---
title: "Read-only mode"
description: "How an admin or owner turns on read-only mode so the assistant cannot propose or run any change for the team."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.overlane.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Read-only mode

Read-only mode stops the assistant from changing anything for the whole team. Reads, docs answers and navigation keep working.

## Turn it on or off

Only an **admin** or an **owner** can change it. Type one of these to the assistant:

- `turn on read-only mode`
- `turn off read-only mode`

A member or viewer who asks gets a refusal that names the reason. The setting belongs to the team and is recorded in the assistant's audit log with who changed it and when.

## What it blocks

While it is on:

- every write tool is refused, with the reason `read-only mode`
- an approval that was already waiting cannot run; it stays pending, and runs only if you approve it after read-only mode is turned off and before it expires
- the approval card for a new request is not created

The check happens when the change is proposed and again when it is approved, so turning the mode on also stops approvals that were made ready earlier.

Read-only mode applies to the assistant. It is not a replacement for [roles](/teams-and-roles/), which still decide what each person can do in the app.

Source: https://docs.overlane.app/overlane-agent/read-only-mode/index.mdx