diff --git a/tests/tools/test_display_toggles.py b/tests/tools/test_display_toggles.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a19159c5d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/tools/test_display_toggles.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+"""The desktop's Appearance switches, as the AGENT experiences them.
+
+Each of these toggles decides whether a tool is in the model's schema at all,
+so the contract under test is end to end: a real ``config.yaml`` in a temp
+``HERMES_HOME``, read through the real config loader, answering a real
+``check_fn``. Mocking the loader here would test nothing that matters — the
+whole failure this guards against was a value that never reached the config.
+"""
+
+import textwrap
+
+import pytest
+
+from hermes_constants import get_hermes_home
+from tools import desktop_ui
+from tools.react_to_message_tool import check_react_requirements
+from tools.tip_tool import check_tips_enabled
+from tools.tour_tool import check_tours_enabled
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def display_config():
+    """Write a ``display:`` section into this test's HERMES_HOME."""
+
+    def _write(**flags: bool) -> None:
+        home = get_hermes_home()
+        home.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        body = "".join(f"  {name}: {str(on).lower()}\n" for name, on in flags.items())
+        (home / "config.yaml").write_text(textwrap.dedent("display:\n") + body)
+
+    return _write
+
+
+def test_a_missing_setting_leaves_the_feature_at_its_default():
+    """Absence is not an answer: an opt-out feature stays on, opt-in stays off."""
+    assert desktop_ui.user_enabled("in_app_tips", default=True) is True
+    assert desktop_ui.user_enabled("message_reactions", default=False) is False
+
+
+def test_the_users_answer_wins_in_both_directions(display_config):
+    display_config(in_app_tips=False, message_reactions=True)
+
+    assert desktop_ui.user_enabled("in_app_tips", default=True) is False
+    assert desktop_ui.user_enabled("message_reactions", default=False) is True
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("setting", "check", "default_on"),
+    [
+        ("in_app_tips", check_tips_enabled, True),
+        ("in_app_tours", check_tours_enabled, True),
+        ("message_reactions", check_react_requirements, False),
+    ],
+)
+def test_switching_a_feature_off_withdraws_its_tool(display_config, setting, check, default_on):
+    """The point of the mirror: off means the model is never told it exists."""
+    assert check() is default_on
+
+    display_config(**{setting: False})
+    assert check() is False
+
+    display_config(**{setting: True})
+    assert check() is True
diff --git a/tests/tools/test_tip_tool.py b/tests/tools/test_tip_tool.py
index a510f0c0a4..7134b2799a 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_tip_tool.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_tip_tool.py
@@ -30,12 +30,13 @@ def test_lives_in_the_gui_surface_toolset(monkeypatch):
     assert entry.toolset == "desktop_ui"
 
 
-def test_is_ungated_like_tour():
-    """The Appearance switch governs the app's idle rotation, not this."""
+def test_answers_to_the_appearance_switch():
+    """Tips off has to mean the model never sees the tool. See
+    tests/tools/test_display_toggles.py for the config end of it."""
     entry = registry.get_entry("tip")
 
     assert entry is not None
-    assert entry.check_fn is None
+    assert entry.check_fn is tt.check_tips_enabled
 
 
 def test_requires_the_desktop_bridge(monkeypatch):
diff --git a/tests/tools/test_tour_tool.py b/tests/tools/test_tour_tool.py
index f6147f6274..1ab40e21ac 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_tour_tool.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_tour_tool.py
@@ -18,7 +18,15 @@ def test_lives_in_the_gui_surface_toolset(monkeypatch):
 
     assert entry is not None
     assert entry.toolset == "desktop_ui"
-    assert entry.check_fn is None
+
+
+def test_answers_to_the_appearance_switch():
+    """Tours off has to mean the model never sees the tool. See
+    tests/tools/test_display_toggles.py for the config end of it."""
+    entry = registry.get_entry("tour")
+
+    assert entry is not None
+    assert entry.check_fn is tt.check_tours_enabled
 
 
 def test_requires_callback():
diff --git a/tools/desktop_ui.py b/tools/desktop_ui.py
index 94955a29bd..7179e3ea16 100644
--- a/tools/desktop_ui.py
+++ b/tools/desktop_ui.py
@@ -29,6 +29,30 @@ def available() -> bool:
     return _emit is not None
 
 
+def user_enabled(setting: str, default: bool) -> bool:
+    """Read one of the desktop's Appearance switches from ``display.<setting>``.
+
+    The renderer owns these toggles and mirrors them onto the CONNECTED
+    gateway's config (``config.set``), so this reads the user's real answer
+    whether that gateway is local, SSH, URL, or cloud — where an env var would
+    only ever describe the process. Tool ``check_fn``s call it to withdraw
+    themselves from the schema when the user has switched the feature off:
+    Hermes should not be told about a surface it isn't allowed to use.
+
+    An unreadable config falls back to ``default``, which is how a feature that
+    ships on stays on rather than disappearing on a transient read error.
+    """
+    try:
+        from hermes_cli.config import load_config_readonly
+
+        display = load_config_readonly().get("display")
+    except Exception:
+        return default
+    if not isinstance(display, dict) or setting not in display:
+        return default
+    return bool(display.get(setting))
+
+
 def emit(event: str, payload: dict) -> bool:
     """Route ``event`` to the window that owns the current turn.
 
diff --git a/tools/react_to_message_tool.py b/tools/react_to_message_tool.py
index 4fb759cdf0..8cf36198bd 100644
--- a/tools/react_to_message_tool.py
+++ b/tools/react_to_message_tool.py
@@ -120,17 +120,9 @@ def check_react_requirements() -> bool:
     """Opt-in feature flag — surface eligibility is the toolset's job.
 
