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Create or connect an Agent

An Agent is a canister you own that works for your team: it keeps one shared list of canisters, watches them around the clock, keeps their history, and can run operations for you. Without one, icLens works from this browser only.

Open Set up an Agent from Home or the workspace switcher. On a canister’s page, Monitor this canister starts the same flow with that canister first.

Create an Agent

Section titled “Create an Agent”

  1. Sign in with the identity that should own the Agent. Use one you can recover.

  2. Choose Create an Agent, name it, and choose where it runs. Metrics is always on, since Monitor and alert rules read it. Logs is kept by default; Traces is optional.

  3. Pay with ICP or cycles from OISY. The step shows the price and the starting balance it leaves. Approve it in OISY.

  4. Add canisters. Choose what the Agent may do with each:

    Read health, cycles and memory, so Monitor and alerts work. It cannot change anything.
    Also snapshots, settings and spending, run through the Agent. The Agent becomes a controller.
    Observe is enough for monitoring. Control lets it run operations.

  5. Start Monitor, or skip it for now. The Agent reads every canister every 5 minutes, paid from its own cycles. A skipped Monitor starts later from Monitor › Overview.

If you leave halfway, Save and exit keeps your place. If setup stops after you paid, reopen it and choose Continue: install the Agent: it never charges twice.

Connect an existing Agent

Section titled “Connect an existing Agent”

  1. Sign in, then choose Connect an Agent.

  2. Enter its canister ID. icLens names the Agent and your role as you type.

  3. Connect. It’s added to your workspaces.

An Admin has to add you first, in People and roles.

Deploy it yourself

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Prefer your own pipeline? Choose Set up with icp-cli for the certified Wasm, its hash, and the commands to deploy it. Viewing them deploys nothing.

Good to know

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  • The Agent is a canister too. It appears in its own list and is monitored like the others.
  • Keep a second sign-in device and a recovery controller. A browser backup can’t restore your identity.
  • Agent › General has Edit identity and Delete the Agent. Removing an Agent from this browser doesn’t delete it or remove anyone’s access.

Next

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