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Environments are deployable bundles that combine components with configuration. They are the unit of deployment in asterai.

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What is an Environment?

An environment is a runtime context that:
  • Contains one or more components
  • Holds configuration (environment variables, secrets)
  • Can run locally or in the cloud
  • Provides isolation between deployments
Think of components as reusable building blocks, and environments as the assembled application that runs them.

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Creating an Environment

Create a new environment with the CLI: 
asterai env init my-env
This creates an empty environment. Add components to it: 
asterai env add my-env --component your-username:hello-world@0.1.0
asterai env add my-env --component other-user:useful-tool@1.2.0

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Configuration

Environments support configuration through environment variables.

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Setting Variables

asterai env set-var my-env --var API_KEY=sk-abc123
asterai env set-var my-env --var DEBUG=true

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Accessing Variables in Components

Components access environment variables through the asterai host API: 
import * as asterai from "asterai:host/api@0.1.0";

const apiKey = asterai.getEnv("API_KEY");

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Secrets

For sensitive values like API keys, use the cloud console to set secrets. Secrets are encrypted at rest and only decrypted at runtime.

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Running Environments

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Locally

Run an environment on your machine for development and testing: 
asterai env run my-env
This starts a local runtime that loads your components and configuration. You can then call functions: 
asterai env call my-env your-username:hello-world greeting.get-greeting '"World"'

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In the Cloud

Push your environment to run it on asterai’s infrastructure: 
asterai env push my-env
Once pushed, your environment is available via the asterai API. No infrastructure management required.

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Composing Components

Environments can contain multiple components that work together. Each component can import and call functions from other components in the same environment. Example: An environment with a web scraper component and a data processing component: 
asterai env init data-pipeline
asterai env add data-pipeline --component your-username:web-scraper@1.0.0
asterai env add data-pipeline --component your-username:data-processor@1.0.0
The data processor can import and call functions from the web scraper, creating a pipeline.

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Inspecting Environments

View the details of an environment: 
asterai env inspect my-env
This shows:
  • Components included
  • Configuration variables (values hidden for secrets)
  • Version information

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Managing Environments

asterai env list                    # List all your environments
asterai env pull my-env             # Pull an environment from the registry
asterai env remove my-env --component your-username:hello-world@0.1.0  # Remove a component

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Next Steps