YOLO Mode - Autohand Docs

Overview

By default, Autohand asks for confirmation before running shell commands, deleting files, and other potentially destructive operations. YOLO Mode lets you selectively bypass these prompts using pattern matching.

# Auto-approve everything (use with caution)
autohand --yolo

# Auto-approve with specific patterns
autohand --yolo "allow:npm *,allow:git status,deny:rm *"

Pattern syntax

Patterns control which tool calls are auto-approved. Use comma-separated rules with allow: and deny: prefixes:

Pattern	Effect
`allow:*`	Auto-approve all operations
`allow:npm *`	Auto-approve any npm command
`allow:git status`	Auto-approve exact command
`deny:rm *`	Always prompt for rm commands
`deny:sudo *`	Always prompt for sudo commands

Rule precedence

Deny rules always take precedence over allow rules. If a command matches both an allow and deny pattern, it will require confirmation.

# Allow all npm commands except npm publish
autohand --yolo "allow:npm *,deny:npm publish"

# Allow git operations except force push
autohand --yolo "allow:git *,deny:git push --force*"

Timeout support

Combine YOLO mode with --timeout to automatically kill long-running auto-approved commands:

# Auto-approve with 30-second timeout
autohand --yolo --timeout 30

# Kill any auto-approved command that runs longer than 60 seconds
autohand --yolo "allow:npm test*" --timeout 60

If a command exceeds the timeout, it is killed and the agent is notified so it can adjust its approach.

Integration with permissions

YOLO mode works alongside the existing permission system. The permission hierarchy is:

Deny patterns (highest priority) — Always block
Config-level deny rules — From settings.json
YOLO allow patterns — Auto-approve matching commands
Default behavior — Prompt for confirmation

// settings.json — deny rules always win over YOLO
{
  "permissions": {
    "deny": ["run_command:rm -rf *", "run_command:sudo *"]
  }
}

Security considerations

Use specific patterns — Prefer allow:npm test* over allow:*
Always deny dangerous commands — Add explicit deny rules for rm -rf, sudo, curl | sh
Set timeouts — Prevent runaway commands with --timeout
Combine with restricted mode — Use config-level deny patterns as a safety net
CI/CD caution — In automated pipelines, prefer --restricted over --yolo

Tip: Start with narrow allow patterns and broaden them as you build trust. It is easier to add permissions than to recover from an unintended deletion.

Examples

Development workflow

# Auto-approve common dev commands
autohand --yolo "allow:npm *,allow:git add*,allow:git commit*,deny:git push --force*"

Test-driven development

# Auto-approve test runs with a timeout
autohand --yolo "allow:npm test*,allow:npx vitest*" --timeout 120

Read-only analysis

# Auto-approve only read operations
autohand --yolo "allow:git status,allow:git diff,allow:git log,deny:*"