Modes & the prompt
Switch agent modes with Ctrl+D, auto-load EMPRYO.md and other tools' instruction files, and get per-model-family prompt tuning automatically.
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Modes
Press Ctrl+D to cycle, or /mode <name>:
| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
default | Full agent - investigates then implements |
architect | Design only - outlines and tradeoffs, no file edits |
socratic | Asks probing questions before doing anything |
challenge | Devil's advocate - challenges every assumption |
plan | Research, plan, confirm, execute (see plan mode) |
auto | Autonomous - minimal interruptions |
Project instructions
Empryo auto-loads EMPRYO.md from your project root as context. You can also pick up instructions from other tools:
{
"instructionFiles": ["empryo", "claude", "cursorrules"]
}| File | From |
|---|---|
EMPRYO.md | Empryo (on by default) |
CLAUDE.md | Claude Code |
.cursorrules | Cursor |
.github/copilot-instructions.md | GitHub Copilot |
.clinerules | Cline |
.windsurfrules | Windsurf |
AGENTS.md | OpenAI Codex |
.aider.conf.yml | Aider |
AMPLIFY.md | Amp |
Toggle in the TUI: /instructions.
Per-family tuning
Empryo tailors the prompt based on the model family (Claude, OpenAI, Gemini) - different models respond better to different phrasings. Gateway providers (LLM Gateway, OpenRouter, Vercel) are detected by the model ID portion, so llmgateway/claude-sonnet-4 gets the Claude prompt.
This is automatic; there's nothing to configure.