> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.astropods.com/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.astropods.com/_mcp/server.

# Welcome to Astro AI

<p class="eyebrow">
  Get started
</p>

<h1>
  Welcome to Astro AI
</h1>

Astro AI is a platform for deploying and running AI agents. It provides agent-native infrastructure including models, knowledge bases, tool integrations, and observability. Agents are defined with a declarative spec, built and pushed with the CLI, and deployed through the API or dashboard.

<a class="button" href="/get-started">
  Quickstart
</a>

## What you can do

#### [Install the CLI](/install-cli)

Download and install the `ast` CLI for your platform

#### [Your first project](/get-started)

Create an agent, configure it, and run it locally in three steps

#### [Your first blueprint](/blueprints)

Build and push your agent to the registry with `ast blueprint push`

#### [Deploy your first agent](/deploy-agent)

Run a blueprint as a live hosted agent with `ast blueprint deploy`

#### [Managing secrets](/secrets)

Store API keys in the account vault and reference them at deploy time

#### [Authentication](/authentication)

Log in with `ast login` and manage credentials

## Concepts

* **Project**: A local agent codebase with an `astropods.yml` spec. Use `ast project create` to create an agent harness, `ast project configure` to set credentials, and `ast project start` to run it locally.
* **Astropods Spec**: Declarative YAML format (`astropods.yml`) that describes an agent's topology: container image, models, knowledge stores, tools, and ingestion pipelines. See [Astropods Spec](/astropods-package-spec).
* **Blueprint**: A versioned snapshot of a project pushed to the Astropods registry. Created with `ast blueprint push <name>`. The same project can produce multiple blueprints under different names (e.g. staging vs. production).
* **Agent**: A live, running instance of a blueprint deployed on the platform. Created with `ast blueprint deploy <name>`. Managed with `ast agent` commands.
* **Account**: The scope for all platform resources. Blueprints, agents, and secrets belong to an account. Use `ast account switch` to work across personal and org accounts.
* **Secrets**: Encrypted credentials stored in the account vault with `ast secrets`. Referenced at deploy time as `KEY=@SECRET_NAME`.
* **Agent Card**: A Markdown file with YAML frontmatter (`AGENT.md`) that controls how a blueprint appears in the catalog: description, tags, authors, and integrations. See [Make your agent discoverable](/agent-card).