> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nextintent.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Watch mode and active mode

> The switches on a site record: enabled, shadow (watch mode), card_enabled, the capture toggles and the site type, what each one changes, and which state to start in.

A site has a handful of switches. Together they say whether the SDK runs at all, whether the engine only watches or also speaks, and which signals it reads. All of them are on the site record, changed in the console or with `PATCH /v1/sdk/{id}`.

## enabled

The master switch. With `enabled` false the settings call answers `418 { enabled: false }` and the SDK on every page stops before it connects. Nothing is read, nothing is recorded. Use it to take a site fully offline without removing the tag. Default: true.

## shadow: watch mode

`shadow` true is watch mode. The engine reads every visit, recognises every moment, decides, and writes what it would have said, but nothing reaches a visitor. `shadow` false is active mode: an engage places a card for the visitor.

Start every site in watch mode. It is free, it costs the visitors nothing, and after a week the Moments view shows exactly what the site would have said to whom. Turn `shadow` off when the sentences read right and the facts sheet is complete. The shop-owner explanation of the two modes is in [Watch mode](/shopify/how-it-works/watch-mode); the mechanics are the same on any site.

When the record cannot be read the console shows the site as shadow. A screen that cannot read the flag must show the safe state, not the speaking one.

## card\_enabled

Whether the on-page card may be shown at all. Off by default. With `shadow` false and `card_enabled` false the engine decides and records as in active mode but never places a card; that is the state for a site that delivers sentences another way (a browser event or a popup tool, see [The card](/website/the-card)) or that only wants the record. With both `shadow` false and `card_enabled` true, a card is placed for every engage that has a sentence.

## The capture toggles

Nine booleans say which signals the SDK sends. All on by default.

| Toggle | Signal | What turning it off costs |
| - | - | - |
| `handshake` | The page and visitor on connect | Nothing works without it; leave on |
| `performance` | Page load timing | The engine stops holding back on a slow page |
| `network` | Reserved. The current SDK build sends no network signal | Nothing today |
| `click` | Clicks, with rapid-click counts | Struggle and option flipping go unseen |
| `submit` | Form submits, field names, hashed values | Form stalls and repeat submits go unseen; no cart actions on a store |
| `scroll` | Scroll depth and direction changes | Scroll thrashing and "read the page" go unseen |
| `disconnect` | The page closing or navigating away | The engine cannot tell "left" from "still here"; leave on |
| `interest` | Hover that settles on an element | Settled attention, the most specific sentence, goes unseen |
| `behavioral` | Stillness and the motor telemetry behind it | The idle rule loses its main input; moments become rare |

Turn one off only when a page type cannot tolerate it. The engine is built from all nine together, and a missing channel makes it more cautious, not wrong.

## vertical: the site type

One of `E-commerce`, `SaaS`, `Events`, `Agency`, `Business services`, `Local services`, `Financial services`, `Industrial`, `Logistics`, `Nonprofit`, `Personal`. Detected from the site's pages when the site is created and editable afterwards. It sets the wording the console uses for "finishing" (an order, a booking, a signup) and tells the engine what a commercial page looks like on this kind of site. A wrong type does not break anything; it makes the reports read oddly.

## holdout\_pct

The share of stuck visitors held back to compare, between 0.05 and 0.5. Described on its own page: [The holdout](/website/holdout).

## A sensible sequence

1. Create the site, install the tag, confirm `connected`. Watch mode, card off.
2. Read Moments for a week. Fix the facts sheet where a sentence would have been wrong or missing.
3. Turn `shadow` off and `card_enabled` on. The first sentences go out.
4. Leave the holdout at its default until the comparison on the store view has thirty visitors in each arm.

## Related

* [Create a site and install the SDK](/website/create-a-site)
* [The facts sheet](/website/facts-sheet)
* [The card](/website/the-card)
* [Sites: update](/api/reference/sites/update)