Build, Deploy & Monitor AI Agents with Astropods

Postman launched Astropods, an agent operating system layer within the Postman AI stack that lets developers build, deploy, and monitor AI agents in production, the company said in a guide to the product. Astropods organizes agents into four stages — Project, Blueprint, Agent, and Observability — and uses a declarative astropods.yml file to describe an agent's models, interfaces, integrations, knowledge stores, and runtime requirements. Developers install the ast CLI, run agents locally in Docker with an optional AI Gateway connection, publish versioned blueprints that are private by default, and inspect production usage, cost, network, runtime, and trace data.

Build, Deploy & Monitor AI Agents with Astropods AI agents are moving beyond experiments. They answer questions, run workflows, call tools, and collaborate across real teams. Building agent logic is only the beginning. You also need a repeatable way to configure, test, deploy, and observe agents in production. Astropods https://astropods.com/?utm source=blogs&utm medium=blog&utm campaign=onboarding-to-astro in the Postman AI stack Astropods https://astropods.com/?utm source=blogs&utm medium=blog&utm campaign=onboarding-to-astro is a product in the Postman AI stack https://postman.ai/ . Postman https://www.postman.com/ is building the infrastructure for agents and APIs, with each product covering a specific layer that helps customers achieve AI sovereignty. Astropods https://astropods.com/?utm source=blogs&utm medium=blog&utm campaign=onboarding-to-astro is the agent operating system layer: it runs and controls AI agents in production with runtime, observability, and guardrails at scale. Astropods https://astropods.com/?utm source=blogs&utm medium=blog&utm campaign=onboarding-to-astro gives you that lifecycle in one platform. This guide takes you from a local project to a deployed, monitored agent. What you will do: create an agent, run it locally, publish a blueprint, deploy it, connect Slack, and inspect production behavior. Understand the Astropods lifecycle Astropods https://astropods.com/?utm source=blogs&utm medium=blog&utm campaign=onboarding-to-astro organizes an agent into four stages: | Stage | What it represents | |---|---| | Project | Your local codebase and astropods.yml specification. | | Blueprint | A versioned, deployable snapshot in the registry. | | Agent | A running instance of a blueprint. | | Observability | Usage, cost, network, runtime, and trace data from the deployed agent. | The declarative astropods.yml file describes the agent’s models, interfaces, integrations, knowledge stores, and runtime requirements. Start with the Astropods documentation https://docs.astropods.com/welcome or review the complete agent lifecycle https://docs.astropods.com/agent-lifecycle . 1. Build and run an agent locally Install the ast CLI https://docs.astropods.com/install-cli , start Docker, and create a project. The --model gateway option connects the project to the AI Gateway https://docs.astropods.com/ai-gateway , so the agent can use managed models without a separate provider API key. The generated project includes: - astropods.yml , the agent specification. - AGENTS.md , project guidance for coding agents such as Codex, Claude Code, Copilot, or Cursor. - CLAUDE.md , additional instructions for Claude Code. Implement the agent manually or ask a coding agent to build the required logic. If the agent needs external credentials, configure them locally. Astropods starts the agent and its sidecars in containers. Messaging agents can use the local chat interface at http://localhost:3100 . Follow Your first project https://docs.astropods.com/get-started for the current quickstart. 2. Publish and deploy a blueprint A blueprint packages the agent’s container image and registered specification into a versioned artifact. Validate the specification, then publish a private blueprint. Blueprints are private by default. Use --visibility public only when you intend to publish to the public catalog. Keep AGENTS.md current. It becomes the Agent Card shown on the blueprint page and should explain what the agent does, which integrations it needs, and how to use it. Deploy the blueprint with an authenticated web interface. If the deployment needs a credential from the account vault, reference the stored secret instead of exposing its value. Verify the result with ast agent list , then open the launch URL and run a representative request. See Your first blueprint https://docs.astropods.com/blueprints and Deploy your first agent https://docs.astropods.com/deploy-agent for the full workflow. 3. Connect the agent to Slack Slack puts the agent where your team already works. In the Slack API dashboard: 1. Create an app for the target workspace. 2. Generate an app-level token with connections:write . 3. Enable Socket Mode and Event Subscriptions. 4. Add the required bot scopes. A common starting point is chat:write and app mentions:read . 5. Install the app and copy the bot token. Select the Slack adapter in the deployment form and provide the app and bot tokens. You can also deploy through the CLI. ast blueprint deploy cfp-hunter --adapter slack Your organization may require administrator approval before you can install the Slack app. Configure access separately for the web and Slack interfaces. 4. Operate and monitor the agent Deployment starts the operational lifecycle. Astropods provides three levels of visibility: - Monitor: inspect token usage, spend, active users, request volume, latency, and network activity. - Traces: open a specific interaction to review its input, output, model calls, tool calls, timing, cost, and observation tree. - Deployments: inspect workload status, deployment history, and runtime health. This separation helps you distinguish agent behavior problems from infrastructure problems. Learn more in Managing your agents https://docs.astropods.com/managing-agents and Monitor your agents https://docs.astropods.com/monitor-agents . Essential production commands Validate the agent specification ast spec validate Publish a private blueprint ast blueprint publish List deployed agents and their status ast agent list View deployment history ast deployment list Production readiness checklist 1. ast spec validate succeeds. 2. The main workflow works locally and after deployment. 3. Required variables are documented and no credentials are committed. 4. The Agent Card explains the blueprint and its integrations. 5. Web and Slack access policies match the intended audience. 6. A production request produces a complete trace. 7. Token usage, latency, network activity, and logs look healthy. Start building Astropods gives you one workflow to define an agent, test it locally, publish a versioned blueprint, deploy it securely, and understand its behavior in production. Ready to deploy your first agent? Follow the hands-on Postman Learning Path: Building with Agents learning path https://www.postman.com/liftoff/learning-paths/building-with-agents/ You can also start with Your first project https://docs.astropods.com/get-started or explore the Astropods documentation https://docs.astropods.com/welcome .