Approval and task branches
Approving a plan is the only way work begins. Jensen owns branches and checkouts, so an agent never chooses where it works.
Approve a plan
Section titled “Approve a plan”Use Approve in the plan banner or the plan pane footer. If you have comments queued, Request changes sends them back instead.
When you approve, Jensen:
- Cuts a task branch from your base branch.
- Creates a worktree for it and tells the agent both names.
- Opens the tracking issue, links it in the plan and assigns it to you, one per repository the plan touches. This needs the Create issues permission. See Trust and permissions.
- Marks the plan Approved.
The agent then works in that checkout and nowhere else. If Jensen cannot create the checkout, approval fails and the plan stays a draft.
If several draft plans could match what you approved, Jensen blocks and asks which one you meant.
The base branch
Section titled “The base branch”The task branch starts from your development branch when you have one, otherwise from production. A
project with only main branches from main. See Branch policy.
The checkout
Section titled “The checkout”The worktree lives in .jensen/worktrees/<name> by default. Change it under Settings, AI, AI
assistant, Worktrees: Jensen folder (.jensen/worktrees) or Claude folder
(.claude/worktrees).
A fresh checkout has no installed dependencies. Agents install and build there before trusting checks. See Worktrees.
Before the first edit
Section titled “Before the first edit”Jensen nudges the agent once to recall what the project already knows: it searches project knowledge for the task and checks for a skill that fits. Then it repeats its edit. See Memory and knowledge search.
An agent that skips the plan
Section titled “An agent that skips the plan”Say an agent tries to write to a protected branch with no approved plan. Jensen refuses that write, cuts a task branch and worktree for the session, and tells the agent to repeat the change there. The change is not lost, and the protected branch is never touched.
Target an environment
Section titled “Target an environment”Some work belongs on an environment branch itself, such as a hotfix on development. A plan can set a
target, such as dev. Jensen then attaches the worktree to that branch and warns that commits and
pushes go straight to it, with no task branch between.
- The grant lasts while that session’s plan is approved or in progress.
- A production target is refused. Production is reached through a merge request.
The agent builds, records each change on the plan, and hands the branch back. See Landing and cleanup.