     ``desktop_ui`` already restricts this to GUI sessions. What's left is the
-    user's own toggle (Settings → Appearance), which the desktop mirrors into
-    ``display.message_reactions`` on the CONNECTED gateway's config — so this
-    reads the right config whether that gateway is local, SSH, URL, or cloud.
+    user's own toggle (Settings → Appearance).
     """
-    try:
-        from hermes_cli.config import load_config_readonly
-
-        display = load_config_readonly().get("display")
-    except Exception:
-        return False
-    return isinstance(display, dict) and bool(display.get("message_reactions", False))
+    return desktop_ui.user_enabled("message_reactions", default=False)
 
 
 REACT_TO_MESSAGE_SCHEMA = {
diff --git a/tools/tip_tool.py b/tools/tip_tool.py
index ab80092f17..57bd72e508 100644
--- a/tools/tip_tool.py
+++ b/tools/tip_tool.py
@@ -10,12 +10,11 @@ sentence.
 Fire-and-forget, unlike ``tour``: a tip is not a question, so blocking the turn
 on a round-trip would stall the reply it belongs to.
 
-Ungated, also like ``tour``. The desktop's Settings → Appearance switch governs
-the app's own idle rotation — the half that talks unprompted — not this, which
-Hermes raises mid-conversation in answer to something the user said.
-
 Lives in the ``desktop_ui`` toolset, which the GUI gateway enables only for
-desktop-sourced sessions.
+desktop-sourced sessions, and withdraws itself entirely when the user has
+turned tips off (Settings → Appearance). Off means the model is never told the
+tool exists — a switch that only made the call fail would leave Hermes
+promising to point at things it cannot point at.
 """
 
 import json
@@ -95,6 +94,11 @@ TIP_SCHEMA = {
 }
 
 
+def check_tips_enabled() -> bool:
+    """The user's Settings → Appearance switch. On unless they turned it off."""
+    return desktop_ui.user_enabled("in_app_tips", default=True)
+
+
 registry.register(
     name="tip",
     toolset="desktop_ui",
@@ -105,5 +109,6 @@ registry.register(
         title=args.get("title", ""),
         side=args.get("side", ""),
     ),
+    check_fn=check_tips_enabled,
     emoji="💡",
 )
diff --git a/tools/tour_tool.py b/tools/tour_tool.py
index 2ccff61002..5f6b204a57 100644
--- a/tools/tour_tool.py
+++ b/tools/tour_tool.py
@@ -19,12 +19,16 @@ outcome, so the agent knows whether the selector matched. This module is just
 schema + a thin dispatcher over the platform-injected callback.
 
 Lives in the ``desktop_ui`` toolset, which the GUI gateway enables only for
-desktop-sourced sessions.
+desktop-sourced sessions, and withdraws itself when the user has switched tours
+off (Settings → Appearance). A tour takes the whole screen, so "no thanks" has
+to mean the model is never told the tool exists — a switch that only made the
+call fail would leave Hermes offering walkthroughs it cannot give.
 """
 
 import json
 from typing import Callable, Optional
 
+from tools import desktop_ui
 from tools.registry import registry, tool_error
 
 ACTIONS = ("targets", "show", "start", "next", "prev", "stop")
@@ -179,6 +183,11 @@ TOUR_SCHEMA = {
 }
 
 
+def check_tours_enabled() -> bool:
+    """The user's Settings → Appearance switch. On unless they turned it off."""
+    return desktop_ui.user_enabled("in_app_tours", default=True)
+
+
 registry.register(
     name="tour",
     toolset="desktop_ui",
@@ -194,5 +203,6 @@ registry.register(
         step_index=args.get("step_index"),
         callback=kw.get("callback"),
     ),
+    check_fn=check_tours_enabled,
     emoji="🧭",
 )
diff --git a/website/docs/reference/tools-reference.md b/website/docs/reference/tools-reference.md
index a0775b8f61..3a3c725c68 100644
--- a/website/docs/reference/tools-reference.md
+++ b/website/docs/reference/tools-reference.md
@@ -265,14 +265,19 @@ discovery is one call for both, and the durable `data-tour` handles above name
 targets for either. One tip is on screen at a time; a new one replaces the last.
 
 The app can also show its own, walking a built-in catalog of app features in
-order. That half is on by default and switched off in Settings → Appearance,
-and it is paced like a game's loading-screen tips rather than a notification: a
-few minutes into a launch at the earliest, then at most one every six hours, and
-only at a genuinely idle moment. Closing one of its tips with the ✕ retires that
-tip for good, and the same settings row brings them back. The tool is not behind
-that switch — like `tour`, it runs in answer to the conversation rather than at
-idle. It does share the cooldown, so a tip from Hermes also buys the user six
-hours of quiet from the rotation.
+order, paced like a game's loading-screen tips rather than a notification: a few
+minutes into a launch at the earliest, then at most one every six hours, and
+only at a genuinely idle moment. A tip from Hermes shares that cooldown, so it
+also buys the user six hours of quiet from the rotation. Closing a rotation tip
+with the ✕ retires that tip for good, and the settings row brings them back.
+
+Both tips and tours are on by default and switched off in Settings → Appearance
+(`display.in_app_tips`, `display.in_app_tours`). Off covers Hermes as well as
+the app: the switch reaches the connected gateway's config and the tool leaves
+the model's schema, so the agent is never told about a surface it isn't allowed
+to use. Like every schema change, that lands on the next session — a running
+conversation keeps the toolset it started with, and the app declines the call in
+the meantime.
 
 ## `todo` toolset