Feature Flags

Feature flags control which system capabilities are available. All seven flags default to true. Setting a tool-gated flag to false removes the capability entirely — the tool is not registered, not visible to the LLM, and is rejected if a client calls it directly. compaction gates engine behavior rather than a tool: setting it to false disables history compaction.

Configuration

Add a features object to your nimblebrain.json:

{
  "features": {
    "skillManagement": true,
    "toolDiscovery": true,
    "catalogSearch": true,
    "fileContext": true,
    "userManagement": true,
    "workspaceManagement": true,
    "compaction": true
  }
}

You only need to include flags you want to change. Omitted flags use their default (true).

Flag reference

Flag	Default	Controls	Tool(s) gated
`skillManagement`	`true`	Create, edit, delete, and activate user skills	`skills__create`, `skills__update`, `skills__delete`, `skills__activate`, `skills__deactivate`, `skills__history`, `skills__restore`, `skills__set_status`
`toolDiscovery`	`true`	Search installed tools by keyword	`nb__search` (`scope: "tools"`)
`catalogSearch`	`true`	The catalog scope of `nb__search` (not the catalog itself — `manage_connectors` reads it ungated)	`nb__search` (`scope: "catalog"`)
`fileContext`	`true`	File upload and context extraction	File processing pipeline
`userManagement`	`true`	Create, update, and delete users	`nb__manage_users`
`workspaceManagement`	`true`	CRUD workspaces and manage members	`nb__manage_workspaces`
`compaction`	`true`	History compaction — fold the oldest turns of a long conversation into a summary at run start to bound context growth. User-authored messages (instructions, corrections) are retained verbatim across compaction, bounded. Event-sourced stores only.	— (engine behavior, not a tool)

Always-enabled tools

Tools not listed in the table above are never gated by feature flags. They register and stay visible regardless of feature configuration — for example nb__status, nb__search itself (only its scope-specific behavior is gated), and the read-only platform tool surfaces.

Enforcement

Feature flags are enforced at tool registration. A gated tool whose flag is false is excluded at startup — it never appears in tools/list for the LLM, the web shell, or external MCP clients, and a direct call to it is rejected. compaction is enforced differently: it changes engine behavior at run start rather than gating a tool.