How to Use ClickUp AI Modes

ClickUp offers two powerful AI modes that let you design, build, and control intelligent agents directly inside your workspace. This guide walks you step-by-step through how to use these modes so you can safely test and deploy AI for real work.

On the official AI modes page, the platform introduces two core experiences: Design Mode and Do Mode. Below, you will learn exactly how each mode works, what you can do in them, and how to move from ideas to working automations.

Understanding ClickUp AI Modes

Before you begin, it helps to understand what the two main modes are designed to do and how they interact.

• Design Mode: A safe space where you plan, prototype, and refine AI agents.
• Do Mode: The execution environment where agents automatically take action on your work.

You can think of Design Mode as your lab and Do Mode as your production environment. Both are part of a single ClickUp experience, but they are separated so you can explore ideas without putting live projects at risk.

How ClickUp Design Mode Works

In Design Mode, you create and evolve your agents with full visibility into their logic and behavior. This mode is focused on experimentation and learning.

Key goals of ClickUp Design Mode

• Explore what AI can do with your work data.
• Prototype workflows without affecting active projects.
• Understand each step an agent will take.
• Iterate until you are confident the agent behaves correctly.

Step 1: Start a new agent in ClickUp Design Mode

1. Open your workspace and navigate to the AI agents area described on the source page.
2. Choose the option to create or design a new agent.
3. Give the agent a clear name that reflects its purpose, such as “Sprint Summary Assistant” or “Customer Ticket Router.”

This naming step is important; it keeps your agent library organized and makes it easier to manage many agents over time.

Step 2: Define the agent’s purpose

In ClickUp Design Mode, you capture what problem the agent will solve and how it should help your team. Be as specific as possible.

• Describe the kind of work the agent will touch (tasks, docs, comments, or other items).
• Clarify the outcome you expect, such as summarizing updates, prioritizing tasks, or drafting responses.
• Identify which teams or users will benefit from the agent.

Clear intent helps the underlying AI generate better reasoning steps and more accurate actions.

Step 3: Configure inputs and context

Your agent needs the right information in order to work effectively. In this step you:

• Specify which spaces, folders, or lists the agent can see.
• Choose which fields, comments, or attachments are relevant.
• Set any constraints, such as ignoring archived items or completed tasks.

By carefully limiting inputs, you maintain control over both context and data access, which keeps experiments safe inside ClickUp.

Step 4: Design the agent’s reasoning process

Design Mode lets you shape how the agent thinks through your instructions. Based on the source description, you can:

• Break problems down into smaller reasoning steps.
• Define how the agent should interpret user requests.
• Outline the order in which the agent should review data and act.
• Specify what the agent must verify before finalizing its output.

This reasoning-first approach makes your AI more reliable and easier to debug; you can see where each decision came from.

Step 5: Test the agent safely

One of the main benefits of ClickUp Design Mode is being able to test without touching real work. To do this, you can:

• Run the agent against sample or sandbox data.
• Review logs of what the agent tried to do.
• Inspect the reasoning chain behind its conclusions.
• Adjust prompts, rules, or access scopes and test again.

This repeatable loop lets you refine the agent until you are satisfied that its behavior is consistent, predictable, and aligned with your team’s policies.

Step 6: Prepare the agent for Do Mode

When testing shows that the agent behaves as expected, you can finalize its design and mark it ready for real execution.

• Review every permission and data source one more time.
• Confirm that edge cases are either covered or safely blocked.
• Document what the agent does so teammates understand how to use it.

Once you complete these checks, you are ready to shift from experimentation into real work execution.

How ClickUp Do Mode Works

Do Mode is where approved agents operate on live work. Here, they stop being prototypes and start helping with actual tasks, projects, and workflows.

Key capabilities of ClickUp Do Mode

• Run agents continuously or on specific triggers.
• Apply reasoning to live tasks and documents.
• Take actions you have allowed, such as updating fields or suggesting changes.
• Provide visibility into what the agent is doing.

Step 7: Deploy the agent from Design to Do Mode

1. Open the finalized agent in ClickUp Design Mode.
2. Use the provided option on the platform to move it into Do Mode or enable it for live use.
3. Confirm that the agent is now listed among active agents for your workspace.

This transition is deliberate so you cannot accidentally deploy an unfinished prototype into production.

Step 8: Set controls and guardrails

Once in Do Mode, you define how the agent runs in ClickUp on a day-to-day basis.

• Choose whether the agent acts automatically or only on request.
• Limit which lists, spaces, or teams it can modify.
• Specify the types of actions allowed, such as editing, commenting, or suggesting changes.
• Set logging and notification settings so humans can review what happens.

Strong guardrails give you confidence that automation will not override important human decisions.

Step 9: Monitor live agent activity

After deployment, you should watch how the agent behaves in real workflows.

• Review activity feeds or logs that show what the agent is doing.
• Check whether outputs and actions match your training in Design Mode.
• Gather feedback from teammates who interact with the agent.

If you notice unexpected behavior, you can pause the agent, return to ClickUp Design Mode, refine its logic, and redeploy.

Step 10: Improve agents over time

The combination of Design Mode and Do Mode makes ongoing improvement practical.

1. Collect real-world examples where the agent performed well or struggled.
2. Clone or reopen the agent in Design Mode using those examples as test cases.
3. Adjust prompts, reasoning steps, and permissions.
4. Run controlled tests, then redeploy the improved version back to Do Mode.

This cycle lets your AI agents grow alongside your processes while keeping risks low.

Best Practices for Using ClickUp AI Modes

To get the most value from these two modes, follow a few practical guidelines.

Start small inside ClickUp

Begin with focused, low-risk workflows such as:

• Summarizing meeting notes.
• Drafting task updates.
• Tagging or categorizing tasks based on content.

Small wins build trust and help your team understand what AI can and cannot do.

Document every agent you create in ClickUp

Good documentation prevents confusion and duplicated effort.

• Record the agent’s purpose and scope.
• List the spaces or lists it can access.
• Explain any limitations and when to escalate to a human.
• Include examples of ideal inputs and outputs.

Store this information where your team already keeps process docs so it is easy to find.

Review permissions regularly

As your organization grows, so does the importance of access control.

• Audit which agents are live in Do Mode.
• Check that each one still needs the permissions it has.
• Retire agents that are no longer aligned with current workflows.

Regular reviews keep your ClickUp workspace safe, predictable, and compliant.

Where to Learn More About ClickUp AI

For deeper details or updates to the AI modes, always refer to the official source page at ClickUp AI agents mode. You can also pair this with strategic consulting to design robust agent-powered workflows; for example, experts at Consultevo help teams adopt AI in a structured, measurable way.

By using Design Mode for experimentation and Do Mode for live execution, you gain a clear, safe path from AI ideas to reliable automation inside ClickUp.

Need Help With ClickUp?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your ClickUp workspace, work with ConsultEvo — trusted ClickUp Solution Partners.

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