Deploy with the CLI

Deploy a model-agnostic, open source agent to production with the Deep Agents CLI

Deep Agents Deploy takes your agent configuration and deploys it as a LangSmith Deployment: a horizontally scalable server with 30+ endpoints including MCP, A2A, Agent Protocol, human-in-the-loop, and memory APIs. Built on open standards:

• Open source harness: MIT licensed, available for Python and TypeScript
• AGENTS.md: open standard for agent instructions
• Agent Skills: open standard for agent knowledge and actions
• Any model, any sandbox: no provider lock-in
• Open protocols: MCP, A2A, Agent Protocol
• Self-hostable: LangSmith Deployments can be self-hosted so memory stays in your infrastructure

Deep Agents Deploy is currently in beta. APIs, configuration format, and behavior may change between releases. See the releases page for detailed changelogs.

Compare to Claude Managed Agents

	Deep Agents Deploy	Claude Managed Agents
Model support	OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Bedrock, Azure, Fireworks, Baseten, OpenRouter, many more	Anthropic only
Harness	Open source (MIT)	Proprietary, closed source
Sandbox	LangSmith, Daytona, Modal, Runloop, or custom	Built in
MCP support	✅	✅
Skill support	✅	✅
AGENTS.md support	✅	❌
Agent endpoints	MCP, A2A, Agent Protocol	Proprietary
Self hosting	✅	❌

What you’re deploying

deepagents deploy packages your agent configuration and deploys it as a LangSmith Deployment. You configure your agent with a few parameters:

Parameter	Description
model	The LLM to use. Any provider works — see supported models.
AGENTS.md	The system prompt, loaded at the start of each session.
skills	Agent Skills for specialized knowledge and actions. Skills are synced into the sandbox so the agent can execute them at runtime. See skills docs.
mcp.json	MCP tools (HTTP/SSE). See MCP docs.
sandbox	Optional execution environment. See sandbox providers.

Install

Install the CLI or run directly with uvx:

uv

uv tool install deepagents-cli

uvx deepagents-cli deploy

Usage

deepagents init [name] [--force]                                             # scaffold a new project
deepagents dev  [--config deepagents.toml] [--port 2024] [--allow-blocking]  # bundle and run locally
deepagents deploy [--config deepagents.toml] [--dry-run]                     # bundle and deploy

By default, deepagents deploy looks for deepagents.toml in the current directory. Pass --config to use a different path:

deepagents deploy --config path/to/deepagents.toml

deepagents init

Scaffold a new agent project:

deepagents init my-agent

This creates the following files:

File	Purpose
deepagents.toml	Agent config — name, model, optional sandbox
AGENTS.md	System prompt loaded at session start
.env	API key template (GOOGLE_API_KEY, LANGSMITH_API_KEY, etc.)
mcp.json	MCP server configuration (empty by default)
skills/	Directory for Agent Skills, with an example review skill

After init, edit AGENTS.md with your agent’s instructions and run deepagents deploy.

Project layout

The deploy command uses a convention-based project layout. Place the following files alongside your deepagents.toml and they are automatically discovered:

my-agent/
├── deepagents.toml
├── AGENTS.md
├── .env
├── mcp.json
└── skills/
    ├── code-review/
    │   └── SKILL.md
    └── data-analysis/
        └── SKILL.md

File/directory	Purpose	Required
AGENTS.md	Memory for the agent. Provides persistent context (project conventions, instructions, preferences) that is always loaded at startup.	Yes
skills/	Directory of skill definitions. Each subdirectory should contain a SKILL.md file.	No
mcp.json	MCP server configuration. Only http and sse transports are supported in deployed contexts.	No
.env	Environment variables (API keys, secrets). Placed alongside deepagents.toml at the project root.	No

mcp.json must only contain servers using http or sse transports. Servers using stdio transport are not supported in deployed environments because there is no local process to spawn.

Convert stdio servers to HTTP or SSE before deploying.

