# Turn Off Agent Features

URL: https://tuios.dev/docs/agents-off

> One switch, agents.enabled, turns off every agent feature and keeps only the multiplexer.

If you want only the multiplexer, turn off the agent features:

```toml
[agents]
enabled = false
```

The default is `true`. You can also change it on the settings page (, in window mode), where it is the first row, "Agent features". While a TUIOS client is open, you can also run this from a shell outside TUIOS:

```bash
tuios set-config agents.enabled false
```

The change applies at once, in both directions. You do not have to restart TUIOS.

## What turns off

**The daemon:**

- It does not look for agents. It does not read the process table, pane titles, screens or agent transcripts, and it drops the OSC 9;4 progress and the agent state that programs send.
- The stall timer does not run.
- It runs no agent hook, such as `after-agent-state`.
- It types no queued message, and it offers to resume no agent conversation after a restart.

**The client:**

- The rail shows no agents section. The other sections move up to fill the space.
- The Inbox, agent mail, approvals and agent alerts are off. The Inbox key shows one line, "Agent features are off. Turn them on in Settings.", and does nothing else.
- The prefix menu, the command palette, the help and the settings page do not show agent items.

**Commands and verbs:**

- Agent commands stop with one line: "Agent features are off. Set agents.enabled = true in the config to use this command."
- A program that calls an agent verb gets the error code `agents_disabled`. `--json` carries the code.
- The agent verbs cover agents and fans (`start-agent`, `fan`, `fan compare`, `fan verify`, `fan keep`, `list-agents`, `resume-agent`, `ask-agent`, the `explain-agent-*` commands), agent state and metadata, agent mail, the Inbox and approvals (`list-attention`, `peek-prompt`, `respond`, `ask-human`), the queue, and `review send`.
- `wait-for` still works. Only its `agent-state` and `agent-message` conditions are refused.
- `tuios mcp` started with the features off leaves the agent tools out of its tool list.
- An agent command aimed at another machine, such as `tuios list-agents -s build:work`, follows this machine's switch.

With the Inbox off, [push notifications](https://tuios.dev/docs/push-notifications) have no item to send.

## What happens when you turn it off

- The daemon clears the agent state of every pane, and closes every Inbox item.
- A held approval goes back to the agent, which asks in its own pane.
- Queued messages are dropped, so a message queued before cannot be typed later.

When you turn the features on again, the daemon looks at every pane at once.

## What stays

- Sessions, panes, workspaces, layouts and the rest of the rail.
- [Worktrees](https://tuios.dev/docs/worktrees): `tuios worktree new`, `ls`, `diff`, `rm` and `pull`.
- `tuios review` and its notes. Only sending the notes to an agent is off.
- [Ship](https://tuios.dev/docs/ship): commit, merge, push and pull request.
- [Checkpoints](https://tuios.dev/docs/checkpoints) already saved can still be listed, read and restored. No new checkpoint is taken, because the daemon sees no agent turn end.
- The tmux shim, hooks for other events, and `tuios notify test`.

## Typing between panes is stricter

A pane can answer another pane's prompt if it types into that pane. Usually TUIOS knows which pane waits on a prompt. With the features off it does not know. So a pane that does not hold the `respond` grant can type only into:

- A pane that it opened, for example with `tuios new-window` or the tmux shim's `split-window`.
- A pane whose own shell is at its prompt, with no program running.

It cannot type into other panes. This includes `send-keys`, `send-text` and `run` from a script in a pane. Your own keys, and commands from a shell outside TUIOS, are not affected.

To let every pane type into other panes, give panes `respond`:

```toml
[agents.permissions]
grants = ["admin", "respond"]
```

See [What a pane may do](https://tuios.dev/docs/agents#what-a-pane-may-do).

> **Only you can change the switch**
>
> Change it on the settings page, in `config.toml`, or with `tuios set-config` from a shell outside TUIOS. A process in a pane that tries to change it gets `forbidden`.

## Related

*[An interactive figure goes here. Open the page to use it.](https://tuios.dev/docs/agents-off)*