# How to Disable Safety Guardrails in Cosmos 3 Generation

> Learn how to disable Cosmos 3 safety guardrails for single requests, CLI, or server launches. Gain full control over your Cosmos 3 generation model. Fast and easy.

- Repository: [NVIDIA Corporation/cosmos](https://github.com/NVIDIA/cosmos)
- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-06-05

---

**You can disable Cosmos 3 safety guardrails by setting `"guardrails": false` inside the `extra_params` JSON for a single request, passing `--no-guardrails` in the CLI, or launching the server with a [`no_guardrails.yaml`](https://github.com/NVIDIA/cosmos/blob/main/no_guardrails.yaml) deploy config that prevents guardrail models from loading entirely.**

The NVIDIA Cosmos repository ships with built-in safety filters that screen prompts for disallowed content and blur faces in generated video. These guardrails are enabled by default (`guardrails: true`), but the codebase provides several mechanisms to turn them off depending on whether you need a one-off exception or a permanent deployment change. This guide covers the exact flags, JSON payloads, and configuration files used in the Cosmos 3 source code to disable them.

## What Are Cosmos 3 Safety Guardrails?

As implemented in `NVIDIA/cosmos`, the safety guardrails perform two distinct functions. First, they screen every incoming prompt for disallowed content before generation begins. Second, they apply automatic face-blurring filters to the final visual output. Because these checks run by default, any production or research workflow that requires unfiltered outputs must explicitly override the `guardrails` parameter.

## Three Methods to Disable Guardrails in Cosmos 3

You can turn off safety guardrails at three different scopes. Choose the option that matches your integration pattern.

### Per-Request Override via extra_params

For a single generation call, add `"guardrails": false` to the `extra_params` object in your request payload. This tells the Cosmos 3 inference server to skip prompt screening and face blurring for that call only. All other concurrent or subsequent requests continue to use the default protected path.

### CLI Override with --no-guardrails

When using the Cosmos CLI client, pass the `--no-guardrails` flag or the equivalent `--extra_params='{"guardrails":false}'`. This applies strictly to the current `cosmos-cli generate` invocation and mirrors the per-request JSON override at the command-line level.

### Server-Wide Disable via Deploy Config

To disable guardrails for every request handled by a node, create a deployment configuration file that sets `guardrails: false`. You can also set `offload_guardrail_models: false` to free GPU memory by preventing the guardrail models from loading in the first place. Launch the server with:

```bash
cosmos-server --deploy-config no_guardrails.yaml

```

When guardrails are disabled server-wide, the per-request `extra_params` override **cannot** re-enable them because the underlying models are never loaded.

## Code Examples for Disabling Cosmos 3 Guardrails

The following examples are derived directly from the NVIDIA Cosmos repository and show the exact syntax required for each scope.

### cURL REST API — Disable Per Request

```bash
curl -X POST https://<your-endpoint>/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HF_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --form-string 'messages=[
    {"role":"system","content":"You are a helpful assistant."},
    {"role":"user","content":"Generate a video of a robot pouring water."}
  ]' \
  --form-string 'extra_params={"guardrails":false,"use_resolution_template":false,"use_duration_template":false}'

```

The `extra_params` field carries `"guardrails":false`, which instructs the endpoint to bypass safety checks for this specific request.

### Python SDK — Disable Per Request

```python
import requests, json, os

endpoint = "https://<your-endpoint>/v1/chat/completions"
headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.getenv('HF_TOKEN')}"}
payload = {
    "messages": [
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Generate a video of a robot pouring water."}
    ],
    "extra_params": {
        "guardrails": False,               # <-- disable guardrails

        "use_resolution_template": False,
        "use_duration_template": False
    }
}

resp = requests.post(endpoint, headers=headers, json=payload)
print(resp.json())

```

This pattern matches the Python client logic shown in `cookbooks/cosmos3/generator/action/run_fd_with_vllm.ipynb`, where `extra_params={"guardrails": False}` is used for a robotics forward-dynamics run.

