diff --git a/exo/orchestration/standard_node.py b/exo/orchestration/standard_node.py
index 31969e801..526688558 100644
--- a/exo/orchestration/standard_node.py
+++ b/exo/orchestration/standard_node.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from exo.viz.topology_viz import TopologyViz
 
 class StandardNode(Node):
-    def __init__(self, id: str, server: Server, inference_engine: InferenceEngine, discovery: Discovery, partitioning_strategy: PartitioningStrategy = None, max_generate_tokens: int = 256, chatgpt_api_endpoint: Optional[str] = None, web_chat_url: Optional[str] = None):
+    def __init__(self, id: str, server: Server, inference_engine: InferenceEngine, discovery: Discovery, partitioning_strategy: PartitioningStrategy = None, max_generate_tokens: int = 256, chatgpt_api_endpoint: Optional[str] = None, web_chat_url: Optional[str] = None, disable_tui: Optional[bool] = False):
         self.id = id
         self.inference_engine = inference_engine
         self.server = server
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def __init__(self, id: str, server: Server, inference_engine: InferenceEngine, d
         self.topology: Topology = Topology()
         self.device_capabilities = device_capabilities()
         self.buffered_token_output: Dict[str, Tuple[List[int], bool]] = {}
-        self.topology_viz = TopologyViz(chatgpt_api_endpoint=chatgpt_api_endpoint, web_chat_url=web_chat_url)
+        self.topology_viz = TopologyViz(chatgpt_api_endpoint=chatgpt_api_endpoint, web_chat_url=web_chat_url) if not disable_tui else None
         self.max_generate_tokens = max_generate_tokens
         self._on_token = AsyncCallbackSystem[str, Tuple[str, List[int], bool]]()
         self._on_opaque_status = AsyncCallbackSystem[str, str]()
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ def on_node_status(self, request_id, opaque_status):
                 elif status_data.get("status", "").startswith("end_"):
                     if status_data.get("node_id") == self.current_topology.active_node_id:
                         self.current_topology.active_node_id = None
-            self.topology_viz.update_visualization(self.current_topology, self.partitioning_strategy.partition(self.current_topology))
+            if self.topology_viz:
+              self.topology_viz.update_visualization(self.current_topology, self.partitioning_strategy.partition(self.current_topology))
         except json.JSONDecodeError:
             pass
 
@@ -242,7 +243,8 @@ async def collect_topology(self, visited: set[str] = set(), max_depth: int = 4)
 
         next_topology.active_node_id = self.topology.active_node_id # this is not so clean.
         self.topology = next_topology
-        self.topology_viz.update_visualization(self.current_topology, self.partitioning_strategy.partition(self.current_topology))
+        if self.topology_viz:
+            self.topology_viz.update_visualization(self.current_topology, self.partitioning_strategy.partition(self.current_topology))
         return next_topology
 
     # TODO: unify this and collect_topology as global actions
diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
index 2758473a2..833f85426 100644
--- a/main.py
+++ b/main.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 parser.add_argument("--chatgpt-api-port", type=int, default=8000, help="ChatGPT API port")
 parser.add_argument("--chatgpt-api-response-timeout-secs", type=int, default=90, help="ChatGPT API response timeout in seconds")
 parser.add_argument("--inference-engine", type=str, default=None, help="Inference engine to use")
+parser.add_argument("--disable-tui", action=argparse.BooleanOptionalAction, help="Disable TUI")
 args = parser.parse_args()
 
 print_yellow_exo()
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@
     args.node_port = find_available_port(args.node_host)
     if DEBUG >= 1: print(f"Using available port: {args.node_port}")
 discovery = GRPCDiscovery(args.node_id, args.node_port, args.listen_port, args.broadcast_port)
-node = StandardNode(args.node_id, None, inference_engine, discovery, partitioning_strategy=RingMemoryWeightedPartitioningStrategy(), chatgpt_api_endpoint=f"http://localhost:{args.chatgpt_api_port}/v1/chat/completions", web_chat_url=f"http://localhost:{args.chatgpt_api_port}")
+node = StandardNode(args.node_id, None, inference_engine, discovery, partitioning_strategy=RingMemoryWeightedPartitioningStrategy(), chatgpt_api_endpoint=f"http://localhost:{args.chatgpt_api_port}/v1/chat/completions", web_chat_url=f"http://localhost:{args.chatgpt_api_port}", disable_tui=args.disable_tui)
 server = GRPCServer(node, args.node_host, args.node_port)
 node.server = server
 api = ChatGPTAPI(node, inference_engine.__class__.__name__, response_timeout_secs=args.chatgpt_api_response_timeout_secs)