Guides
Coding agent settings, answered
The settings questions people ask most, answered in one paragraph and backed by the vendor's own documentation.
Cursor
How do I let Cursor's agent run commands without asking?
Open Settings > Agents > Approvals & Execution and pick a Run Mode. Run Everything runs every tool call automatically with no sandbox or review; Allowlist runs only the commands you list; Auto-review runs allowlisted calls immediately and sends other shell commands to the sandbox when possible.
Does Cursor store or train on my code?
With Privacy Mode on, Cursor says customer data is not used for training and it has zero data retention agreements with its model providers, though providers may run abuse classifiers. With Privacy Mode off, Cursor may store and use codebase data, prompts and editor actions to improve its features. Privacy Mode is available on every plan.
Claude Code
How do I stop Claude Code asking for permission every time?
Press Shift+Tab to cycle permission modes, start with claude --permission-mode <mode>, or pre-approve specific commands with permissions.allow rules such as Bash(npm run *) in .claude/settings.json. Auto mode runs without routine prompts while a classifier reviews actions; --dangerously-skip-permissions is meant only for containers or VMs.
How do I disable Claude Code telemetry, and how long is my data kept?
Set DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 to stop usage metrics, DISABLE_ERROR_REPORTING=1 to stop error reports, or CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1 to stop all non-essential traffic. Consumer accounts keep data 30 days, or 5 years if you allow training; commercial accounts keep it 30 days, with zero data retention available for qualified Enterprise customers.
Codex
Gemini CLI
How do I stop Gemini CLI asking before every tool call?
Start Gemini CLI with --approval-mode auto_edit to auto-approve edits, or --yolo (--approval-mode yolo) to auto-approve everything. YOLO can only be turned on from the command line. To allow specific shell commands, list them in tools.allowed in settings.json.
How do I disable Gemini CLI telemetry?
Set privacy.usageStatisticsEnabled to false in ~/.gemini/settings.json to stop usage statistics, and keep telemetry.enabled false (it can also be set with GEMINI_TELEMETRY_ENABLED).