Night Mode — also called YOLO Mode — lets CC Commander run an autonomous build session while you sleep. You answer 10 setup questions before you go, and CC Commander dispatches Claude with Opus at maximum reasoning, a hard budget cap, and a self-testing loop. The goal is to wake up to shipped code.
YOLO Mode uses --dangerously-skip-permissions to allow Claude to act without confirmation prompts. Review all commits and generated code before deploying to production. Hooks such as auto-checkpoint and careful-guard act as safety nets but will not catch every mistake.
How to launch
Slash command
Main menu
Direct routing
Inside any Claude Code session: Run ccc in your terminal, then select Night Mode (n) from the main menu.
orBoth route directly to the Night Mode sub-menu, skipping the main menu. The 10-question setup flow
Before starting the autonomous build, CC Commander walks you through 10 questions to produce a precise specification:
- What are we building?
- Who is this for?
- What does success look like?
- What is the tech stack?
- Are there any constraints?
- What are the must-have features?
- What are the nice-to-have features?
- Is there a deadline?
- What is the budget cap?
- Anything else Claude should know?
Your answers become the task specification that Claude works from throughout the session.
Default configuration
Once you confirm the setup, CC Commander shows you the full configuration before starting:
YOLO Mode — Autonomous Overnight Build
What are we building tonight?
> "Full e-commerce checkout with Stripe integration"
Configuration:
├─ Model: Opus (max reasoning)
├─ Budget: $10 (hard cap)
├─ Max turns: 100
├─ Self-test: Enabled (tests after each phase)
├─ Checkpoint: Every 10 edits
└─ Stop file: ~/.claude/commander/yolo-stop
Ready to run for up to 8 hours unattended.
❯ Start YOLO build
Adjust settings
Cancel
| Setting | Default | What it means |
|---|
| Model | Opus (max reasoning) | The most capable model, tuned for complex, multi-step tasks |
| Budget | $10 hard cap | Claude stops when the session reaches this cost |
| Max turns | 100 | Maximum back-and-forth steps in a single session |
| Self-test | Enabled | Claude runs tests after each phase and iterates on failures |
| Checkpoint | Every 10 edits | Commits are saved at regular intervals so progress is never lost |
| Stop file | ~/.claude/commander/yolo-stop | Create this file to halt the loop gracefully |
Stopping a running build
To stop the YOLO loop before it reaches the budget cap or the max-turns limit, create the stop file:
touch ~/.claude/commander/yolo-stop
You can also switch to the Claude tab in split mode (Ctrl+A n) and press Ctrl+C for an immediate stop, but this skips the graceful checkpoint. The stop file is the safer option for overnight runs.
Best practices
Write a clear task description
The more specific your answer to “What are we building?”, the better Claude can stay on track. Include the feature name, user-facing behavior, and any API or data contract constraints.
Define acceptance criteria
Answer the success criteria question with concrete, testable conditions — for example, “The checkout flow completes without errors and the Stripe test webhook fires.” Claude uses these criteria to decide when a phase is done.
Set a realistic budget
The default 10budgethandlesmostfeature−sizedbuilds.ForafullSaaSscaffoldoracomplexintegration,considerraisingitto15–$20 in the settings. Review commits before deploying
Night Mode commits at every checkpoint. When you wake up, review the git log and diff before merging or deploying. git log --oneline gives a quick summary of what was built.
Run /ccc:xray on your project before starting a Night Mode build. The health score tells you which dimensions are weakest, and you can include “improve test coverage” or “add CI pipeline” in your task description so Night Mode addresses them automatically.