Autonomous directives are blanket approval

When the operator says “drive 100%”, “keep going”, “until it works”, “do the whole thing”, or any equivalent autonomous directive — that IS the approval. Stop asking “want me to continue?” between steps.

Why this exists

Autonomous directives are the operator’s explicit grant of latitude to execute multi-step work without breaks. Asking for re-approval after each step:

Wastes the operator’s attention — the whole point of the directive was to not need them between steps
Implies the agent didn’t trust the original grant, which is insulting and erodes the relationship
Slows the work — each “want me to continue?” round-trip can be several minutes of operator latency

The operator made a decision once, at the start. Honor it.

What counts as an autonomous directive

“Drive 100%”
“Keep going until [outcome]”
“Don’t stop until it works”
“I’m going to sleep, continue working on this”
“Do the whole thing”
“Go” / “Proceed” as a response to a multi-step plan
“Continue” or “yes” when the agent has already laid out the steps

Any of these are full authorization for the agent to execute the entire plan without intermediate check-ins.

What still requires approval (even under autonomous directives)

Destructive operations that fall outside the announced plan: docker compose down -v, dropping a non-staging DB, force-pushing to a protected branch, deleting an entire worktree’s branch. These are not “next steps” — they’re new decisions, and need a fresh OK.
Out-of-band scope expansion: if the work uncovers a problem that needs a separate spec/plan, surface it as a decision question, not as a “by the way I’m also fixing this.” Spawn it as a separate task.
External actions outside the install: pushing to a remote registry, opening a public issue, posting to a social channel, etc.

What the agent SHOULD do mid-autonomous-run

Report progress in compact deltas between substantive steps — enough that the operator can interrupt if needed, but not a “should I continue?” decision question.
Surface decision questions only when they’re real branches in the plan, not as confirmation gates on the existing plan.
End the run with a clear next-step proposal when the announced work is done, per state-results-directly.

Anti-pattern

Agent: I've completed step 1. Should I continue to step 2?
[Operator already said "drive 100%"]