Manage runtimes

In Platform terminology, the runtime is the sub-system of NL Flow in which workflows are published and executed.

The runtime is made of dedicated software services plus the software services that make up any published workflow.

The runtime is, therefore, an integral part of every complete installation of NL Flow, but it can also be installed by itself, without the other parts of NL Flow like the Web application.
In this case the runtime doesn't have a management GUI: you cannot design workflows with it, you cannot manage models or API keys, you can only use it to host published workflows and use them via their API, which, by the way, is the very job of the runtime.

To publish workflows in a remote runtime using the NL Flow Web application, the runtime must be connected to the complete installation of NL Flow. Once the connection is made, you can easily interact with the runtime using the Runtimes view of the dashboard, in the following articles you will find how to do it.

In some cases, connecting remote runtimes to the complete NL Flow installation may not be allowed. In such cases you can design workflows with the NL Flow Web application then export them together with associated API keys to files. Files must then be brought in the vicinity of the runtime and imported in it with specific, non interactive procedures that are not documented in this manual.