diff --git a/src/index.css b/src/index.css
index 5256a93..4fbb6ad 100644
--- a/src/index.css
+++ b/src/index.css
@@ -2141,3 +2141,11 @@ select.studio-input { background: var(--bp-paper); }
 .agent-llm-off { color: var(--bp-muted); }
 .agent-llm-unknown { color: var(--bp-muted); }
 .agent-llm-hint { font-size: 11px; color: var(--bp-muted); line-height: 1.4; }
+
+.approvals-actions-toggle {
+  display: inline-flex; align-items: center; gap: 6px;
+  margin-left: 10px;
+  font-family: var(--bp-mono); font-size: 11px;
+  color: var(--bp-navy); cursor: pointer;
+}
+.approvals-actions-toggle input { cursor: pointer; }
diff --git a/src/scenes/Agent.tsx b/src/scenes/Agent.tsx
index af36bcd..f5daf26 100644
--- a/src/scenes/Agent.tsx
+++ b/src/scenes/Agent.tsx
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ export default function Agent() {
           <p className="agent-side-sub">Deterministic command router with EA2-backed text memory.</p>
           <div className="agent-llm-state">
             <span className={`agent-llm-pill agent-llm-${llmState}`}>LLM provider · {llmState === "ready" ? "ON" : llmState === "off" ? "OFF" : "…"}</span>
-            {llmState === "off" && <span className="agent-llm-hint">Set OPENAI_API_KEY or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY to enable natural language replies.</span>}
+            {llmState === "off" && <span className="agent-llm-hint">Natural language replies are not enabled in this environment.</span>}
           </div>
         </header>
         <div className="agent-tool-list">
diff --git a/src/scenes/Approvals.tsx b/src/scenes/Approvals.tsx
index 3c2dd2f..619201b 100644
--- a/src/scenes/Approvals.tsx
+++ b/src/scenes/Approvals.tsx
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ export default function Approvals() {
   const [busy, setBusy] = useState<string | null>(null);
 
   const tenantId = useApp((s) => s.tenantId);
-  const [runtimeHealth, setRuntimeHealth] = useState<"unknown" | "up" | "down">("unknown");
+  const [actionsEnabled, setActionsEnabled] = useState(false);
 
   const loadQueue = async () => {
     if (!tenantId) {
@@ -71,21 +71,6 @@ export default function Approvals() {
 
   useEffect(() => { void loadQueue(); }, [tenantId]);
 
-  useEffect(() => {
-    let cancelled = false;
-    fetch(`${api.config.baseUrl}/api/ea2/runtime-values`, {
-      method: "GET",
-      headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${sessionStorage.getItem("fm.mc.token.v1")}` },
-    })
-      .then((r) => {
-        if (cancelled) return;
-        if (r.status === 422 || r.ok) setRuntimeHealth("up");
-        else setRuntimeHealth("down");
-      })
-      .catch(() => { if (!cancelled) setRuntimeHealth("down"); });
-    return () => { cancelled = true; };
-  }, []);
-
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!activeKey) return;
     let cancelled = false;
@@ -114,8 +99,8 @@ export default function Approvals() {
     } catch (err: any) {
       const msg = err.message || "";
       if (/runtime-values|action_execution_failed|500/i.test(msg)) {
-        setRuntimeHealth("down");
-        pushToast("err", "The runtime engine couldn't accept that decision. Action buttons are now disabled until it recovers.");
+        setActionsEnabled(false);
+        pushToast("err", "The runtime engine couldn't accept that decision. Live actions have been turned back off.");
       } else {
         pushToast("err", "Something went wrong handling that action. Try again in a moment.");
       }
@@ -198,21 +183,29 @@ export default function Approvals() {
                   </ul>
                 </div>
               )}
-              {runtimeHealth === "down" && (
-                <div className="approvals-runtime-note">
-                  Runtime engine is unreachable from this environment. Action buttons are disabled. Use this view to inspect cases; once the runtime comes back, actions will write to EA2.
-                </div>
-              )}
+              <div className="approvals-runtime-note">
+                {actionsEnabled
+                  ? "Live actions enabled. Clicking a button below writes the decision to EA2."
+                  : "Read-only view. Inspect cases here; enable live actions to submit decisions to EA2."}
+                <label className="approvals-actions-toggle">
+                  <input
+                    type="checkbox"
+                    checked={actionsEnabled}
+                    onChange={(e) => setActionsEnabled(e.target.checked)}
+                  />
+                  <span>Enable live actions</span>
+                </label>
+              </div>
               <div className="approvals-actions">
                 {(tx.available_actions || []).map((a: any) => {
-                  const disabled = !a.enabled || busy === a.id || runtimeHealth === "down";
+                  const disabled = !a.enabled || busy === a.id || !actionsEnabled;
                   return (
                     <button
                       key={a.id}
                       className={`btn ${a.kind === "approve" || a.kind === "submit" ? "btn-primary" : "btn-secondary"}`}
                       disabled={disabled}
                       onClick={() => handleAction(a.id)}
-                      title={runtimeHealth === "down" ? "Runtime engine offline" : a.display_label || a.id}
+                      title={actionsEnabled ? a.display_label || a.id : "Enable live actions to submit"}
                     >
                       <Pulse size={11} /> {busy === a.id ? "Sending…" : a.display_label || a.id}
                     </button>