diff --git a/ovos_config/mycroft.conf b/ovos_config/mycroft.conf
index c4e8c5e..7a72cc8 100644
--- a/ovos_config/mycroft.conf
+++ b/ovos_config/mycroft.conf
@@ -655,7 +655,13 @@
     "generic": {
         // enable/disable homescreen
         "homescreen_supported": true
-    }
+    },
+
+    // in headless devices you can set this flag to not emit any GUI related bus messages
+    // this will reduce messagebus usage
+    // NOTE: this may be undesired, GUI clients can also be cli based and
+    // do not necessarily require a desktop environment or to be running 24/7
+    "disable_gui": false
   },
 
   // Level of logs to store, one of  "CRITICAL", "ERROR", "WARNING", "INFO", "DEBUG"