--- title: "Locks" description: "Lock a rule, a rule group, or a library entry so it cannot be edited, reordered, deleted, or switched until someone unlocks it." label: "Locks" date: "2026-08-24" --- A lock freezes one row of your brand: a rule, a rule group, or a library entry such as a component, block, or variant. While it is locked it cannot be edited, reordered, deleted, or switched on and off. Locks are for the parts of a brand that are settled. An accessibility minimum, a non-negotiable brand constraint, or a ruleset someone signed off on can be locked so a later editing session, or an agent with write access, cannot move it by accident. ## Lock and unlock Lock a row from its actions: **Lock rule** on a rule, **Lock** on a group or library entry. A locked row shows a lock indicator, and hovering it says who locked it. Unlocking is the same action in reverse, when it is yours to take. ## Who locked it matters A lock carries its reason, and the reason decides whether you can lift it: - **Locked by you.** Someone locked it in the app. Unlock it to make changes. - **Locked by template.** It came from a template that declared it locked, so it cannot be unlocked here. Starter content that must stay intact ships this way. - **Locked by system.** UI Rules manages this row itself, such as the skeleton a brand is built on, so it cannot be unlocked at all. Nothing is locked automatically when *you* create it. Template and system locks only arrive with content that was stamped that way when it entered the brand. ## Locks hold everywhere A lock is enforced where the data lives, not in one screen. The same lock that stops an edit in the app stops the [Agent](/docs/agent/overview) and a [connected tool with write scopes](/docs/connect/tools-reference#writing-tools) from changing the row, stops a project from hiding it as an override, and stops a [restore](/docs/workspace/version-history) from sweeping over it. It also refuses cascades: something that contains a locked item cannot be moved to Trash, so you cannot delete around a lock by deleting its parent. Unlock the item first, or leave the parent where it is. ## Related The rule model the locks protect. Where unlocked deletions go, and how they come back.