Safe Mode

What safe mode is

Safe mode is a permission layer for disclaw-team start. When enabled with --safe, bots have a restricted set of pre-approved tools. Any tool or action not on the list requires explicit human approval via Discord DM before proceeding.

Enabling safe mode

disclaw-team start --safe

Pre-approved tools in safe mode

These tools are automatically allowed without prompting:

• File operations: Read, Glob, Grep, Edit, Write
• Web: WebSearch, WebFetch
• Claude: Agent (spawning subagents)
• MCP Discord tools: fetch_messages, reply, react, typing
• Common Bash commands (read-only operations)

How approval works

When a bot attempts a tool not on the pre-approved list, a permission prompt is sent to the team owner’s Discord DMs. The owner has 120 seconds to approve or deny. No response = automatic deny.

Timeout = deny

The polling timeout is 120 seconds. If the owner doesn’t respond within that window, the permission is automatically denied. The bot receives a deny and must handle it gracefully. The hook script has a 130-second total timeout (10 seconds of grace after the poll window closes).

Use cases

• Running bots on production infrastructure where accidental file writes are dangerous
• Reviewing what tools a new bot configuration uses before trusting it fully
• Demos where you want to show permission prompts in action

Related: CLI: start