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

# The kill switch

> A per-agent halt or safe mode. safe_mode swaps evaluation to a conservative envelope and parks actions in review instead of blocking. Drilled on a schedule with signed attestations, and checked on every enforcement call.

When an agent goes wrong, you need to stop it now, not after the next deploy. The
kill switch is a per-agent control that takes an agent out of autonomous
operation immediately. It is part of the Bound capability and works alongside
[autonomy envelopes](/concepts/autonomy-envelopes) and circuit breakers.

## Two rungs: halt and safe mode

The response is per-agent policy, frozen at the moment of activation:

* **`halt`** stops the agent outright. Every enforcement decision refuses.
* **`safe_mode`** does not hard-stop. It swaps the agent's evaluation to a
  conservative envelope and parks actions in review instead of blocking them, so
  the agent degrades to human-supervised operation rather than going dark. This
  suits an agent whose blast radius makes a full stop its own kind of incident.

Circuit breakers (rising override rate, evaluation-volume spikes, model drift)
fire this same path automatically. Breakers halt without a human; release is
human-only, with an attestation.

## Checked on every action, fails closed

The SDK's `enforce()` consults the kill switch before it evaluates anything. A
background poller caches each agent's kill state, so a halt takes effect within
one poll interval even between decisions, and the server re-checks inside the
evaluation. Both checks fail closed: an unreachable platform, or a missing
response field from an older deployment, reads as `halt`, never as permissive.

```python theme={null}
from sakshi import SakshiBlocked

try:
    client.enforce(agent_id, "approve_loan", stakes=1_500_000, confidence=0.92)
except SakshiBlocked:
    # halted by the kill switch, or blocked by a rule: stop the agent
    ...
```

## Drilled, not just declared

A safety control you have never fired is a hope, not a control. Kill switches are
drilled on a schedule, and each drill produces a signed attestation recording the
propagation time and the scope it reached. That attestation is evidence you
tested the switch, cited by the [evidence packs](/concepts/evidence-packs) that
map to regulator obligations.

Activate at `POST /api/v1/bound/kill`, check state at
`GET /api/v1/bound/kill/status`, and release (human-only) at
`.../kill/release`.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Bound autonomy" icon="shield-halved" href="/guides/bound-autonomy">
    Set the response policy, arm circuit breakers, and run a drill.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Autonomy envelopes" icon="sliders" href="/concepts/autonomy-envelopes">
    The conservative envelope safe mode routes through.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>