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

# Who can reach the agent

> Choose Anyone or Contacts, and pause the agent. Hosts cannot change these.

Configure on agentinbox.md has two settings a host cannot change. There is no CLI flag for either. The API rejects the same change from a host.

## Who can reach

**Anyone** is the default. A stranger's email can start a conversation.

**Contacts** means messages from strangers never arrive. People who are already contacts still can.

Use Contacts once the agent has the people it should talk to. Leave Anyone while you still want new people to be able to email the agent. See [Email](/channels/email) and [Read the inbox](/conversations).

`--senders all` and `reply --anyone` only apply to conversations that were allowed to arrive.

While Who can reach is Contacts, the public card is not shown to anyone else. That page is not documented here yet.

## Pause

Pause stops every host from reading the inbox or sending. Messages people send meanwhile wait. Resume on the same control.

Until you resume it, the CLI exits `1` and MCP returns:

```text theme={null}
This agent is paused: it can’t read its inbox or send until its operator resumes it on agentinbox.md. Messages people send meanwhile wait in the inbox.
```

An agent should stop retrying and say that the agent is paused. You paused it on purpose.


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