Deploy Agents

To make an Agentic project live and accessible to users, you must correctly configure deployments, environments, channels, API keys, and channel authentication. Before users can interact with your agents, the following must exist:

• An active deployment in the target environment (dev, staging, or production).
• Environment variables configured for all {{env.KEY}} references used in ABL.
• A channel bound to that environment and an API key to authorize.

Concept	What it is
Version	A frozen snapshot of a compiled agent
Deployment	A manifest mapping agents to versions for an environment
Environment	A named deployment slot (dev, staging, production)
Channel	A user-facing communication surface connected to a deployment
SDK Key	A public client-side key used by SDK-based applications
Platform Key	A scoped backend API key for server-to-server integrations

Deployment Lifecycle

• A deployment is always scoped to a single environment.
• Only one deployment per environment can be active at a time.
• When a new deployment becomes active:
  • The previous deployment automatically moves to draining.
  • Existing sessions continue naturally.
  • New sessions route to the latest deployment.

Step 1: Set Environment Variables

Before deployment, configure all environment variables referenced in agents. Navigate to Deployments -> Environments.

Base Variables : The Base variables defines fallback values shared across environments. Use base variables for:

• Shared defaults across deployments.
• Product names.
• Common timeouts.

Override them per environment when needed.

Example:

Scope	Value
Base	SUPPORT_EMAIL=[e-mail]
Production Override	SUPPORT_EMAIL=[e-mail]

• Variable changes only affect new sessions. If you update a variable, existing in-progress sessions keep the old value until they end. Runtime execution fails when unresolved variables are accessed.
• You can also set global variables via Admin Settings ->Env variables. Environment-specific variables with the same key take priority.

To add a new env variable:

• Select the target environment tab (dev, staging, or production).
• Click Add Variable.
• Enter the key, value, and optional description.
• Toggle Secret if the value is sensitive (secrets are write-only after saving).
• Click Save.
• You can also copy variables from other environments.

Step 2: Deploy

Go to Deployments → Environments and click New Deploy (top right). Configure:

• Environment: Select environment. Always start with dev.
• Entry agent: The agent that receives the first message, usually the supervisor.
• Agent version manifest: map each agent to a version, or use the latest active version. You can also auto-create a version from the working copy.
• Label: Human-readable identifier for the deployment like v1.0 - initial build.

Click Deploy. The platform validates your agent ABLs, resolves configuration placeholders, and activates the deployment. If there was a previous dev deployment, it moves to draining — existing sessions finish naturally, new ones go to the new deployment.

Step 3: Promote to staging

Do not manually recreate staging deployments. Instead, Promote your dev deployment. This pushes the exact same agent version manifest to staging, so you’re testing what you actually built rather than manually re-specifying versions.

Step 4: Promote staging to production

Once staging is validated, promote it to production the same way, by clicking Promote on the staging deployment.

Step 5: Configure Access

An active deployment is not automatically reachable. You must configure:

• API keys
• Channels
• Authentication methods, if required

Configure API Keys

For external application access, create API Keys.

Key Type	Description
SDK Key	Used by client apps to talk to the agent chat/runtime surface. Intended for embedding the widget or calling chat/session APIs. It bootstraps an SDK session, then requests are constrained by that session/token model. Think: end-user/app-facing chat access.
Platform Key	Used for broader server-to-server platform API access. Has explicitly selectable scopes such as Execute Chat, Read Analytics, Read Workspace, and Write Document Permissions. Intended for integrations, workflows, and backend automation. Think: integration/backend access with scoped permissions.

Learn More

Channels

Channels expose deployments to end users.

Examples:

• Web SDK
• Slack
• WhatsApp
• Voice channels
• Mobile SDKs

Navigate to Deployments -> Channels.

• Select the target environment or deployment. A channel can either:
  • Follow an environment automatically
  • Or pin to a specific deployment version
• Configure channel-specific parameters.
• Configure API keys.

The Web SDK is the most common starting point. Once configured, it provides a <script> tag that you embed in your website. Depending on the authentication type, insert your SDK key (pk_*) or server secret (sk_*).

Step 6: Rollback if something goes wrong

If a production deployment causes issues, go to Deployments → Environments, find the active deployment, and click Rollback. This retires the current deployment and reactivates the previous one in that environment. Users on the bad deployment finish their sessions naturally; new sessions immediately go to the restored version.

Deployment status reference

Status	What it means
active	Receiving new sessions, serving live requests.
draining	No new sessions accepted; existing sessions complete naturally.
retired	Fully decommissioned, no new requests to this deployment. Active sessions continue.