diff --git a/services/ai-stack.sh b/services/ai-stack.sh
index 13e8f0b..0f5d954 100644
--- a/services/ai-stack.sh
+++ b/services/ai-stack.sh
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ install_ai-stack() {
         echo "[DRY-RUN] Would optionally collect cloud LLM provider keys (Groq/DeepInfra/OpenAI/OpenRouter)"
         echo "[DRY-RUN] Would run the app installer local-ai-setup.sh (Docker/NVIDIA toolkit, VRAM-aware models, generates compose/.env, starts stack, registers systemd 'local-ai')"
         echo "[DRY-RUN] Would offer an optional vision-capable model to pull (moondream/llava/qwen2.5vl/llama3.2-vision) via the generated pull-models.sh"
+        echo "[DRY-RUN] Would offer to stop optional services not wanted (Gitea/Portainer/Kiwix/InvokeAI/ComfyUI/Aider) after the full stack starts"
         echo "[DRY-RUN] Would wire cloud providers into Open WebUI (OPENAI_API_BASE_URLS) preserving the local RAG connection"
         echo "[DRY-RUN] Would write gpu-mode.sh and optionally enable the GPU switcher (one small GPU shared by Ollama and InvokeAI/ComfyUI)"
         echo "[DRY-RUN] Would attach Open WebUI to caddy_net and configure Caddy (open-webui:8080, host port 3000)"
@@ -135,6 +136,56 @@ install_ai-stack() {
     # e.g. requirements.txt.
     ensure_docker_dir_ownership "$AS_DIR"
 
+    # ── Optional services — not everyone wants the whole stack running ────────
+    # local-ai-setup.sh above always generates and starts every service in the
+    # stack unconditionally — Ollama/Open WebUI/ChromaDB/RAG/MCP (the core) plus
+    # Gitea, Portainer, Kiwix, InvokeAI, ComfyUI, and Aider. Several of those
+    # are genuinely optional depending on the box — e.g. Gitea when you already
+    # run git elsewhere, or Portainer when you manage Docker some other way.
+    # Rather than make local-ai-setup.sh's own compose generation conditional
+    # (risky: it's vendored upstream code, and other services reference these
+    # by container name/network in ways that would need auditing one by one),
+    # just stop the ones not wanted after the fact — images are already pulled
+    # either way, and `docker compose up -d <name>` brings any of them back
+    # later with no reinstall needed. User feedback: wanted this choice instead
+    # of always getting the full stack.
+    if [ "$INSTALLER_RAN" = true ]; then
+        echo ""
+        log_info "The full stack is running. Some of these are genuinely optional —"
+        log_info "stop the ones you don't need (start any of them again later with"
+        log_info "'docker compose up -d <service>', no reinstall required):"
+        echo ""
+        echo "    1) Gitea       — skip if you already run git elsewhere"
+        echo "    2) Portainer   — skip if you manage Docker some other way"
+        echo "    3) Kiwix       — offline Wikipedia/docs server"
+        echo "    4) InvokeAI    — image generation (SD/SDXL/Flux)"
+        echo "    5) ComfyUI     — image generation (node-based)"
+        echo "    6) Aider       — AI pair-programming CLI"
+        echo ""
+        local STOP_CHOICES=""
+        prompt_text "Stop which of these? (space-separated numbers, blank to keep everything running):" "" STOP_CHOICES
+        local _s _svc
+        declare -a _TO_STOP=()
+        for _s in $STOP_CHOICES; do
+            _svc=""
+            case "$_s" in
+                1) _svc="gitea" ;;
+                2) _svc="portainer" ;;
+                3) _svc="kiwix" ;;
+                4) _svc="invokeai" ;;
+                5) _svc="comfyui" ;;
+                6) _svc="aider" ;;
+                *) log_warning "Ignoring unknown choice '$_s'"; continue ;;
+            esac
+            _TO_STOP+=("$_svc")
+        done
+        if [ ${#_TO_STOP[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
+            (cd "$AS_DIR" && docker compose stop "${_TO_STOP[@]}") \
+                && log_success "Stopped: ${_TO_STOP[*]} (images still pulled — bring any back with: docker compose up -d <name>)" \
+                || log_warning "Couldn't stop one or more services — check: docker compose ps"
+        fi
+    fi
+
     # ── Wire cloud providers into the generated compose ───────────────────────
     if [ ${#CLOUD_NAMES[@]} -gt 0 ] && [ -f "$AS_DIR/docker-compose.yml" ]; then
         # Prepend the local RAG connection so RAG keeps working, then the clouds.