Elevated Mode

Elevated Mode

When an agent runs inside a sandbox, its exec commands are confined to the sandbox environment. Elevated mode lets the agent break out and run commands on the gateway host instead, with configurable approval gates.

Info

Elevated mode only changes behavior when the agent is sandboxed. For unsandboxed agents, exec already runs on the host.

Directives

Control elevated mode per-session with slash commands:

Directive	What it does
/elevated on	Run on the gateway host, keep exec approvals
/elevated ask	Same as on (alias)
/elevated full	Run on the gateway host and skip exec approvals
/elevated off	Return to sandbox-confined execution

Also available as /elev on|off|ask|full.

Send /elevated with no argument to see the current level.

How it works

1. Check availability

   Elevated must be enabled in config and the sender must be on the allowlist:

   {
     tools: {
       elevated: {
         enabled: true,
         allowFrom: {
           discord: ["user-id-123"],
           whatsapp: ["+15555550123"],
         },
       },
     },
   }

2. Set the level

   Send a directive-only message to set the session default:

   /elevated full

   Or use it inline (applies to that message only):

   /elevated on run the deployment script

3. Commands run on the host

   With elevated active, exec calls route to the gateway host instead of the sandbox. In full mode, exec approvals are skipped. In on/ask mode, configured approval rules still apply.

Resolution order

1. Inline directive on the message (applies only to that message)
2. Session override (set by sending a directive-only message)
3. Global default (agents.defaults.elevatedDefault in config)

Availability and allowlists

• Global gate: tools.elevated.enabled (must be true)
• Sender allowlist: tools.elevated.allowFrom with per-channel lists
• Per-agent gate: agents.list[].tools.elevated.enabled (can only further restrict)
• Per-agent allowlist: agents.list[].tools.elevated.allowFrom (sender must match both global + per-agent)
• Discord fallback: if tools.elevated.allowFrom.discord is omitted, channels.discord.allowFrom is used as fallback
• All gates must pass; otherwise elevated is treated as unavailable

Allowlist entry formats:

Prefix	Matches
(none)	Sender ID, E.164, or From field
name:	Sender display name
username:	Sender username
tag:	Sender tag
id:, from:, e164:	Explicit identity targeting

What elevated does not control

• Tool policy: if exec is denied by tool policy, elevated cannot override it
• Separate from /exec: the /exec directive adjusts per-session exec defaults for authorized senders and does not require elevated mode

Related

• Exec tool — shell command execution
• Exec approvals — approval and allowlist system
• Sandboxing — sandbox configuration
• Sandbox vs Tool Policy vs Elevated