Goal Mode Configuration

Limits, states and commands of Goal Mode (Autopilot). For the idea, read Goal Mode; for the walkthrough, the guide Goal Mode: long tasks without babysitting.

Basic Configuration

In .pando.toml:

[Goal]
# Maximum iterations before timeout (0 = default 20)
MaxIterations = 20

# Maximum duration (Go duration string)
MaxDuration = '1h'

# Consecutive no-progress iterations before stalled
StallIterations = 3

# Auto-approve all tool calls during goal mode
AutoApprove = true

# Patterns to block in goal mode (regex)
DangerousPatterns = []

Goal States

All except running are terminal states.

Slash Commands

They work in the TUI, the Web UI and in editors connected through ACP. In the TUI the chat input is disabled while a goal runs, and Ctrl+C cancels the goal instead of exiting Pando.

Status component

While a goal runs, the interface shows a status badge (running, completed, failed, blocked, timeout, stalled, cancelled), the objective text, the iteration counter (for example “Iteration 3/20”), the elapsed time, the progress text and the next step.

Non-Interactive Goal Mode

From the command line:

pando --goal "Fix all failing tests"
pando --goal "Refactor auth module" --model copilot.gpt-5.4
pando --goal "Add comprehensive error handling" --quiet

The CLI returns a structured result:

{
  "session_id": "...",
  "objective": "Fix all failing tests",
  "status": "completed",
  "iteration": 5,
  "response": "All 12 tests now pass",
  "progress": "Fixed authentication, database, and API tests",
  "next_step": null,
  "blocked_reason": null
}

How the loop runs

1. The GoalRunner creates a goal record in the database.
2. Each iteration sends the goal prompt to the agent.
3. The HeuristicGoalEvaluator analyses the response.
4. Progress is recorded and the loop continues until a terminal state is reached.

The evaluator looks for:

• Completion signals: tests passing, build success, explicit completion statements.
• Blocking signals: error messages, missing dependencies, unresolvable issues.
• Stalling: no meaningful progress for StallIterations consecutive iterations.

Safety

• AutoApprove = true skips permission prompts during goal mode.
• DangerousPatterns blocks commands matching regex patterns.
• Ctrl+C cancels the running goal (instead of exiting Pando).
• Max iterations and duration provide hard limits.