Code mode¶

Code mode runs the Cortex Code CLI (CoCo) with a lean tool set focused on software engineering. It restricts the agent to file, shell, and code-search tools and turns off Snowflake data tools, Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, skills, and team and scheduling features.

Because code mode ships a smaller tool set and a system prompt tuned for coding, it sends fewer tokens per turn than the default mode. On coding-heavy work — writing, refactoring, and debugging application code and dbt projects — this lowers token cost, with comparable task quality on software-engineering work.

Code mode is off by default; the CLI starts in standard mode.

Enable code mode¶

Start a session in code mode with the --mode flag:

cortex --mode code

--mode accepts standard (the default) or code. It works the same in interactive and headless (--print) sessions.

To make code mode the default for every session, set agentMode in ~/.snowflake/cortex/settings.json:

{
  "agentMode": "code"
}

Setting agentMode to standard (or omitting it) keeps the default mode. See Settings.

What changes in code mode¶

Code mode changes the tools available to the agent. Your Snowflake connection is still used for authentication and model access — only the tools the agent can call are restricted.

Available in code mode	Disabled in code mode
File editing (`read`, `write`, `edit`, `apply_patch`)	Snowflake data tools (`sql_execute`, dbt, data diff, notebooks)
Shell (`bash`, background shells)	MCP servers and their tools
Code search (`grep`, `glob`)	Skills (bundled and custom) and the skill curator
Web search and fetch	Teams, inter-agent messaging, and cron scheduling
Subagents (`task`)	Plan mode and goal mode tools
Programmatic tool calling (`python_repl`)	Semantic code search — use `grep` and `glob` instead

Because Snowflake data tools are turned off, code mode is not suited to tasks that query or modify Snowflake data. Use the default (standard) mode for data work, and code mode for software-engineering tasks.

When to use each mode¶

Code mode — writing or editing application code, refactors, bug fixes, running tests, and building or fixing dbt projects. Best when the work is primarily files and shell, and you want lower token cost.
Standard mode (default) — anything that needs Snowflake data access (sql_execute, dbt tooling against your account), MCP connectors, skills, teams, or plan and goal modes.