diff --git a/cli.py b/cli.py
index ff81b808e..8a1d7caa8 100644
--- a/cli.py
+++ b/cli.py
@@ -1036,7 +1036,9 @@ class HermesCLI:
         self.config = CLI_CONFIG
         self.compact = compact if compact is not None else CLI_CONFIG["display"].get("compact", False)
         # tool_progress: "off", "new", "all", "verbose" (from config.yaml display section)
-        self.tool_progress_mode = CLI_CONFIG["display"].get("tool_progress", "all")
+        # YAML 1.1 parses bare `off` as boolean False — normalise to string.
+        _raw_tp = CLI_CONFIG["display"].get("tool_progress", "all")
+        self.tool_progress_mode = "off" if _raw_tp is False else str(_raw_tp)
         # resume_display: "full" (show history) | "minimal" (one-liner only)
         self.resume_display = CLI_CONFIG["display"].get("resume_display", "full")
         # bell_on_complete: play terminal bell (\a) when agent finishes a response
diff --git a/gateway/run.py b/gateway/run.py
index 25e51af7a..4ca1dda03 100644
--- a/gateway/run.py
+++ b/gateway/run.py
@@ -4805,9 +4805,14 @@ class GatewayRunner:
         enabled_toolsets = sorted(_get_platform_tools(user_config, platform_key))
 
         # Tool progress mode from config.yaml: "all", "new", "verbose", "off"
-        # Falls back to env vars for backward compatibility
+        # Falls back to env vars for backward compatibility.
+        # YAML 1.1 parses bare `off` as boolean False — normalise before
+        # the `or` chain so it doesn't silently fall through to "all".
+        _raw_tp = user_config.get("display", {}).get("tool_progress")
+        if _raw_tp is False:
+            _raw_tp = "off"
         progress_mode = (
-            user_config.get("display", {}).get("tool_progress")
+            _raw_tp
             or os.getenv("HERMES_TOOL_PROGRESS_MODE")
             or "all"
         )