---
title: 'Where do agents actually run?'
description: 'On your laptop under stackbone dev, and in production inside a container you host. Stackbone provisions nothing.'
position: 3
---

# Where do agents actually run?

> In two places, and both are yours. While you build, agents run on your laptop
> inside `stackbone dev`. In production they run in a container you deploy to
> your own cloud. Stackbone provisions no infrastructure.

The container running your agent is its **box**. You build the image and bring
it up wherever you want, then tell Stackbone where it lives. That record is a
**deployment**: the agent it serves, its public address, and the signing secret
that authenticates traffic to it. Register it from the browser, or from a
terminal with `stackbone link`.

The control plane at `app.stackbone.ai` holds that record and the organization
around it. It does not hold your data. Studio and the CLI reach the box
directly at the address you registered, so a box that only answers inside your
own network still works from a machine that can reach it.

Locally there is no box to register. `stackbone dev` brings up Postgres, Redis
and MinIO with `docker compose`, boots your agents and workflows in-process,
and opens a tunnel so cloud Studio can reach the session on your machine.

## Read more

- **[Connect your box](/docs/home/deployments/connect-your-box)**: register a
  running container from the browser, in three steps.
- **[`stackbone link`](/docs/cli/reference/link)**: the same
  registration from a terminal or a deploy script.
- **[Local development](/docs/cli/guides/local-development)**: what
  `stackbone dev` boots and what it injects.