Deployment

GLEN apps are static sites — just HTML, JSON, and Markdown files. They can be hosted anywhere. The only variable is how the LLM API key reaches the app.

Option 1: GitHub Pages (or any static host)

The simplest option. Each user supplies their own LLM API key via the in-app settings panel. No server-side secrets needed.

Use the geo-agent-template — it includes a ready-to-use GitHub Actions workflow.

1. Set "user_provided": true in the llm section of layers-input.json
2. Push to a GitHub repo and enable Pages (Settings → Pages → Source: GitHub Actions)
3. The workflow in the template deploys on push to main

Users visit the app and enter their own API key (e.g., from OpenRouter) in the ⚙ settings panel. Keys are stored in localStorage only — never sent to your server.

Works equally well on Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, or any static host.

Free hosting with a pre-configured key

If you want visitors to use the app without supplying their own API key, but don't have access to Kubernetes, Hugging Face Spaces is a free option. Create a static Space and store your config.json (containing the API key) as a Space secret — it gets mounted as a file at runtime, never committed to the repo. The app works the same as any static host, but the key is managed by HF.

Option 2: Kubernetes (NRP / cloud)

For production deployments with managed API keys and a private LLM proxy.

Use the geo-agent-template — it includes k8s/ manifests ready to adapt.

API keys are injected into config.json at deploy time via a ConfigMap + init container:

kubectl apply -f k8s/configmap.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/service.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/ingress.yaml

After code changes (merged to main and picked up from CDN), no restart is needed — the CDN delivers the latest JS. Only restart if you changed the ConfigMap or deployment manifests:

kubectl rollout restart deployment/my-app

CDN versioning

All deployment options load the core library from jsDelivr. Always pin to a release tag — @main is not supported for deployed apps because changes can land between page loads and break tooling/MCP-server contracts that the app depends on.

<!-- Pinned to a release tag — required for any deployed app -->
<script type="module"
  src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/boettiger-lab/geo-agent@v3.6.0/app/main.js">
</script>

For short-lived demos previewing an in-flight feature branch, pin to a commit SHA (@<40-char-sha>); never use a branch name, since jsDelivr's branch-ref resolution is non-deterministic.

To release a new version: create a GitHub release via gh release create vX.Y.Z --target main --generate-notes. Apps upgrade by changing their tag in index.html (coordinated through the geo-agent-ops repo for in-house apps).