Best possible solution:

Land the narrow extraction change after maintainer review once the PR body includes real Control UI proof showing Quick Settings displays the active tools.exec.security value.

Do we have a high-confidence way to reproduce the issue?

Yes, by source inspection: current main reads agents.defaults.exec.security while the config type, runtime resolver, and docs use tools.exec.security as the active policy source. I did not run the UI because this review must keep the checkout read-only.

Is this the best way to solve the issue?

Yes for the code direction: reading cfg.tools.exec.security is the narrowest maintainable fix for the stale Quick Settings badge, and the added regression covers the reported mismatch. Merge should wait for real UI/runtime proof and maintainer-label handling.

What I checked:

• Current main reads stale path: extractQuickSettingsSecurity still reads cfg.agents.defaults.exec.security, so a config whose active exec policy lives under tools.exec.security can display the stale agent-default value. (ui/src/ui/app-render.ts:581, df069f7b0222)
• Config type defines tools exec security: The typed exec policy field is ExecToolConfig.security, matching tools.exec.security. (src/config/types.tools.ts:256, df069f7b0222)
• Runtime policy falls back to tools.exec: The exec approvals resolver uses globalExecConfig with source path tools.exec when a scoped exec policy is absent. (src/infra/exec-approvals-effective.ts:112, df069f7b0222)
• Docs identify tools.exec as policy source: The exec approvals documentation says effective policy uses the stricter of tools.exec.* and approval defaults, with omitted approval fields using tools.exec. Public docs: docs/tools/exec-approvals.md. (docs/tools/exec-approvals.md:18, df069f7b0222)
• PR diff is narrow: The patch replaces the legacy agent-default lookup with cfg.tools.exec.security, adds a focused Quick Settings regression, and adds one changelog line. (ui/src/ui/app-render.ts:578, ec4b6ab26241)
• Real behavior proof is test-only: The PR body reports pnpm test ui/src/ui/app-render.assistant-avatar.test.ts and a platform node -e command, but explicitly says no manual browser screenshot of the Control UI was tested. (ec4b6ab26241)

Likely related people:

• BunsDev: Recent current-main history for ui/src/ui/app-render.ts shows multiple Control UI and Quick Settings changes by this maintainer, including responsive render work and Quick Settings/avatar work. (role: recent maintainer; confidence: high; commits: 5ae385b2f0f1, 60171e863882, c65aa1d2a6e5; files: ui/src/ui/app-render.ts, ui/src/ui/views/config-quick.ts, ui/src/ui/app-render.assistant-avatar.test.ts)
• steipete: Current-main history includes a recent ui/src/ui/app-render.ts refactor by this maintainer, and this focused PR is also authored by them. (role: adjacent maintainer; confidence: medium; commits: 330ba1fa3194, ec4b6ab26241; files: ui/src/ui/app-render.ts, CHANGELOG.md)

Remaining risk / open question:

• The PR body does not include after-fix Control UI runtime proof; the current proof is limited to a regression test plus an unrelated platform command.

Codex review notes: model gpt-5.5, reasoning high; reviewed against df069f7b0222.