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How to remove or disable a capability
This guide covers two distinct operations: removing a capability (deletes its files and cleans up all shared configuration it wrote) and disabling a capability (toggles it off without touching any files). Choose the one that fits your intent.
Which one applies depends on where the capability came from.
disable/enablework only on first-party capabilities shipped inside MSD. An installed third-party overlay (added withmsd capability install …) cannot be disabled — its only off-switch isremove(re-install to restore it).
Disable a first-party capability (reversible, files kept)
disable/enable/set are for first-party capabilities only — the ones that ship inside MSD (for example ui, code-review, research). They validate <id> against MSD's build-time capability registry, so an installed third-party overlay (anything you added with msd capability install …) is not in that registry and is rejected with unknown capability: "<id>". For an installed overlay there is no disable; the off-switch is remove (and you re-install to bring it back) — see Remove a capability below.
If you want to stop a first-party capability from participating in the loop but may want it back later, disable it:
msd capability disable <id>
Disabling is a toggle: no files are deleted, no shared configuration is modified. It acts on the runtime surface and hook activation of a skill-owning first-party capability: the capability's hooks stop firing and its skills leave the active surface. Disabling does not unregister first-party command families — those are dispatched from the generated capability registry, which disable does not consult, so any commands the capability owns continue to respond. To re-activate the surface and hooks:
msd capability enable <id>
Everything you had before is restored — hook registrations, config keys, contributed agents — without reinstalling.
If you want to toggle a capability off within a single runtime session rather than system-wide, see Turn a capability off (and keep it off).
Remove a capability
Removal is permanent within the current install. Use it when you no longer need the capability and want to reclaim its disk footprint and clean its entries from your runtime configuration.
msd capability remove <id>
What is removed
MSD uses the ledger — a per-runtime record written at install time (for example, ~/.claude/.msd-capabilities.json) — as the authoritative list of what the install owns. Removal acts precisely on that record:
- Owned files — every file the capability wrote at install (skills, agents, referenced assets) is deleted.
- Shared configuration fragments — entries the capability injected into shared files such as
settings.json(hooks, MCP server registrations) are stripped. Each capability-added entry is stamped at install with a_msdCapabilitymarker naming the owning capability, and removal strips only entries carrying that marker. No other capability's entries — and nothing you added by hand — is touched: if you hand-editedsettings.jsonbetween install and remove (added your own hook, your own MCP server, or any other field), those edits are preserved exactly. - Federated config keys — configuration keys that belong to the capability's declared config slice are dropped from the merged config.
What is NOT removed
-
Shared files themselves. Files such as
settings.jsonandhooks.jsonare edited in place, not deleted. Only the capability's specific entries are excised. -
Persistent capability data. Any data the capability wrote during use (databases, caches, runtime artefacts stored outside the install root) is not auto-deleted by default. Pass
--purge-datato delete it as part of the removal:msd capability remove <id> --purge-dataIf you want to keep your data, omit
--purge-data. The capability's runtime data will remain on disk even after the capability itself is removed.
No prompt — remove is non-interactive
msd capability remove is non-interactive: it does not prompt, and there is no --yes flag. It acts immediately on the scope you give it. --purge-data likewise deletes the capability's data directly, with no confirmation step — so be sure before you pass it. The full contract is:
msd capability remove <id> [--purge-data] [--scope global|project]
Troubleshooting
If a previous remove was interrupted (for example, the process was killed mid-run), MSD's reconciliation sweep repairs the orphaned state automatically on the next command invocation. You do not need to intervene manually; running any msd capability command is sufficient to trigger the sweep.
If the capability ships hooks, removal strips its hook entries from settings.json without affecting any other hook entry. If after removal you still see the capability's hooks listed under settings.json, run:
msd capability list --json
and confirm the capability is no longer present. If it still appears, re-run the remove command — the reconciliation sweep will complete any partial work.
If you see "capability not found" during remove, the capability may have been installed under a different scope (global vs. project). Check which scope it was installed under:
msd capability list
The --scope column indicates whether an entry is global or project. Pass the matching scope explicitly if needed:
msd capability remove <id> --scope global
msd capability remove <id> --scope project
Disable vs. remove: a quick comparison
disable |
remove |
|
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | First-party only | Installed overlays (and reconcile of orphaned first-party state) |
| Files deleted | No | Yes (ledger-recorded files only) |
| Shared config entries removed | No | Yes (capability's entries only) |
| Federated config keys dropped | No | Yes |
| Persistent data deleted | No | Only with --purge-data (deleted directly, no prompt) |
| Reversible without reinstall | Yes (enable) |
No |
| Use when | You want it back later | You no longer need it |
Related guides
- How to version and upgrade a capability
- Develop a Capability for MSD 1.5+
- Turn a capability off (and keep it off)
- The capability trust model — why removal is surgical and reversible