diff --git a/src/apps/settings-modal/SettingsModal.tsx b/src/apps/settings-modal/SettingsModal.tsx
index 1086724f4..28749de7d 100644
--- a/src/apps/settings-modal/SettingsModal.tsx
+++ b/src/apps/settings-modal/SettingsModal.tsx
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ export function SettingsModal(props: {
 
   const { setTab } = props;
   const isToolsTab = props.tab === 'tools';
-  const enableAixDebugger = Is.Deployment.Localhost;
+  const enableAixDebuggerDialog = true;
 
   const handleSetTab = React.useCallback((_event: any, value: string | number | null) => {
     setTab((value ?? undefined) as PreferencesTabId);
@@ -221,12 +221,12 @@ export function SettingsModal(props: {
           {!isMobile && !isToolsTab && <Button variant='soft' color='neutral' onClick={props.onOpenShortcuts} startDecorator={<KeyboardCommandKeyOutlinedIcon color='primary' />} sx={darkModeToggleButtonSx}>
             Shortcuts
           </Button>}
+          {isToolsTab && <Button variant='soft' color='neutral' disabled={!enableAixDebuggerDialog} onClick={optimaActions().openAIXDebugger} startDecorator={<TerminalOutlinedIcon color={enableAixDebuggerDialog ? 'primary' : undefined} />} sx={darkModeToggleButtonSx}>
+            AI Inspector
+          </Button>}
           {isToolsTab && <Button variant='soft' color='neutral' onClick={optimaActions().openLogger} startDecorator={<TerminalOutlinedIcon color='primary' />} sx={darkModeToggleButtonSx}>
             Logs Viewer
           </Button>}
-          {isToolsTab && <Button variant='soft' color='neutral' disabled={!enableAixDebugger} onClick={optimaActions().openAIXDebugger} startDecorator={<TerminalOutlinedIcon color={enableAixDebugger ? 'primary' : undefined} />} sx={darkModeToggleButtonSx}>
-            AIX Debugger
-          </Button>}
         </Box>
       }
       sx={_styles.modal}
diff --git a/src/common/stores/store-ui.ts b/src/common/stores/store-ui.ts
index de6c33c2f..ff6d67bcd 100644
--- a/src/common/stores/store-ui.ts
+++ b/src/common/stores/store-ui.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { persist } from 'zustand/middleware';
 
 import type { ContentScaling, UIComplexityMode } from '~/common/app.theme';
 import { BrowserLang } from '~/common/util/pwaUtils';
+import { Release } from '~/common/app.release';
 
 
 // UI Preferences
@@ -47,6 +48,11 @@ interface UIPreferencesStore {
   composerQuickButton: 'off' | 'call' | 'beam';
   setComposerQuickButton: (composerQuickButton: 'off' | 'call' | 'beam') => void;
 
+  // Advanced features
+
+  aixInspector: boolean;
+  toggleAixInspector: () => void;
+
   // UI Dismissals
 
   dismissals: Record<string, boolean>;
@@ -103,6 +109,11 @@ export const useUIPreferencesStore = create<UIPreferencesStore>()(
       composerQuickButton: 'beam',
       setComposerQuickButton: (composerQuickButton: 'off' | 'call' | 'beam') => set({ composerQuickButton }),
 
+      // Advanced features
+
+      aixInspector: false,
+      toggleAixInspector: () => set((state) => ({ aixInspector: !state.aixInspector })),
+
       // UI Dismissals
 
       dismissals: {},
@@ -133,6 +144,13 @@ export const useUIPreferencesStore = create<UIPreferencesStore>()(
        */
       version: 3,
 
+      partialize: (state) => {
+        if (Release.IsNodeDevBuild) return state; // in dev, persist everything
+        // In production, exclude aixInspector from persistence
+        const { aixInspector, ...rest } = state;
+        return rest;
+      },
+
       migrate: (state: any, fromVersion: number): UIPreferencesStore => {
 
         // 1: rename 'enterToSend' to 'enterIsNewline' (flip the meaning)
@@ -169,6 +187,10 @@ export function useUIContentScaling(): ContentScaling {
   return useUIPreferencesStore((state) => state.contentScaling);
 }
 
+export function getAixInspector(): boolean {
+  return useUIPreferencesStore.getState().aixInspector;
+}
+
 
 export function useUIIsDismissed(key: string | null): boolean | undefined {
   return useUIPreferencesStore((state) => !key ? undefined : Boolean(state.dismissals[key]));
diff --git a/src/modules/aix/client/aix.client.ts b/src/modules/aix/client/aix.client.ts
index a9a67082d..7cc07a5e8 100644
--- a/src/modules/aix/client/aix.client.ts
+++ b/src/modules/aix/client/aix.client.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ import { DMetricsChatGenerate_Lg, metricsChatGenerateLgToMd, metricsComputeChatG
 import { DModelParameterValues, getAllModelParameterValues } from '~/common/stores/llms/llms.parameters';
 import { createErrorContentFragment, DMessageContentFragment, DMessageErrorPart, DMessageVoidFragment, isContentFragment, isErrorPart } from '~/common/stores/chat/chat.fragments';
 import { findLLMOrThrow } from '~/common/stores/llms/store-llms';
-import { getLabsDevMode, getLabsDevNoStreaming } from '~/common/stores/store-ux-labs';
+import { getAixInspector } from '~/common/stores/store-ui';
+import { getLabsDevNoStreaming } from '~/common/stores/store-ux-labs';
 import { metricsStoreAddChatGenerate } from '~/common/stores/metrics/store-metrics';
 import { presentErrorToHumans } from '~/common/util/errorUtils';
 import { webGeolocationCached } from '~/common/util/webGeolocationUtils';
@@ -631,7 +632,7 @@ async function _aixChatGenerateContent_LL(
    * - AIX inspector is now independent from sudo mode
    * - every request thereafter both sends back the Aix server-side dispatch packet, and appends all the particles received by the client side
    */
-  const requestServerDebugging = getLabsDevMode();
+  const requestServerDebugging = getAixInspector();
   const debugContext = !requestServerDebugging ? undefined : { contextName: aixContext.name, contextRef: aixContext.ref };
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/modules/aix/client/debugger/AixDebuggerDialog.tsx b/src/modules/aix/client/debugger/AixDebuggerDialog.tsx
index 32398aca3..861b9780b 100644
--- a/src/modules/aix/client/debugger/AixDebuggerDialog.tsx
+++ b/src/modules/aix/client/debugger/AixDebuggerDialog.tsx
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 import * as React from 'react';
 import { useShallow } from 'zustand/react/shallow';
 
