> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://vida.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Launch an Agent: Production Checklist

> Take a Vida Agent from a defined business outcome through testing, publishing, channel activation, and a controlled production rollout.

A successful launch proves more than whether an Agent can answer a test question. The Agent must
understand its job, complete approved actions, handle uncertainty, use the correct communication
channel, report useful outcomes, and give your team enough evidence to support it.

## 1. Define the outcome

Write down one primary workflow before configuring the Agent:

* who will contact or receive contact from the Agent
* what successful completion means
* what information the Agent needs
* which actions it may take
* when it must escalate or stop
* what your team will measure after launch

Start with one measurable workflow. Add adjacent responsibilities only after the primary path is
reliable.

## 2. Configure the Agent

In **Edit Agent**, review the complete prepared configuration:

* instructions, greeting, model, and reasoning settings
* language, transcription, and voice behavior
* functions and connected apps
* links and approved knowledge
* reporting fields
* transfer, notification, and escalation behavior

Keep credentials out of instructions. Connect them through the supported app, skill, or managed
credential flow.

## 3. Connect the delivery channel

Publishing and channel setup are separate. Choose the routes the workflow actually needs:

* assign or bring a phone number for calling and SMS
* complete SMS registration before application-to-person messaging
* configure SIP when calls will use your telephony infrastructure
* publish a profile or website embed for web voice and chat
* connect email or supported messaging channels where enabled

See [Phone numbers and channel routing](/docs/operations/phone-numbers-and-routing).

## 4. Test the prepared configuration

Test through the same channel customers will use. Cover at least:

1. the ideal successful path
2. missing or ambiguous information
3. an unsupported request
4. escalation or human handoff
5. each function, app, transfer, message, or other external side effect
6. a reporting outcome for success, failure, and uncertainty

Verify every external action in its destination system. An Agent saying it completed an action is
not proof that the action occurred.

## 5. Prepare measurement and recovery

* Add only the reporting fields needed to evaluate the workflow.
* Confirm the metric population and denominator.
* Save a named version before a major release.
* Decide which result would trigger rollback or escalation.
* Identify the person responsible for reviewing early conversations.

See [Measure and improve your Agent](/docs/operations/measurement-and-experiments).

## 6. Publish and verify live behavior

Publish the tested configuration, then reopen the live Agent and confirm the intended settings.
Place a real test call or message through the production route and inspect its log and complete
conversation.

Publishing does not automatically assign a number, complete SMS registration, change SIP routing,
or notify customers.

## 7. Roll out deliberately

Start with a controlled audience, location, queue, or traffic source. During the first production
period:

* review representative successful and unsuccessful conversations
* watch transfers, external actions, latency, and channel failures
* compare reporting values with the underlying conversations
* fix changes in the prepared configuration, test again, and republish

Do not change several major behaviors at once when you need to understand which change improved or
degraded performance.

## Launch acceptance criteria

The Agent is ready when:

* its live configuration matches the approved prepared version
* every intended channel reaches the correct Agent
* the primary workflow and escalation paths pass representative tests
* external actions are confirmed in their destination systems
* logs and conversations contain enough evidence to investigate a problem
* reporting fields and metrics produce understandable results
* a recoverable prior version exists for material changes

For configuration details, see [Set up a Vida Agent](/docs/agents/intro) and
[Publish and share your Agent](/docs/sharing/publish).