Glossary / runtime
Definition

runtime

The runtime is the part of a manifest that says how an agent actually runs and under which limits.

Its kind decides the rest. Every agent published on the hosted gateway uses kind: mcp: the author keeps the server, and the manifest gives the https endpoint and the name of the tool that runs the agent. The schema also knows container, an image pinned by digest that the platform would run itself, and a2a for an agent to agent endpoint.

The runtime also carries the limits the gateway enforces around the run: timeout_s, after which the run is abandoned unbilled, and max_input_bytes. And it lists the models the agent calls, by provider and name, so a caller can see what its data touches and why the price is what it is.

Nothing measured belongs here. The runtime says how the agent is meant to run; what it did when it ran is the measured record.

Example: runtime: {kind: mcp, endpoint: "https://agents.example.com/mcp", tool: extract_tables, limits: {timeout_s: 120}}.

See also: manifest, endpoint, timeout, Model Context Protocol, agent.

Used in: Build an MCP agent, Deploy an MCP server on https, Publish an agent checklist, Write a holon.yaml manifest.