### CLI — Disable with a Flag

```bash
cosmos-cli generate \
  --model cosmos3-nano \
  --prompt "A robot pours water into a cup." \
  --extra_params '{"guardrails":false}'

# Equivalent shorthand

cosmos-cli generate --no-guardrails \
  --model cosmos3-nano \
  --prompt "A robot pours water into a cup."

```

The `--no-guardrails` option is demonstrated in `cookbooks/cosmos3/generator/action/run_fd_with_cosmos_framework.ipynb` (lines 864–1199), where it is forwarded to the underlying generation command.

### Server-Wide — Deploy Config File

Create a file named [`no_guardrails.yaml`](https://github.com/NVIDIA/cosmos/blob/main/no_guardrails.yaml) with the following content:

```yaml

# no_guardrails.yaml

guardrails: false
offload_guardrail_models: false   # optional – frees GPU memory

```

Then start the server:

```bash
cosmos-server --deploy-config no_guardrails.yaml

```

With this configuration, all subsequent generation calls run without guardrails regardless of client-side `extra_params`.

## Where Disabling Guardrails Is Documented in the Source Code

The controls above are documented across several key files in the `NVIDIA/cosmos` repository:

- [`README.md`](https://github.com/NVIDIA/cosmos/blob/main/README.md) — The "Disabling guardrails" section (lines 393–421) describes both the `extra_params` JSON flag and the server-wide deploy config approach.
- `cookbooks/cosmos3/generator/action/run_fd_with_cosmos_framework.ipynb` — Shows the `--no-guardrails` CLI flag being passed to the generation framework (lines 864–1199).
- `cookbooks/cosmos3/generator/action/run_fd_with_vllm.ipynb` — Contains Python client code that sets `extra_params={"guardrails": False}` for VLLM-based generation.
- [`no_guardrails.yaml`](https://github.com/NVIDIA/cosmos/blob/main/no_guardrails.yaml) — The example deploy-config file used to disable guardrails globally and optionally offload guardrail models.

## Summary

- Cosmos 3 ships with `guardrails: true` by default, screening prompts and blurring faces.
- To **disable safety guardrails in Cosmos 3 generation** for a single call, set `"guardrails": false` inside `extra_params`.
- Use the `--no-guardrails` CLI flag for one-off command-line tasks.
- For a permanent, server-wide disablement, deploy [`no_guardrails.yaml`](https://github.com/NVIDIA/cosmos/blob/main/no_guardrails.yaml) via `cosmos-server --deploy-config no_guardrails.yaml`; this prevents guardrail models from loading and cannot be overridden per request.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Can I re-enable guardrails for a single request if they are disabled server-wide?

No. When you deploy a server-wide configuration that sets `guardrails: false`, the guardrail models are never loaded into memory. Because the infrastructure is not present, a per-request `extra_params` override cannot re-enable them. You must restart the server without the deploy config to restore guardrail functionality.

### Does disabling guardrails improve GPU memory usage?

It can. If you add `offload_guardrail_models: false` to the deploy config, the Cosmos 3 server will not load the dedicated guardrail models into GPU memory. This reduces memory overhead, which is beneficial for large-scale or resource-constrained deployments.

### Is the --no-guardrails flag available in all Cosmos CLI versions?

The `--no-guardrails` shorthand is implemented in the Cosmos CLI as shown in `cookbooks/cosmos3/generator/action/run_fd_with_cosmos_framework.ipynb`. If your CLI does not recognize the flag, you can use the long-form equivalent `--extra_params='{"guardrails":false}'`, which is accepted by any version that parses the standard generation parameters.

### What content filters are bypassed when guardrails are disabled?

Disabling guardrails removes two specific protections: prompt screening for disallowed content and automatic face-blurring in the generated video output. As implemented in the NVIDIA Cosmos source code, these are the only safety mechanisms controlled by the `guardrails` boolean flag.