Autonomy: how far the agent may continue

The agent can complete work you have already authorized without asking at every step. YOLO has a more specific purpose: you give it a mandate to continue across several steps up to a declared point, without asking for intermediate approvals covered by that scope.

Choose the reach

Request	How far the mandate goes
No YOLO	The agent continues authorized work and consults you when a decision requires it.
phase	Through closure of the next eligible phase by /helmit:ship.
full	Across eligible phases to the end of the roadmap.
Through a phase	Across eligible phases through closure of the named phase.

For example, say “Finish this phase in YOLO” or “Continue in YOLO through phase 8.” To name a target phase directly, use /helmit:yolo until 8. The agent records the mandate through /helmit:yolo before continuing and tells you where it ends. A plain-language request and an explicit command have the same effect; merely saying it will work in YOLO without recording the mandate does not activate it.

✦Autonomy mandate You set the reach; HelmIt keeps the proof

The agent continues eligible work, verifies the result, and stops when the mandate ends or a real block appears.

1. 01 /helmit:yolo phase Set the reach Choose one phase, the full roadmap, or a target phase.
2. 02 Continue eligible work The agent skips intermediate approvals covered by the mandate.
3. 03 Run the proof The commit floor, task proof, and final proof remain required.
4. 04 Resolve blocks The agent fixes failed proof; decisions outside the mandate return to you.
5. 05 End the mandate On fulfillment, autonomy expires and later work returns to the normal mode.

Human gate Deterministic proof

In this diagram, the block step is conditional. The agent fixes failed proof within authorized work; a decision outside the mandate needs your answer. With no pending block, it continues to the agreed point, including phase ship when the mandate covers it.

What YOLO does not authorize

The mandate skips only eligible intermediate approvals. Tests, commit checks, requirement coverage, and acceptance criteria still apply. Failed proof must be fixed; the agent cannot approve a criterion marked [human].

Nor does YOLO automatically authorize publishing, pushing, merging, changing external systems, or taking a destructive action beyond what you authorized. If a material decision is outside the mandate, the agent preserves the work and asks you.

Recovery after an interruption is a separate choice

Ordinary YOLO keeps work in the active flow; it does not create an automation to wake the task later. If you explicitly ask “resume automatically if the task is interrupted,” HelmIt can arm the heartbeat in a client that supports it. Codex CLI does not provide automatic recovery; you can resume manually with /helmit:next.

Check or end the mandate

Use /helmit:yolo status to see what is active and /helmit:yolo off to end autonomy at any time. The mandate expires on its own when it reaches the agreed point. If you set a time limit, it also stops then. It stays in local project state and is not inherited by someone who clones the repository.

Specs authorized by the mandate record approved-by: yolo, distinguishing that authorization from human review. This does not say the delivery was proved: proof still follows the Testing process.