Try a project's dev agent

Enterprise

Chat with your Arena project as it stands, in the editor’s Try it tab, before you run or deploy it.

Opening the project in the editor deploys it to your dev agent: a real AgentRuntime, hidden from the agent lists, that serves the project’s current source and is reachable only through the dashboard.

Prerequisites

enterprise.enabled=true in your Helm values.
Editor access to the workspace. Without it the tab says Editor access required.
A Ready Provider in the workspace.
A project open in the editor. See Use the Arena project editor.

Try the project

Open the project in the editor and choose the Try it tab.
Read the deploy-plan problems listed above the chat, if any. Each names the problem, the fix and the path in config.arena.yaml. Resolved bindings still deploy.
Wait for the status to reach Ready. It passes through Planning, Deploying and Starting.
Send a message. The chat is the same console as the Agents page.

Pick up your edits

Prompts and scenarios compile when a session opens. Click New session to start a session on your latest edits.
Saving config.arena.yaml re-plans the deploy bindings and re-applies them to the dev agent. A save that changes nothing else leaves the agent running. When the apply changes the agent, its pod restarts and the conversation starts again.
A change made outside the open tab, by the builder or in another browser tab, is picked up when a builder turn ends or when the tab regains focus. A change to the bindings is re-applied the same way.
To change bindings without editing the file, click Bindings in the tab.
A project that does not compile shows The project does not compile with the compiler’s message. Fix the source, save, and click Check again.

Apply a one-click fix

A deploy-plan problem the project can fix itself has a button under it.

Problem	Fix
No deploy block	Pick a Provider, then Add a deploy block
The deploy block names no provider	Set provider: omnia
No provider bindings	Pick a Provider, then Add a default binding
A binding names a missing Provider, or one with the wrong role	Pick a Ready Provider with the binding’s role, then Use this Provider
A missing ToolRegistry	Pick one, then Use this ToolRegistry
A missing SkillSource	Pick one, then Use this SkillSource

A fix edits the saved config.arena.yaml and keeps its comments and order. If the file changed between the read and the write, nothing is written and the tab says config.arena.yaml changed before the fix landed. If you have unsaved edits to the file, they stay in your tab and the conflict banner appears. After a fix the plan is read again.

A Provider that exists but is not Ready, and a malformed binding, have no fix. The problem text says what to change.

Verify

The status shows Ready and the chat answers.

Troubleshooting

Nothing to deploy yet

No provider binding resolved. config.arena.yaml must bind at least one Provider that exists and is Ready under spec.deploy.config.providers. Apply the fix listed above the chat, then click Check again.

Another object already has this project’s dev agent name

An agent, registry or policy named dev-<project id>-<your user id> (shortened and hashed when that is not a valid name) exists and was not made by your Try it for this project. Try it never takes over an object it did not create. Rename or delete that object, then click Try again.

The dev agent is still shutting down

It was deleted a moment ago. Click Try again once it is gone.

The dev agent failed to start

The message names the condition that failed, such as a Provider whose role does not match the binding.

Could not follow the dev agent

The dashboard could not watch the agent’s status, for example because the workspace’s service account may not watch AgentRuntimes. Fix the cause, then click Try again. The tab does not retry on its own.

The dev agent is gone, start again

The operator deletes the dev agent after 30 minutes unused. Click Start again to deploy the project from its current source.

Inspect the dev agent

The dev agent carries the project’s id as a label:

kubectl get agentruntime -n <workspace-ns> \
  -l omnia.altairalabs.ai/arena-project=<project id>