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Deployments and Gateways are the two ways to connect an app to Airia. Both are built from the same three ingredients: the app you want to use, the credentials that connect to it, and the specific tools you want exposed. What changes between them is scope and where they’re used. A Deployment feeds one app to an agent built inside Airia. A Gateway bundles one or more apps behind a single endpoint that people connect to from an MCP client. Pick based on where the AI that calls the tools actually runs.

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The two models

DeploymentGateway
What it bundlesA single appOne or more apps behind one endpoint
ScopeA specific project, or all projects in your tenantA visibility level: Personal or Tenant
Where it’s usedInside an Airia agentAn MCP client like Cursor, Claude Code, or Claude Desktop
Connection endpointNone of its own; it attaches to agents as a tool sourceOne unique endpoint per Gateway
ReuseDeploy the same app more than once, each with its own enabled toolsAdd multiple apps to one Gateway

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When to use a Deployment

Use a Deployment when:
  • You’re building an agent inside Airia and want to give it one app’s tools.
  • You want to scope the connection to a single project, or make it available to every project in your tenant.
  • You want the same app connected more than once, for example once per project, each with a different set of enabled tools.

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When to use a Gateway

Use a Gateway when:
  • The AI that calls the tools runs in an external MCP client like Cursor, Claude Code, or Claude Desktop.
  • You want to expose one or more apps through a single, unique endpoint.
  • You want to control who sees the connection with a Personal or Tenant visibility level rather than a project.
Any user can create a Personal Gateway. Creating a Tenant Gateway requires the Platform Admin or Security Admin role. See Tenant vs. Personal Level Gateway Configs for how the visibility setting works.

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What’s the same either way

Whichever you pick, you connect the same apps with the same credentials and choose the same per-app tools. The build flow is shared: you connect credentials one app at a time, then select which tools to expose. See Gateway/Deployment Creation for the step-by-step flow. Only apps an admin has approved in Server Management are available to either one.

Gateway/Deployment Creation

Build a Gateway or Deployment step by step

Tenant vs. Personal Gateway Configs

Pick the right visibility level for a Gateway

Server Management

Approve which apps your organization can use

Editing a Gateway

Change apps, credentials, and tools after you create one