https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/categories/agents/ Recent content in Agents on Step Documentation Hugo -- gohugo.io en Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/userdocs/plans/keywords-in-plans/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/userdocs/plans/keywords-in-plans/ Keywords serve as the fundamental building blocks for implementing automation. From a business perspective, a Keyword symbolizes a functionality to be automated. It might represent a fully automated flow or be as simple as a single user action or service call. A Plan represents an automated scenario and will normally consist of one or more Keywords. Whenever a Keyword is encountered during Plan execution, it leads to a Keyword call. This section focuses on the usage of Keywords within a Plan. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/file-cache-sizing/ Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/file-cache-sizing/ To execute a Keyword, an agent needs the files that belong to it: the Automation Package, the Keyword package (JAR, DLL), or the script. These files originate from the controller and are transferred to the agent on demand. Every component along that path keeps a local copy in a file cache so the same file does not have to be transferred again for the next execution. Their size is driven by your automation content, not by the number of executions. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/installation/kubernetes/agent-runtime-images/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/installation/kubernetes/agent-runtime-images/ Exense provides official agent runtime Docker images that serve as the execution environment for Step agents. These images are required starting with Helm Chart 1.2.0 and Step 27+. See the Chart release note page for details. If the official images do not meet your needs, you can build your own. See Creating your own Step Agent images. Available images The latest tag is always available for each image and always points to the most recent version. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/agent-sizing/ Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/agent-sizing/ Agents are responsible for executing automation (automated test, load test, etc) through Keywords. Their resource requirements can vary significantly depending on the type of automation, the automation tools used, and the nature of the application under test. This guide provides practical recommendations to help you size agents effectively for reliable, stable, and performant execution. For the general platform requirements and sizing recommendations, refer to the Requirements page. Why Agent Sizing Matters Properly sizing your agents is critical for ensuring predictable and efficient automation execution. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/agent-configuration/ Wed, 01 May 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/agent-configuration/ Agent endpoint The agent exposes a REST service to the Controller, which is consumed by the controller to execute Keywords. The endpoint of this service is called agent endpoint. The agent endpoint is configured automatically at agent startup and is communicated to the controller at registration. If required, the endpoint can be tweaked as follow: Agent port Per default the agent lets the system find a free port automatically at startup to listen on. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/agent-provisioning-configuration/ Wed, 01 May 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/agent-provisioning-configuration/ When running in Kubernetes, Step supports automatic provisioning of Agents (i.e. automatic provisioning of the containers responsible for executing Keywords). This page describes how to enable and configure the Agent provisioning. For information on using Agent provisioning, please refer to the Agent Provisioning page. Notes: Agent provisioning is part of Step Enterprise and is supported as of version 25. It has been designed to work with the official Step Helm Chart. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/installation/kubernetes/create-custom-agent-image/ Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/installation/kubernetes/create-custom-agent-image/ That page aims to guide through the process of creating your own Step Agent images. Currently, only Linux systems are supported, so below explanation / examples assumes your base Docker image is a Linux based one, such as Debian. Before building a custom image, consider whether the official Step agent runtime images already meet your needs. Step provides ready-to-use runtime images including Java, browsers, and WebDrivers. For the full list of available images, see Agent Runtime Images. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/saasdocs/agent-configuration/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 11:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/saasdocs/agent-configuration/ Automation scripts are executed on Agents. Certain jobs require specific agents: Client-based automation (like browser-based testing) require UI agents. Most plugins require a specific agent type (java for most of them), we list the most relevant tasks here. Configuring this for Step SaaS in the Step Portal is an easy process and can either be done when creating a cluster or by editing an existing one. Agent Types Here all available Agent types are listed, including information about the available resources per running agent. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/devdocs/keyword-javascript/ Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/devdocs/keyword-javascript/ JavaScript keywords use the Keyword API: each keyword is an exported async function placed in the keywords/ directory of an npm project, executed on the Node.js agent. TypeScript keywords are executed exactly the same way once compiled, see TypeScript Keywords for the project setup. If you are new to keyword development, read the Keyword Development page first. Execution on the Node.js agent Before a keyword is invoked, the Node.js agent prepares the npm project the keyword belongs to. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/installation/binaries/agentinstall/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/installation/binaries/agentinstall/ This page explains how to install, configure and run a Step agent. Installation Java agent The Step agent requires at least Java 21 installed in order to run. Depending on your platform, make sure to install at least Java JDK 21 on the machine(s) running Step component(s). The latest version of the Community Edition of the Step agent can be downloaded from our Github repository at : Step. The latest version of the Enterprise Edition of the Step agent can be downloaded from our Nexus repository by enterprise customers at : Step Enterprise (credentials are provided upon requests) https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/releasestrategy/agent-runtime-release/ Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/releasestrategy/agent-runtime-release/ Overview Step Agent runtime Docker images provide the execution environment for running Agents. These images are separate from the Step Controller and Agent images and are released independently of Step platform releases. Official Agent Runtime Images Step provides two types of official agent runtime images from docker.exense.ch/step-enterprise: Important: A new naming convention for agent runtime images is being introduced. For details on the changes, timeline, and migration instructions, see the Agent Runtime Image Naming Convention Migration Guide. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/userdocs/agent-provisioning/ Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/userdocs/agent-provisioning/ When running in Kubernetes, Step supports automatic provisioning of Agents (i.e. automatic provisioning of the containers responsible for executing Keywords) across multiple Kubernetes clusters. This page explains how to utilize Agent provisioning in Plans. For information on enabling or configuring Agent provisioning, please refer to the Agent Provisioning configuration page. How it works In a nutshell, the automatic Agent provisioning works as follows: Upon execution, Plans are scanned to determine the required Agents for execution Based on the calculation and the available Agent pools, the optimal number of Agents per Agent pool is calculated The required Agents are provisioned across the clusters of the selected Agent pools Once the Agents have joined the grid, the execution starts After execution, the agents are de-provisioned Configure provisioning settings in Plans When Agent provisioning is enabled in Step, users can configure the Agent provisioning settings in each plan (in the UI and in the automation packages). https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/admindocs/admin-views/ Fri, 03 Apr 2020 09:25:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/admindocs/admin-views/ Grid Agents views You can check the current capacity and usage of the entire platform at any given time by browsing the Grid view, which is accessed from the Status menu. Detailed views The other menu items in the Status menu allow to get in-detail information of current grid capacity and usage. For instances, by tokens: Agent pools view This is an advanced view which will be part of our cloud offering. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/admindocs/maintenance/agent-runtime-image-migration/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/admindocs/maintenance/agent-runtime-image-migration/ Overview Starting with Step 29, we are introducing a new naming convention for all agent runtime Docker images. This change improves consistency, clarity, and maintainability across the Agent runtime images. Important: This change affects ALL Step agent runtime images, not just specific ones. Plan your migration accordingly. What’s Changing New Naming Convention All agent runtime images will follow a new, more structured naming pattern: Base Runtime Image (Java + Chromium) Old Image Name New Image Name docker. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/grid-proxy/ Wed, 10 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/31/setup/configuration/grid-proxy/ The Grid Proxy connects secondary Kubernetes clusters or namespaces that host agents (but not the controller or other Step services) to the primary Step grid. It forwards agent registration and execution traffic, and, when enabled, also manages dynamic agent provisioning. What is the Grid Proxy? The Grid Proxy is a Step component deployed in each secondary cluster (or namespace). It has two primary roles: 1. Agent connectivity The Grid Proxy forwards registration requests from the agents in the secondary cluster to the agent grid of the primary cluster (running in the controller).