Mullet’s delegation tools are now opt-in

Mullet 2.4.0 changes one default. The older delegation tools (mullet_run, mullet_delegate, mullet_swarm and mullet_opencode) used to run unless you switched them off. Now they stay off until you set MULLET_DELEGATION=on.

Why

Those tools send a task to another model provider, which means someone else’s tokens and, often, your money. That is a decision a person should make, not something an installed tool does because nobody said no. A session that was never told to delegate should not be delegating.

It is also the less surprising default for anyone new to Mullet. You can install it, use Trawl search and run jobs, and nothing leaves your machine for a provider you didn’t pick.

What did not change

• mullet job plan, run, merge and the rest of the job commands. Jobs follow the session strategy and the ladder, not this switch.
• Trawl search, status and budget.
• The session strategy: mullet strategy set --delegation off still works, and now matches the default.

If you want the old behaviour

Add one line to ~/.config/mullet/.env:

MULLET_DELEGATION=on

An unset value counts as off, and so does a value Mullet doesn’t recognise, so a typo can’t switch delegation on by accident. While it is off, the delegation tools, mullet "<task>", the REPL and the chat endpoints of mullet serve say so and do nothing. The hooks stay quiet too, so you won’t be nudged towards a tool that would refuse.

The notes are in the changelog.

How delegation works when it is on is in the delegation ladder, and how a session sets its budget and strategy is in every session starts with one question.