Loading the documentation…
DataMind Oda checks every step before it runs: the file sandbox limits where it may change files, and an approval step decides which steps need your answer first. This page is the reference behind those checks. It covers where the approval step sits, what asks before it runs, what a mode bundles, who may answer, and what happens when nothing can.
Every step Oda takes runs through the same stages, in order:
Two rules make the chain safe by default:
| What Oda is about to do | What the request shows | When it is skipped |
|---|---|---|
| A step beyond the chat's access mode, such as a file change or a command that needs wider rights | The reason for asking, and the step it is about | When approvals are off: Full access turns them off, and Auto review replaces the prompt with a review of each call |
| A plan, in plan mode | The plan, for Approve or another round of planning | Never; the review waits until you decide |
| Saving a skill | The skill's name and the complete file list: folder, files, total size, and anything left out with its reason | In a Full access session, where the write is saved without a prompt |
| Writing a hook | The exact event, matcher, command and file, with the change as Before: and After: | In a Full access session, where the write is saved without a prompt |
| Creating, changing, pausing or deleting a scheduled task | The exact settings and the prompt that will be saved | In a Full access session; a task never gets more access than the session that saves it |
The session has Full access, so it was written without an approval prompt. When approval prompts are off in a session that does not have Full access, the request is refused instead, and nothing is saved.A permission preset is two settings travelling together: how far Oda may change files, and whether a step that goes wider asks you first. Switching the preset sets both at once, so the mode shown in a chat names both its file limits and its approval policy.
On Windows, in Workspace Write, a command gets a private temporary folder of its own for the session; in Read Only, it gets no temporary folder. Oda uses one shell family per computer, PowerShell on Windows; switching the family is all-or-nothing, and a partial switch keeps Oda from starting.
When a chat's file limits and prompt settings match no preset, the control shows Custom; choosing a preset moves the chat back onto one. Access modes and approvals covers the presets behind the modes, and Permission presets covers switching and remembering them.
Full access is offered only when your DataMind account holds the Use DataMind Oda Full Access Mode permission. Without it, the mode does not appear. Auto review carries Full access rights, so it is offered only to accounts that hold Full access too. If you need it, ask your administrator; Manage DataMind Oda for your company shows where they grant permissions.
Oda runs as a desktop app and as a VS Code extension, and not every feature is in both:
Settings > Developer > Advanced features shows one switch per risky feature, such as Computer use. Switches are off until you turn one on, and the first turn-on asks you to accept that feature's risks, once for your account.
Your company can also lock a switch on or off. A locked switch cannot be changed, and the reason shows beside it. Advanced features lists what each switch does, and Computer use covers that feature itself.
[sandbox: file access denied under <mode> mode]. The denied change is not made. Oda reads the denial, continues with what it may do, and can ask to retry the exact step once with wider access, naming the narrowest mode that can work. When Oda needs more access covers the retry.No. A step with no answer does not run: the request chain fails closed, so nothing is approved silently, and a request that cannot be delivered leaves the step undone.
Because a library write is not judged by the mode's file limits: it asks through the approval step on its own, whatever the mode, and only a Full access session skips the request.
For a skill, the complete file list: folder, files, total size, and anything left out with its reason. For a hook, the exact event, matcher, command and file, as Before: and After:. For a scheduled task, the exact settings and the prompt. Nothing is saved until you approve.
You, in the chat. Nothing else can answer for you: a subagent cannot ask at all, and an unattended run gets a refusal recorded instead of an answer.
Full access is offered only when your DataMind account holds the Use DataMind Oda Full Access Mode permission. Auto review carries the same rights, so it needs that permission too. Ask your administrator to add it if you need the mode.
No. Scheduled tasks work in the desktop app only; company data (Minds), MCP servers, skills, hooks, memory and the browser work in the desktop app and in the VS Code extension. Browser tools also need the browser permission on your account.
Your company locked it: an administrator can hold a switch on or off for everyone, and the reason is shown beside the locked switch. You cannot change it on your computer; ask your administrator if you need it changed.
A helper cannot start, edit, pause or resume a goal: those accept only your own instruction given directly, and a helper's report or a started brief is refused. Marking a goal met, or blocked, may also come from the goal's own round.
Not on the first obstacle: a goal is not reported blocked until the same obstacle has survived three rounds in a row, so a single failed round does not end it. Three is the default minimum.
No. The denied change is not made, and Oda reads the denial and continues with what it may do; it can also ask to retry the exact step once with wider access.
Because it stayed inside the chat's access mode, where no approval is needed, or because the session runs with approvals off (Full access, and Auto review for its reviewed calls). In a session with approvals off, an operation that would need your answer is refused rather than run, so nothing is approved on your behalf.
It is saved without a prompt, and Oda records it: The session has Full access, so it was written without an approval prompt. When approval prompts are off in a session that does not have Full access, the request is refused instead, and nothing is saved.