diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/Varaverk.page b/Plugin/unraid/Varaverk.page
index 0bb5fbc..bcb7eac 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/Varaverk.page
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/Varaverk.page
@@ -83,8 +83,7 @@ $validTabs = ['monitor', 'scheduler', 'docker', 'watchdog', 'partnership', 'fall
 // include/ai.php only ever reads the *local* {HOST}_OLLAMA_URL — there is no Tailscale resolver
 // in the PHP layer the way there is in the shell. On any other host the tab could only render
 // and then fail its own health check.
-$_vv_ai = vv_is_ai_host()
-       && strtolower(trim(vv_conf_vars()['AI_ENABLED'] ?? 'false')) === 'true';
+$_vv_ai = vv_ai_ui_on();
 if ($_vv_ai) $validTabs[] = 'ai';
 
 if (!in_array($tab, $validTabs)) $tab = 'monitor';
diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/api/ai.php b/Plugin/unraid/api/ai.php
index 990639b..04866ad 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/api/ai.php
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/api/ai.php
@@ -134,6 +134,16 @@ if (!vv_is_ai_host()) {
     exit;
 }
 
+// Master switch, on the same footing as the host gate rather than only in front of ask. With
+// AI_ENABLED false the tab is not in the tab list and the scheduler dock is not rendered, so
+// nothing in the UI can legitimately reach any action here — including the cheap reads, which
+// would otherwise still answer with index and token figures for a subsystem the operator has
+// turned off. Not a 404: the switch is a setting, and the message names the setting.
+if (!vv_ai_enabled()) {
+    echo json_encode(['ok' => false, 'error' => 'AI_ENABLED is false — AI features are off']);
+    exit;
+}
+
 // ── stats ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 if ($action === 'stats') {
     echo json_encode(['ok' => true, 'stats' => vv_ai_stats()]);
@@ -220,10 +230,6 @@ if ($action === 'incident_add') {
 if ($action === 'ask') {
     if (!$isPost) { http_response_code(405); echo json_encode(['ok' => false, 'error' => 'POST only']); exit; }
 
-    if (!vv_ai_enabled()) {
-        echo json_encode(['ok' => false, 'error' => 'AI_ENABLED is false — AI features are off']); exit;
-    }
-
     $cfg = vv_ai_config();
     if ($cfg['model'] === '') {
         echo json_encode(['ok' => false, 'error' => 'No generation model configured']); exit;
diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/include/config.php b/Plugin/unraid/include/config.php
index 9dbac87..f1c1713 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/include/config.php
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/include/config.php
@@ -268,6 +268,19 @@ function vv_is_ai_host(): bool {
     return vv_detect_host() === 'host1';
 }
 
+// Whether the UI may offer anything AI at all: the right host, with the master switch on. Every
+// AI surface asks this one question — the AI tab, the assistant dock on the Scheduler, and the
+// two AI rows on the Tools card — so AI off means AI gone, not gone from most places.
+//
+// It lives here rather than in include/ai.php because the pages that need it do not all load
+// that file; the Scheduler loads only config.php, and a gate that silently answers false where
+// its definition is missing is worse than no gate. Reads AI_ENABLED directly for the same
+// reason. Fail-closed on anything but the literal "true", matching the conf's own contract.
+function vv_ai_ui_on(): bool {
+    return vv_is_ai_host()
+        && strtolower(trim(vv_conf_vars()['AI_ENABLED'] ?? 'false')) === 'true';
+}
+
 function vv_read_conf_raw(string $filename): string {
     $path = CONF_DIR . '/' . $filename;
     return file_exists($path) ? file_get_contents($path) : '';
diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/include/scheduler.php b/Plugin/unraid/include/scheduler.php
index e977f0e..a3b7f31 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/include/scheduler.php
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/include/scheduler.php
@@ -319,12 +319,12 @@ function vv_tools_scripts(): array {
     // chain. Moving the file to match the UI would break the grouping that explains it.
     $ADOPTED = ['System_Essentials/server_reboot.sh'];
 
-    // The AI tools are adopted only where the index and the model actually live. Elsewhere they
-    // are two rows that can only ever fail — the retrieval index is not synced between hosts and
-    // Ollama runs on one of them. vv_is_ai_host() comes from include/ai.php, which the page loads
-    // but this file does not require; absent it, assume not, because showing a tool that cannot
-    // work is worse than omitting one that could.
-    if (function_exists('vv_is_ai_host') && vv_is_ai_host()) {
+    // The AI tools are adopted only where the index and the model actually live, and only while
+    // the subsystem is switched on. Elsewhere they are two rows that can only ever fail — the
+    // retrieval index is not synced between hosts, Ollama runs on one of them, and both scripts
+    // refuse on their own unless AI_ENABLED is true. vv_ai_ui_on() is the same gate the AI tab
+    // and the assistant dock use, so AI off means no AI anywhere in the UI, not most of it.
+    if (vv_ai_ui_on()) {
         array_push($ADOPTED, 'AI/ai_index.sh', 'AI/ai_query.sh');
     }
 
diff --git a/Plugin/unraid/pages/scheduler.php b/Plugin/unraid/pages/scheduler.php
index 1e122ed..6513cbc 100644
--- a/Plugin/unraid/pages/scheduler.php
+++ b/Plugin/unraid/pages/scheduler.php
@@ -70,10 +70,11 @@ $_vv_doc_vars = array_merge(vv_conf_vars(), [
 ]);
 
 // The assistant dock renders only where the AI tab itself would: HOST1, with AI_ENABLED true.
-// Same two conditions, checked the same way, so the page cannot offer a chat the endpoint will
-// refuse — api/ai.php 404s every action off HOST1 regardless of what this page draws.
-$_vv_ai_on = vv_is_ai_host()
-          && strtolower(trim(vv_conf_vars()['AI_ENABLED'] ?? 'false')) === 'true';
+// The same gate function, not a second copy of the condition, so the page cannot offer a chat
+// the endpoint will refuse — api/ai.php rejects every action on both counts regardless of what
+// this page draws. With it false the dock markup is never emitted, and every caller into the
+// dock is guarded by vvAiDockOn(), which reads the element's absence.
+$_vv_ai_on = vv_ai_ui_on();
 
 // Setup mode — auto-open a conf file and force the editing sequence
 $vv_setup_conf = preg_match('/^[\w.]+\.conf$/', $_GET['vv_setup'] ?? '')