Configuration file

deepagents.toml configures the agent’s identity and sandbox environment. Only the [agent] section is required. The [sandbox] section is optional and defaults to no sandbox.

[agent]

(Required)

Core agent identity. For more on model selection and provider configuration, see supported models.

name · string · required

Name for the deployed agent. Used as the assistant identifier in LangSmith.

model · string · default: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-6"

Model identifier in provider:model format. See supported models.

deepagents.toml

[agent]
name = "research-assistant"
model = "google_genai:gemini-3.1-pro-preview"

The name field is the only required value in the entire configuration file. Everything else has defaults.

Skills, MCP servers, and model dependencies are auto-detected from the project layout — you don’t declare them in deepagents.toml:

• Skills: the bundler recursively scans skills/, skipping hidden dotfiles, and bundles the rest.
• MCP servers: if mcp.json exists, it is included in the deployment and langchain-mcp-adapters is added as a dependency. Only HTTP/SSE transports are supported (stdio is rejected at bundle time).
• Model dependencies: the provider: prefix in the model field determines the required langchain-* package (e.g., google_genai -> langchain-google-genai).
• Sandbox dependencies: the [sandbox].provider value maps to its partner package (e.g., daytona -> langchain-daytona).

[sandbox]

Configure the isolated execution environment where the agent runs code. Sandboxes provide a container with a filesystem and shell access, so untrusted code cannot affect the host. For supported providers and advanced sandbox configuration, see sandboxes.

When omitted or set to provider = "none", the sandbox is disabled. Sandboxes are for if you need code execution or skill script execution.

provider · string · default: "none"

Sandbox provider. Determines where the container runs. Supported values: "none", "daytona", "modal", "runloop", "langsmith" (private beta). See sandbox integrations for provider details.

template · string · default: "deepagents-deploy"

Provider-specific template name for the sandbox environment.

image · string · default: "python:3"

Base Docker image for the sandbox container.

scope · string · default: "thread"

Sandbox lifecycle scope. "thread" creates one sandbox per conversation. "assistant" shares a single sandbox across all conversations for the same assistant.

Scope behavior:

• "thread" (default): Each conversation gets its own sandbox. Different threads get different sandboxes, but the same thread reuses its sandbox across turns. Use this when each conversation should start with a clean environment.
• "assistant": All conversations share one sandbox. Files, installed packages, and other state persist across conversations. Use this when the agent maintains a long-lived workspace like a cloned repo.

.env

Place a .env file alongside deepagents.toml with your API keys:

# Required — model provider keys
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-...
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
# ...etc.

# Required for deploy and LangSmith sandbox
LANGSMITH_API_KEY=lsv2_...

# Optional — sandbox provider keys
DAYTONA_API_KEY=...
MODAL_TOKEN_ID=...
MODAL_TOKEN_SECRET=...
RUNLOOP_API_KEY=...

Sandbox providers

Set [sandbox].provider in deepagents.toml and add the required env vars to .env. For available providers, see sandbox integrations. For lifecycle patterns and SDK usage, see sandboxes.

Deployment endpoints

The deployed server exposes:

• MCP: call your agent as a tool from other agents
• A2A: multi-agent orchestration via A2A protocol
• Agent Protocol: standard API for building UIs
• Human-in-the-loop: approval gates for sensitive actions
• Memory: short-term and long-term memory access

Examples

A content writing agent that only needs a model and system prompt, with no code execution:

deepagents.toml

[agent]
name = "deepagents-deploy-content-writer"
model = "google_genai:gemini-3.1-pro-preview"

A coding agent with a LangSmith sandbox for running code:

deepagents.toml

[agent]
name = "deepagents-deploy-coding-agent"
model = "google_genai:gemini-3.1-pro-preview"

[sandbox]
provider = "langsmith"
template = "coding-agent"
image = "python:3.12"

---

Edit this page on GitHub or file an issue.

Connect these docs to Claude, VSCode, and more via MCP for real-time answers.