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

# Agent permissions

> Choose what each agent can do, and pause or revoke its access.

Each agent has its own access. You can change or revoke it without touching your provider accounts or other agents. The provider token's own permissions are a separate limit on what Hoista itself can do.

## Access levels

Open **Agents**. Set each agent's level in its **What it can do** dropdown.

![The Agents screen listing connected agents with their access level and the projects they can reach](https://mintcdn.com/mirt-lab/bTbgaR1vteaGCpS-/assets/screens/agents-light.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=bTbgaR1vteaGCpS-\&q=85\&s=56b9dc0cc86725b099d431b4212f0a7c)

![The Agents screen listing connected agents with their access level and the projects they can reach](https://mintcdn.com/mirt-lab/bTbgaR1vteaGCpS-/assets/screens/agents-dark.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=bTbgaR1vteaGCpS-\&q=85\&s=f1416925f9ee8f350625fbd899edd7f8)

Agents, with each agent’s access level in its own dropdown and what agents did below.

| Level | What the agent can do |
| - | - |
| **View only** | See your projects, logs, deploys and bills. It can't change anything. |
| **Ask for approval** | Make changes. It asks you first, in the agent itself, before deleting, removing or connecting an account. |
| **Full access** | Change anything, including deleting, without asking. |

## Narrow the access

Open an agent's access to set the full limits. They apply top to bottom, and each step can only narrow the one above it.

1. **Environments** it can reach. Projects in other [environments](https://docs.hoista.dev/guides/environments.md) are hidden from it.
2. **Projects** it can see and change: all of them, or only the ones you pick.
3. **What it can do** in those projects.
4. **Exceptions**: narrower access for some resources. The strictest one that applies wins.
5. **Access ends**: no end date, or after 1, 7, 30 or 90 days.

## From the CLI

```bash theme={null}
hoist agents
hoist agents access AGENT --access view
hoist agents access AGENT --access ask --projects my-app --expires 2026-12-31T00:00:00Z
hoist agents rotate AGENT
hoist agents revoke AGENT
```

`AGENT` is the agent's name or ID. `--access` takes `view` (View only), `ask` (Ask for approval) or `full` (Full access). Use `--projects` for some projects or `--all-projects` for every one, and `--expires never` to remove an end date. `hoist agents rotate` gives a local agent a new token, and the old one stops working. Revoking removes the agent's access to Hoista. Neither changes any provider token.

## Pause or cut off every agent

```bash theme={null}
hoist agents pause
hoist agents resume
hoist agents stop-all
```

Pausing blocks every agent and new connection requests until you resume. Resuming does not bring back a revoked agent. `hoist agents stop-all` revokes every agent, pauses agent use and drops waiting requests, so each agent must be approved again. In Desktop, the same cutoff is in **Settings → Safety**.

Your projects keep running. These controls do not revoke provider tokens, and they cannot cancel an action the provider has already accepted.

## Approving sensitive actions

When an agent asks for something sensitive, read the action, the target and what will happen before you approve. A message in chat saying "approved" is not an approval. The agent should wait and retry the same request after you approve it. See [approvals](https://docs.hoista.dev/security/approvals.md).

## Related

> [card] [Approvals](https://docs.hoista.dev/security/approvals.md)
>
> What Hoista asks you before an agent acts.

> [card] [Connect an agent](https://docs.hoista.dev/agents/connect.md)
>
> Every tool, and how each connects.

> [card] [Threat model and limits](https://docs.hoista.dev/security/limits.md)
>
> What Hoista can’t protect against.


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