generating, based on a presence or absence of obstacles within a subterranean formation, a reference well path for a drill bit adapted to drill in the subterranean formation, the reference well path including a start location and a target location, and the reference well path being generated based on a path-planning protocol that uses a waypoint provided as input to the path-planning protocol;

generating a drilling path for the drill bit using the reference well path and a physical constraint of the drill bit, the drilling path corresponding to a control parameter for controlling the drill bit, and the control parameter satisfying the physical constraint of the drill bit;

tracking a location of the drill bit while the drill bit is drilling along the drilling path in the subterranean formation;

generating, by executing a pure-pursuit protocol, a plurality of candidate well paths from the location of the drill bit to the target location;

determining a result of an objective function for each candidate well path of the plurality of candidate well paths;

selecting, based on the result of the objective function, a candidate well path from the plurality of candidate well paths, the selected candidate well path representing a target path from the location of the drill bit to the target location, and the selected candidate well path corresponding to a new control parameter for controlling the drill bit; and

sending one or more commands to a drill string coupled to the drill bit once the selected candidate well path has been determined, the one or more commands instructing the drill bit to change drilling direction to move the drill string along the selected candidate well path, wherein the one or more commands comprise the new control parameter that includes a trajectory or an inclination of the drill bit.