Permissions and profiles in the Warp Agent CLI

The Warp Agent CLI uses the same permission model as the Warp app: you choose how much approval each type of action needs. This page covers how to set permissions in the CLI, what happens when the agent asks for approval, and how to grant full autonomy with auto-approve. For the full permission model, including team-wide controls, see Profiles & Permissions.

How permissions work

Every action the agent proposes, such as running a shell command, editing files, or calling an MCP tool, is checked against your active execution profile before it runs. Each action type is set independently to always_ask, always_allow, or agent_decides. For example, you could require approval for every shell command while letting the agent read files without asking, or allow everything for an agent that never stops to ask.

By default, the CLI applies these permission values:

• Shell commands, file edits, file reads, MCP tool calls - agent_decides. For file edits, agent_decides still prompts every time, so you always review a diff before it’s applied.
• Typing into a running command, launching child agents - Always asks.
• Command denylist - Sits on top of these values. Matching commands require approval even when execute_commands is always_allow.

Change any of this by editing your execution profile.

Approving agent actions

When an action needs your approval, the agent pauses and shows a permission card with the proposed command or file edits. Beyond approving or rejecting it, you can:

• Select Other to reply with guidance instead of running the action. The agent adjusts its approach based on what you type.
• Press E on a command card to edit it before approving. Esc exits the editor without rejecting the request.
• Press E on a file-edits card to expand or collapse all diffs.

Auto-approve

Auto-approve gives the agent full autonomy. Proposed actions run immediately, without permission cards, until the task finishes or you turn it off. Toggle it with /auto-approve or Ctrl+Shift+I.

Auto-approve is scoped to a single conversation, and new conversations start with it off. To start every new conversation in a session with auto-approve already on, launch with warp --auto-approve. The statusline’s auto-approve indicator (▶▶) shows the current state and is on by default. If your profile sets ask_user_question = "ask_except_in_auto_approve", the agent also skips clarifying questions while auto-approve is on.

Danger

With auto-approve on, the agent runs commands and applies file edits without review, including commands that match your own command denylist. Press Ctrl+C to stop the agent if it starts doing something you didn’t intend.

To keep your denylist in force while auto-approve is on, turn off the bypass in your settings file:

settings.toml

[agents.warp_agent.other]
auto_approve_bypasses_command_denylist = false

Denylist rules enforced by your team in the Admin Panel always require approval and are never bypassed, regardless of this setting.

Execution profiles

The CLI reads its permissions from execution profiles stored in its settings file. Profiles live under the agents.execution_profiles table, and the CLI always runs with the profile under the reserved default key:

settings.toml

[agents.execution_profiles.default]
name = "Default"
execute_commands = "agent_decides"
apply_code_diffs = "agent_decides"
read_files = "agent_decides"
command_allowlist = ['cargo (build|check|test)(\s.*)?']

Caution

Setting command_denylist replaces the built-in default denylist, which covers rm, curl, wget, eval, ssh, shells, and other risky command patterns. Omitting the field keeps the defaults. To deny additional commands, extend the generated list in your settings file rather than writing a short list from scratch.

Edit the file directly, or ask the agent to change its own permissions and it will update the settings file for you. The CLI picks up saved changes automatically.

Profiles in the Warp Agent CLI are local to your machine. They never sync to the cloud, and they are separate from the Agent Profiles you configure in the Warp app. You can define additional profiles in the file, but the CLI currently always runs with default.

Permission values

Most permission fields accept one of three values:

• agent_decides - The agent acts on its own when it’s confident and asks when it’s uncertain.
• always_ask - Every action of this type requires approval.
• always_allow - Actions of this type run without prompting.

Profile fields

• execute_commands - Permission to run shell commands.
• apply_code_diffs - Permission to apply file edits.
• read_files - Permission to read files.
• mcp_permissions - Permission to call MCP servers.
• write_to_pty - Permission to type into running interactive commands. Also accepts ask_on_first_write.
• ask_user_question - Whether the agent may pause to ask clarifying questions: always_ask, ask_except_in_auto_approve, or never.
• run_agents - Permission to launch child agents: always_ask, always_allow, or never_allow.
• command_allowlist - Regular expressions for commands that run without approval.
• command_denylist - Regular expressions for commands that require approval regardless of the other permission values. Auto-approve bypasses this list by default.
• directory_allowlist - Directories the agent may read without approval.

Profiles also hold model overrides such as base_model, covered in Models and usage in the Warp Agent CLI.

Note

The profile collection is validated as a whole. If any profile contains an invalid value, the CLI keeps the last valid configuration while it’s running and falls back to the built-in default profile on the next launch, until the file is fixed.

Related pages

• Profiles & Permissions - The full permission model, autonomy levels, and allowlist/denylist behavior.
• Configuring the Warp Agent CLI - The settings file, themes, statusline, and keybindings.
• Agent conversations in the Warp Agent CLI - How tool calls, diffs, and agent questions render in the transcript.