for file writes, applied diffs and deletions. Shell commands show the command before it runs, and destructive MCP tools ask first. Read-only actions such as reading, searching and listing still run on their own, so the agent keeps moving while you only look at what matters. Choose Review for production codebases, sensitive changes and for learning how the system behaves.
Assisted
Assisted puts you in the loop for every action. Each tool call shows an approval dialog, the parameters can be edited before you confirm, and you can reject a call and give guidance for a retry. It is the slowest mode and gives you the most control. It suits high-risk changes, teaching and mentoring, and situations that need an audit trail.
The trade-off in one table
| Mode | Writes | Shell commands | Reads | Typical time per step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autopilot | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic | about 2-5 s |
| Review | Asks | Asks | Automatic | about 5-30 s |
| Assisted | Asks | Asks | Asks | about 10-60 s |
The timings come from the documentation and depend on your model and on how fast you answer the approval cards.
A practical way to use them
- Use Review as your everyday mode on real projects. You see every change and the agent still works without constant interruption.
- Switch to Autopilot for a throwaway prototype, or for a task you have run before and can verify with the test suite.
- Switch to Assisted when the change touches something that is hard to undo, or when you want to understand each action.
Whatever the mode, commit before you start and read the final diff. The mode is set under Settings, Development Mode, it persists across sessions and applies to new tasks.
All three modes are included in the free version. Download Gravity and start with Review.