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ELEMENT 31

Glossary: version

A version is a frozen agent design on Czar. Publishing creates one, deploying points an address at one, and only one is live per agent at a time.

· 2 min read

IN SHORT

A version is an agent design that has been published and can no longer change. It carries the agent's steps and its bounds: which models, which material, which tools, where approval is required, and what it may never do. A stable address points at one version at a time, and when a version is wrong the address is pointed back at an earlier one.

A version is an agent design that has been published on the Czar appliance and frozen, together with the bounds that say what the agent may do. It is the only form of an agent that a stable address can point at.

Why it matters

An agent that can be changed while it is running is an agent nobody can fully account for. Freezing the design into a version means that for any run, the site can say exactly which steps the agent followed and exactly what it was allowed to do, because the version that was live has not moved since.

Versions also make rollback a simple act. When a new version misbehaves, the operator points the address back at the previous one. Nothing has to be rebuilt, because the earlier version is still on the appliance exactly as it was published.

How it works here

An operator or developer finishes a design in Agency Studio and publishes it. Publishing writes the steps and the bounds into a version and records who published it. The design on the canvas and the file remain editable, but those edits belong to a future version, not this one.

Deploying points the agent's stable address at a version. One live version at a time: the address points at exactly one, and the customer's applications calling that address get that version's behavior. When the operator publishes the next version and points the address at it, the previous one becomes an earlier published version and stays available. Every run record names the version that produced it, so the record and the version can be read together.

  • Stable address: the fixed place applications call, which points at one version.
  • Bounds: the limits written into each version.
  • Agency Studio: where the design that becomes a version is made.
  • Run record: what each run of a version leaves behind.

Questions this raises

What is the difference between a draft and a version?
A draft is a design in Agency Studio that can still be edited and cannot be called. A version is a draft that has been published and frozen. Only versions can be pointed at by a stable address.
Can a version be edited after publishing?
No. To change a live agent, the operator edits the design and publishes a new version, then points the address at it. The earlier version stays on the appliance unchanged.
Who can publish a version?
An operator, or a developer working in the file, provided the admin has given them publishing rights for that site. Publishing is written down with the name of the person who did it.

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