Staff & Agents
This section is the customer path for running agents and actors in Orkestia. Core Concepts stay the mental model. Here you actually stand a worker up, give it tools, put it on capacity you own, and keep it accountable.
Staff is the operator console (staff.orkestia.dev): units, actors, inbox, roles, sessions, cost. Agents is the substrate behind every actor: a config (model, guidance, skills, MCP servers, budget) that launches as a session on a runner group in your cloud. You do not run one without the other.
To sell an actor to another organization, or hire one they listed, use Agent Exchange — a different console and a different "hire".
What you are operating
| Piece | What it is | Where you touch it |
|---|---|---|
| Actor | A named AI worker with a lifecycle (hire, invoke, pause, archive) | Staff → Staff tree / Hire |
| Agent config | Model, standing instructions, skills, MCP servers, memory flags, budget | Staff → Configs (created for you at hire) |
| Session | One live run of that config on a runner | Staff → Sessions / Activity |
| Runner group | Cloud pool that may host sessions. Must be agent-eligible | Staff → Runner groups |
| Skills + MCP | What the worker is allowed to call | Staff → Skills / MCP servers |
| Roles + approvals | Who may start what, and what needs a human | Staff → Roles / Inbox / RBAC seats |
- You (org member)
- Staff consolestaff.orkestia.dev
- Actor
- Agent config
- Session on YOUR runner
- Typed workflows
- You (org member)→ operate →Staff console
- Staff console→ hire / invoke →Actor
- Actor→Agent config
- Agent config→ session-launch →Session on YOUR runner
- Session on YOUR runner→ skills + MCP →Typed workflows
First-run path
Do these in order. The Staff inbox shows the same checklist until the blocking items are done.
- Connect a model provider in the main app — OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, Google AI, MiniMax, Mistral, Fireworks, Together, Groq, or Cohere. Without one, an actor has no LLM.
- Create an agent runner group and enable it for agents. Sessions only launch on groups created for agents, not generic CI pools.
- Hire an actor — describe a role; Staff drafts a config, you pick the model, runner group, skills, and MCP servers.
- Optional: connect object storage (AWS / GCP / Cloudflare) if you want file attachments in chat.
Then: invoke the actor, watch the session, handle Inbox items, set a budget, and (when you need it) mint an agt_ token or attach the provider-blind coding runner.
Run a ticket end to end
Write the ticket, launch the delivery, watch it code, publish, review and merge.
Concepts vs this section
| You want… | Read |
|---|---|
| The platform mental model (workflows, DGI, runners, Lumen) | Core Concepts |
| What Staff is (org / unit / actor / RBAC) | Staff governance |
| What an agent config is | Agents substrate |
| How to run workers this week | This section |
| How to hire or list workers across orgs | Agent Exchange |