Create, register, publish & deploy an agent
How an agent goes from an idea to something people use in Joule: what runs where, who does each step, and where Boidra Platform fits. The same workflow applies to MCP servers and skills.
How an agent is deployed
- Boidra Platform generates, it does not deploy. The Install agent wizard writes the pipeline, Dockerfile and Cloud Foundry manifest into your repository. The pipeline runs there, with your credentials, and deploys to your SAP BTP subaccount.
- The running agent talks to three things: SAP AI Core for its LLM calls, Joule (which reaches it over A2A through a BTP destination), and Boidra Platform, which receives its telemetry.
- Nothing in SAP's products is changed. The agent is your own Cloud Foundry app; Joule and AI Core are used through their standard interfaces.
The workflow, step by step
| # | Step | Who | Where | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create the agent | Agent Engineer | Projects → Install agent | Pipeline, Dockerfile, manifest and (for a new agent) an instrumented skeleton, delivered as a pull request or a .zip |
| 2 | Register it as an AI asset | Agent Engineer | Publish AI asset | An asset page with type, owning workspace and environment; status Created |
| 3 | Submit for review | Agent Engineer (the author) | Asset page → Submit for review | The asset waits in Review |
| 4 | Approve | Release Approver (never the author) | Asset page | The asset moves to Deploy |
| 5 | Deploy | Your CI/CD pipeline | Your repository → SAP BTP | The agent runs on Cloud Foundry and starts reporting telemetry |
| 6 | Publish | Automatic step in the lifecycle | AI Asset Dashboard | The agent appears in the catalogue for people to find and install |
| 7 | Use and observe | Everyone | Joule, Joule Work, Boidra Platform | People use the agent; its traces, cost and evaluations appear in Boidra Platform |
1. Create
Open Projects, choose a project and press Install agent. The wizard asks five things: new or existing agent, the repository (GitHub or Azure DevOps) and container registry (GHCR or Azure CR), the Cloud Foundry app name, memory and resource group, a review of every generated file, and how to deliver them (pull request or download). The OTLP endpoint is pre-filled with your Boidra Platform, so the agent reports here from its first call. Details: Install agent.
2. Register
Press Publish AI asset in the AI Asset Dashboard and register the agent: its type, the workspace that owns it and its environment. The asset page shows the lifecycle with Created done. You can still Edit it at this point.
3–4. Review and approve
Press Submit for review. A Release Approver checks the asset (what it does, what data it can reach, which workspace owns it) and approves it. The author can never approve their own asset; see How approval works.
5. Deploy
Merge the pull request (or run the pipeline) in your repository. The pipeline builds the Docker image, pushes it to your registry and runs cf push to SAP BTP. Boidra Platform does not trigger or watch pipeline runs; you will see the agent in Summary and Traces as soon as its first spans arrive.
6. Publish
With review and deployment done, the asset is published to the AI Asset Dashboard, where people can find it, like it and Install it into Joule Work and other clients. See Discover & install.
7. Use and observe
To call the agent from Joule, connect it with SAP's standard Bring Your Own Agent flow (agent card, BTP destination, Joule dialog function); see Admin setup → Joule. Every conversation that reaches the agent then shows up in Boidra Platform with its cost.