Put the AI master switch on Settings, so the switch that hides the AI tab is reachable without it

Turning AI off takes the AI tools and their conf gear off the Tools card with it, which
left the raw master.conf editor as the only way back on.

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';

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;

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) : '';

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');
     }
 

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'] ?? '')

Plugin/unraid/pages/settings.php

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 //   Values are escaped on render and on write-back.
 //
 // RENDERS
-//   Storage mode selector, global toggles, general conf fields
+//   Storage mode selector, global toggles, AI master switch, general conf fields
 //
 // DEPENDS ON
 //   api/confform.php  conf read/write   → include/confform.php
@@ -42,6 +42,13 @@ $_enableLogging = ($_vars['ENABLE_LOGGING'] ?? 'false') === 'true';
 $_discordKey    = $_myId . '_DISCORD_WEBHOOK';
 $_discordHook   = $_vars[$_discordKey] ?? '';
 
+// AI. The card is drawn only on the host that can actually run it — elsewhere AI_ENABLED is a
+// switch with nothing behind it, since the model and the index are HOST1's. vv_ai_ui_on() is
+// not the test here: it folds the switch into the host check, and this card is how the switch
+// gets turned back on. Fail-closed on anything but "true", matching the gate it feeds.
+$_aiHost    = vv_is_ai_host();
+$_aiEnabled = strtolower(trim($_vars['AI_ENABLED'] ?? 'false')) === 'true';
+
 ?>
 <style>
 .vv-set-card   { background:#161616;border:1px solid #2a2a2a;border-radius:6px;padding:14px 16px;margin-bottom:14px; }
@@ -167,6 +174,35 @@ $_discordHook   = $_vars[$_discordKey] ?? '';
     <span id="vv-ntf-fb" style="font-size:11px;"></span>
   </div>
 
+  <?php if ($_aiHost): ?>
+  <!-- AI card -->
+  <div class="vv-set-card">
+    <div class="vv-set-hdr">AI</div>
+
+    <label class="vv-set-tog-wrap" style="margin-bottom:12px;">
+      <div class="vv-set-tog-track<?= $_aiEnabled ? ' on' : '' ?>" id="vv-set-ai-tog"
+           onclick="vvSetAiToggle(this)"></div>
+      <div>
+        <div class="vv-set-tog-lbl">AI features</div>
+        <div class="vv-set-tog-sub">Master switch — the AI tab, the Scheduler assistant, and the AI tools on the Tools card</div>
+      </div>
+    </label>
+
+    <div class="vv-set-info">
+      Varaverk works exactly as well with this off. Every feature that can lean on AI has a
+      complete non-AI path, so turning it off removes the AI surfaces from the WebGUI and
+      nothing else — no script changes behaviour, no schedule changes.
+      <br>
+      Off is total: with it off the AI tab is not in the tab bar, the Scheduler's assistant dock
+      is not drawn, the AI tools are not listed, and
+      <code style="font-size:10px;color:#4a7a4a;background:#080808;padding:1px 4px;border-radius:2px;">api/ai.php</code>
+      refuses every request. This card is the way back on.
+    </div>
+
+    <span id="vv-set-ai-fb" style="font-size:11px;color:#444;"></span>
+  </div>
+  <?php endif; ?>
+
   <!-- Unraid API Key card -->
   <div class="vv-set-card">
     <div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;margin-bottom:12px;">
@@ -356,6 +392,43 @@ function vvNtfSaveWebhook() {
     .catch(() => { btn.disabled = false; btn.textContent = 'Save'; fb.style.color='#ef5350'; fb.textContent='Request failed'; });
 }
 
+// ── AI ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// Reloads on success, unlike the notification toggles, because this one changes the page around
+// it: the tab bar and the assistant dock are decided server-side at render, so without a reload
+// the switch would read "off" with the AI tab still sitting next to it. The switch is moved
+// first and reverted if the write fails, matching the toggles above.
+function vvSetAiToggle(track) {
+  const on = !track.classList.contains('on');
+  const fb = document.getElementById('vv-set-ai-fb');
+  track.classList.toggle('on', on);
+  fb.style.color = '#444';
+  fb.textContent = 'Saving…';
+
+  const fd = new URLSearchParams();
+  fd.append('id', 'settings');
+  fd.append('changes', JSON.stringify([
+    { file: 'master.conf', key: 'AI_ENABLED', value: on ? 'true' : 'false', type: 'scalar' }
+  ]));
+  fetch('/plugins/varaverk/api/confform.php', { method: 'POST', body: fd })
+    .then(r => r.json())
+    .then(d => {
+      if (!d.ok) {
+        track.classList.toggle('on', !on);
+        fb.style.color = '#ef5350';
+        fb.textContent = d.error || 'Failed';
+        return;
+      }
+      fb.style.color = '#4caf50';
+      fb.textContent = (on ? 'Enabled' : 'Disabled') + ' — reloading…';
+      setTimeout(() => location.reload(), 700);
+    })
+    .catch(() => {
+      track.classList.toggle('on', !on);
+      fb.style.color = '#ef5350';
+      fb.textContent = 'Request failed';
+    });
+}
+
 // ── Unraid API Keys ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 function vvApiCheck() {
   const btn   = document.getElementById('vv-api-check-btn');