-import { Box, Button, Divider, FormControl, FormLabel, Option, Select, Typography } from '@mui/joy';
+import { Box, Button, Divider, FormControl, FormLabel, Link, Option, Select, Switch, Typography } from '@mui/joy';
 import ClearAllIcon from '@mui/icons-material/ClearAll';
 
 import { GoodModal } from '~/common/components/modals/GoodModal';
 import { useIsMobile } from '~/common/components/useMatchMedia';
+import { useUIPreferencesStore } from '~/common/stores/store-ui';
 
 import { AixDebuggerFrame } from './AixDebuggerFrame';
 import { aixClientDebuggerActions, useAixClientDebuggerStore } from './memstore-aix-client-debugger';
@@ -15,8 +16,10 @@ export function AixDebuggerDialog(props: {
   onClose: () => void;
 }) {
 
-  // external state - we subscribe to Any update - it's a temp debugger anyway
+  // external state
   const isMobile = useIsMobile();
+  const aixInspector = useUIPreferencesStore(state => state.aixInspector);
+  // NOTE: we subscribe to Any update - which can be ultra noisy
   const { frames, activeFrameId, maxFrames } = useAixClientDebuggerStore(useShallow((state) => ({
     frames: state.frames,
     activeFrameId: state.activeFrameId,
@@ -42,7 +45,14 @@ export function AixDebuggerDialog(props: {
     <GoodModal
       open
       onClose={props.onClose}
-      title='AIX API Debugger'
+      title='AI Request Inspector'
+      titleStartDecorator={
+        <Switch
+          checked={aixInspector}
+          onChange={useUIPreferencesStore.getState().toggleAixInspector}
+          sx={{ mr: 1 }}
+        />
+      }
       autoOverflow
       fullscreen={isMobile}
       sx={{ maxWidth: undefined }}
@@ -74,7 +84,7 @@ export function AixDebuggerDialog(props: {
           </Select>
         </FormControl>
 
-        {/* History Size Preferenes */}
+        {/* History Size Preferences */}
         <Box sx={{ display: 'flex', alignItems: 'flex-end', gap: 2 }}>
           <FormControl>
             <FormLabel>History Size</FormLabel>
@@ -111,11 +121,20 @@ export function AixDebuggerDialog(props: {
         <Box sx={{ display: 'flex', flexDirection: 'column', alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'center', minHeight: '200px' }}>
           {!frames.length && <>
             <Typography level='title-lg'>
-              No AIX API requests recorded yet
+              {aixInspector ? 'Ready to capture' : 'AI Request Inspector'}
             </Typography>
-            <Typography level='body-sm' sx={{ mt: 2, maxWidth: 468 }}>
-              Ensure AIX debugging is active (Settings -&gt; Labs -&gt; Developer Mode)
-              and you are running your own localhost:3000 installation.
+            <Typography level='body-sm' sx={{ mt: 2, maxWidth: 468, textAlign: 'center' }}>
+              {aixInspector
+                ? 'Your next AI request will be captured here.'
+                : <>
+                    <Link
+                      component='button'
+                      level='body-sm'
+                      onClick={useUIPreferencesStore.getState().toggleAixInspector}
+                    >
+                      Turn on inspector
+                    </Link> to see the exact requests to AI models.
+                  </>}
             </Typography>
           </>}
           {!activeFrame && !!frames.length && (
diff --git a/src/modules/aix/client/debugger/AixDebuggerFrame.tsx b/src/modules/aix/client/debugger/AixDebuggerFrame.tsx
index 9cd45b768..2c6247248 100644
--- a/src/modules/aix/client/debugger/AixDebuggerFrame.tsx
+++ b/src/modules/aix/client/debugger/AixDebuggerFrame.tsx
@@ -94,8 +94,9 @@ export function AixDebuggerFrame(props: {
 
       {/* Body */}
       <Card variant='soft' color='primary' sx={_styles.requestCard}>
-        <Typography color='primary' variant='soft' level='title-sm'>
-          -&gt; Body {frame.bodySize > 0 && `(${frame.bodySize.toLocaleString()} chars)`}
+        <Typography color='primary' variant='soft' level='title-sm' sx={{ display: 'flex', justifyContent: 'space-between', alignItems: 'center' }}>
+          <span>-&gt; Body</span>
+          {frame.bodySize > 0 && <span>{frame.bodySize.toLocaleString()} bytes</span>}
         </Typography>
         <Divider />
         <Box sx={_styles.requestCardText}>