diff --git a/apps/cli/README.md b/apps/cli/README.md
index 4ff9034dd3..50571632c0 100644
--- a/apps/cli/README.md
+++ b/apps/cli/README.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ The TUI surface:
 
 The Web and headless surfaces boot one shared composition (`cordis.yml`): both treat the invoking directory as the default project and Workspace root, create named Workspaces beneath that root unless `--workspace-root <path>` overrides it, load applicable `AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md` instructions into each agent-loop request prefix with a 65,536-byte render budget, and opt into first-message model titles. Headless differs only in listening on an OS-assigned port (parallel `dsh -p` runs never collide; the stderr-printed URL opens the live session in a browser). Both need the frontend dist and client bundles built (`pnpm run build && pnpm run build:web`).
 
+`DSH_TOOLS_MODE` selects the tool presentation mode for the whole Web/headless process: `native` (the schema default when unset), `code` (the `run_code`-only Code Mode wire), or `both`; any other value fails loud at boot through the `dsh-tools` config schema. It is a TEMPORARY seam — process-wide because Loader composition is static — and is removed once the web UI owns per-session tool-mode selection; the TUI surface ignores it (its config tree pins its own mode).
+
 ## Install (developer machine)
 
 Symlink the source-running launcher onto your PATH; it resolves the checkout through its own real path, so code changes apply on the next launch with no build step: