> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.uptiq.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.uptiq.ai/agent-builder/get-started.md).

# Get Started

Each agent in the Qore Agent Builder is a dedicated record. What you configure here — instructions, knowledge, tools, triggers, integrations, credentials, security controls — becomes how the agent behaves at runtime, inside whatever application embeds it.

## The two surfaces

**The Builder Canvas** is the visual workspace. It shows the agent's connected knowledge, skills, triggers, and configuration as a diagram, so you can see at a glance how the agent is wired — which connectors are attached, what knowledge it can reach.

**The Agent Preview** is a chat panel beside it. You can talk to the current draft of the agent immediately after a change, without leaving the builder — which makes it the fastest way to find out whether a configuration change did what you meant.

A header across the top carries the global actions: renaming the agent, managing versions, and launching **Try Agent**.

→ [The Canvas](/agent-builder/the-canvas.md)

## Finding the setting you need

The builder's pages are organized by the order you work in, not by the order the settings panel happens to list them.

| Stage                                    | What you do there                                                                                                         |
| ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [**Build**](/agent-builder/build.md)     | Define the agent — identity, instructions, behavior, runtime, skills, MCP tools, connectors, knowledge, triggers, secrets |
| [**Test**](/agent-builder/test.md)       | Validate it against scored datasets before anyone depends on it                                                           |
| [**Deploy**](/agent-builder/deploy.md)   | Ship it into your product, with authentication, domain, PII, and guardrail controls                                       |
| [**Monitor**](/agent-builder/monitor.md) | Watch production behavior and feed what you learn back into Build                                                         |

If you're looking for one specific screen, the [Overview](/agent-builder/agent-builder.md) lists every page under its stage.

## Common paths

* **Go live in your product** — [Agent Integration](/agent-builder/deploy/agent-integration.md), [Authentication](/agent-builder/deploy/authentication.md), and [Whitelisted Domains](/agent-builder/deploy/whitelisted-domains.md)
* **Improve quality before release** — [Evals](/agent-builder/test/evals.md), [Instructions](/agent-builder/build/instructions.md), [Skills & Capabilities](/agent-builder/build/skills-and-capabilities.md), and [Guardrails (Beta)](broken://pages/OUgN2cy5TI1ktkNgAcjr)
* **Improve quality after release** — [Monitoring](broken://pages/cD46XWa7ZwMLNvtnC3yG), [Online-Eval](/agent-builder/monitor/online-eval.md), and [Reinforcement Learnings](/agent-builder/monitor/reinforcement-learnings.md)
* **Move an agent between environments** — [Export Agent](/agent-builder/deploy/export-agent.md), [Secrets & Variables](/agent-builder/build/secrets-and-variables.md), and [Runtime & Versioning](/agent-builder/build/runtime-and-versioning.md)

## Why the configuration matters

What you set here becomes the agent's runtime behavior. Model selection, response format, instructions, connected knowledge, enabled tools, secrets, guardrails — each one directly affects how the agent answers real users.

A clear configuration produces an agent that behaves predictably in production. An incomplete or ambiguous one produces an agent that fails in ways that are hard to debug later, because nothing is technically broken — the agent is doing exactly what an unclear brief told it to. This guide is written to help you make each choice deliberately rather than by default.

***

New to agents? [How an Agent Works](/start-here/how-an-agent-works.md) walks through building one end to end. For the ideas behind the settings, see [Core Concepts](/start-here/core-concepts.md).


---

# Agent Instructions
This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com.

## Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.uptiq.ai/agent-builder/get-started.md?ask=<question>&goal=<endgoal>
```

`ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
`goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal.

The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.