> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.agen.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Enforcement Modes > What monitor, audit, and enforce mean on a managed Mac, how a per-rule mode overrides the fleet default, and what a developer sees when a rule blocks an agent. Enforcement Modes cover — a dial, not a switch: monitor, audit, enforce. Your organization chooses how strictly AgenShield acts on what it observes. There are three modes, and the difference between them decides how a rollout feels. ## The three modes | Mode | Rule says allow | No matching rule | Rule says deny | Think of it as | | ----------- | --------------- | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------ | -------------- | | **monitor** | allow + record | allow + record | allow + record a *would-have-denied* event | A dry run | | **audit** | allow | allow | **deny** + record | A blocklist | | **enforce** | allow | **deny** | **deny** + record | An allowlist | The difference between `audit` and `enforce` is what happens to activity **no rule covers**: * In `audit`, unmatched activity is allowed. You are blocking a known list of bad things. * In `enforce`, unmatched activity is denied. You are permitting a known list of good things. `enforce` is stronger and much easier to get wrong — it blocks anything your allow rules failed to anticipate. Get there via evidence, not on day one. ## Mode is set per rule, not only per fleet Your organization sets a **default mode** for the fleet — shown in the Frontegg Portal as **Bundle mode** on the Rules page — and **an individual rule can override it**. ```text theme={"theme":{"light":"snazzy-light","dark":"dark-plus"}} effective mode = the rule's own mode, if it sets one otherwise, the fleet default ``` This is the mechanism behind a safe rollout: leave the fleet in `monitor`, then promote exactly one well-understood rule to `enforce`. It also works in reverse — a rule explicitly marked `monitor` stays observation-only even when the fleet is in `enforce`, which is useful for trialling a new rule. Because of this, "the fleet is in monitor mode" does **not** guarantee nothing is ever blocked. A rule your administrator promoted still blocks. The Frontegg Portal shows which rules are currently enforcing. ## Where to see the active mode The [Frontegg Portal](https://portal.frontegg.com) is the authoritative view — under **AgenShield → Enforcement** (`https://portal.frontegg.com//agen/shielded/enforcement`) — where the Rules page shows the fleet default (**Bundle mode**) and flags every rule that is pinned to its own mode — filter the table by Enforcement to see exactly what is blocking today. On a device, `agenshield status` confirms whether enforcement is active at all. If a device reports that enforcement is paused or degraded, that is a health problem rather than a mode setting — see [Common issues](../troubleshoot/common-issues.mdx). ## What a developer sees when something is blocked A blocked action fails like an ordinary permissions problem — there is no AgenShield dialog in the terminal: | Blocked action | What the agent sees | | --------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | Running a program | The command fails to start, as if not permitted | | Reading or writing a file | A permission-denied error | | Connecting to a destination | The connection fails or times out | Every block is recorded with the rule that caused it. If a block is wrong, that record is what your administrator needs — send it to them rather than working around it. See [Rules and policy](../configuration/policies.mdx) for how a rule is authored and how the Enforcement column tells you which rules are pinned. ## Skills, extensions, and connectors The same three modes apply to the skills and connectors an agent loads, and they can be set separately from the rest of policy. That lets you enforce a strict skill allowlist while the rest of the fleet stays in monitor, or the reverse. One deliberate exception: if skills are set to `monitor`, AgenShield will not remove or quarantine skill files, even for a rule that asks it to. Monitor means observe — it never destroys anything on disk. To enforce one high-risk skill rule while staying broadly permissive, leave the skills mode at `audit` and promote that single rule. ## What is never blocked, in any mode Regardless of mode or policy: * macOS system processes and system paths can never be denied. Those limits are compiled into the signed security extension — no configuration file, API, policy field, or administrator can change them. * Your own account is not subject to the agent policy envelope. Enforcement is scoped to AI agents. * If AgenShield starts denying an unexpected volume of ordinary system activity, it stands itself down automatically and allows everything for a cooling-off period. Changing any of that would require shipping a newly signed release. This is deliberate: a security product that can lock a user out of their own computer is a bigger risk than the one it was installed to manage. ## Requesting a change Enforcement is managed centrally — there is no local override on the device, by design. To get a rule relaxed or an agent approved, send whoever administers AgenShield the blocked-activity record from the Frontegg Portal. ## Next How to move from monitor to enforcement without breaking workflows. What is recorded and what leaves the device. Authoring rules, and which ones are currently enforcing. How the modes apply to the skills and connectors agents load.