Run Arcen in production

Production Arcen deployments usually combine a long-running gateway, a stable working directory, profile-aware config, logs, and an update path.

Baseline checklist

1. Install Arcen on the host or container.
2. Set terminal.cwd to the workspace Arcen should operate inside.
3. Configure providers and secrets with arcen setup.
4. Start the gateway for remote access.
5. Watch logs during rollout.

arcen setup
arcen gateway setup
arcen gateway start
arcen logs --follow

Profiles

Profiles let you run separate homes for different roles, such as default, writer, admin, coder, or researcher. Each profile can have its own gateway connections and logs.

For multi-gateway deployments, only one profile should dispatch kanban work:

kanban:
  dispatch_in_gateway: false

Logs

arcen logs
arcen logs --follow
arcen logs --level warning

Logs are written under the active Arcen home:

• logs/agent.log
• logs/errors.log
• logs/gateway.log

Container posture

If you run Arcen in Docker, avoid giving the agent unrestricted network access when you do not need it. Use separated networks and an allowlisted proxy for outbound traffic where possible.

See Security model for isolation notes.