- Introduction
- Managing solution projects and packages
- Managing solution deployments
- Best practices
Solutions user guide
Deploying a solution means installing a solution package as a new deployment in an Orchestrator folder. For more information about solution deployments, see Understanding the solution development lifecycle.
You can initiate a solution deployment from either Studio Web or Orchestrator. Both surfaces drive the same underlying deployment experience: Studio Web is the originating surface, designed for solution authors who want to package and deploy in a single flow; Orchestrator is the administrative surface, designed for tenant administrators managing deployments at scale. This page documents the Orchestrator flow.
The Orchestrator deploy flow requires a solution package that has already been published to a feed. You can publish a package from Studio Web or Studio Desktop before deploying here.
This step is typically performed by an administrator.
Open the Deploy workflow
You can open the Deploy workflow from any of the following locations in Orchestrator:
- Deployments tab: Select Deploy in the upper-right corner.
- Packages tab: Select the Deploy row action for the package you want to deploy.
- Package sidebar: Open a package to expand its sidebar, then select Deploy in the upper-right corner of the sidebar.
- Versions tab of the Package sidebar: Select the Deploy row action for the specific package version you want to deploy.
All four paths open the same Deploy workflow on the Setup form. The breadcrumb at the top reads Tenant > Solutions > Deployments > Deploy.
Complete the Setup form
The Setup form is where you define what to deploy, where it lands, and how it activates. Complete the following fields, then select Deploy. The Package and Version fields are always visible; the remaining fields are grouped under the Options control, which you can expand or collapse. When collapsed, Options shows a summary of the current values (for example, the destination folder, whether triggers are enabled right away, and whether a runtime is set up).
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Package | Select the solution package to deploy from the dropdown. The list shows all packages published to your tenant feed. After you select a package, its description appears beneath the field. |
| Version | The package version to install. Appears after you select a package. Defaults to the latest published version. The publish date and release notes for the selected version appear beneath the field. Select a different version from the dropdown if needed. |
| Options | Expands or collapses the deployment settings that follow. When collapsed, it shows a summary of the selected values. |
| Deployment name | A required, tenant-unique name for this deployment. Auto-filled from the package name. Edit to use a different name. The name is validated as you type: if a deployment with the same name already exists, the form shows an error and you cannot continue until the name is unique. |
| Location | The folder where the solution folder will be created. Defaults to Shared. Select a different folder from the dropdown to change the destination. |
| Solution folder name | The name of the subfolder created inside the destination folder. Auto-filled to match the deployment name until you edit it. Edit to customize it for this deployment. |
| Activate immediately | Toggle (on by default). When enabled, triggers are enabled right away, if any exist. |
| Set up runtime | Toggle (on by default). When enabled, provisions a serverless runtime when no default execution machine is configured at the tenant level. |
Run the deployment
After completing the Setup form, choose one of the following options at the bottom of the form:
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Deploy: validates the configuration and runs the deployment immediately. The workflow progresses through the following steps shown in the What will happen panel on the left:
Step Description Configure Validates and sets up the deployment. Deploy Sets up folders and provisions resources. Activate Enables triggers and validates the deployment, if Activate immediately is on. -
Customize (select the dropdown arrow on the Deploy button): opens the resource explorer so you can review and configure individual solution components before the deployment runs. In the resource explorer, you can:
- Filter the properties shown for a component using the Display control (All properties, Empty properties, Required properties, or Configurable properties).
- Link a component to an existing resource using Link to existing.
- Revert your changes to a component using Reset.
- Review the Issues counter (errors, warnings, and information) and the Logs panel.
When you finish, select one of the following:
- Continue to proceed with the deployment.
- Validate to check the configuration without deploying.
- Save as draft to save and resume later.
- Delete draft to discard the deployment.
Save a deployment as a draft
If you are not ready to run a deployment, you can save your progress and finish it later:
- Select Customize from the Deploy button dropdown to open the resource explorer.
- Configure components as needed.
- Select Save as draft.
The draft appears in the Deployments tab with a Draft status chip. To resume it, select the draft row, then select Continue editing. To discard it, select Delete draft.
Re-use existing components (optional)
When the deployment is located outside your Personal Workspace (for example, in a shared folder), the candidate list excludes resources stored in your Personal Workspace at any folder depth, including nested subfolders. This prevents broken deployment configurations that your collaborators cannot run or maintain because they cannot access your Personal Workspace resources.
If the deployment is inside your Personal Workspace, all your accessible resources, including your Personal Workspace resources, are available for linking.
When you select Customize, the resource explorer shows all components in the solution package. If a component with the same name already exists in the tenant, you can link the solution to it instead of creating a new one.
This option is available for Assets, Storage buckets, Webhooks, and Queues. For each conflict, you can:
- Keep the existing component and not create an additional one.
- Keep the existing component and add new fields from the solution (existing fields are not altered).
- Rename the conflicting resource in the respective service.
- Rename the resource in the solution deployment, if possible.
To link an existing component:
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In the resource explorer, select the component you want to link.
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Select Link to existing.
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In the Link to existing process dialog, select the component you want to link to.
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Select Link.
- When a resource is linked, it is not created as part of the deployment; the solution uses the linked resource directly. Linking a resource with a different name may lead to runtime errors unless the solution was developed to support this configuration.
- When you link a resource that exists in another folder, the solution stores the runtime dependency against the solution folder where the resource is copied, not the original source folder. Users with permissions on the solution folder can run the process without needing permissions on the original resource location.
Monitor deployment status
After the deployment starts, you can monitor progress from the workflow view or from the Deployments tab in Solutions. The following statuses are possible:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| In progress | The deployment operation is running. |
| Successful | The deployment completed and all components are installed. |
| Failed | The deployment failed and an automatic rollback was performed. |
| Failed Rollback | The deployment failed and some components require manual cleanup. |
For details about all statuses, see Deployment statuses.
Activate the deployment
If the solution contains apps and they are not activated using the provided link, the deployment activation fails. See the Orchestrator and Apps documentation for detailed instructions.
After a successful deployment, Orchestrator evaluates activation readiness. The deployment appears in the Deployments tab with one of the following statuses:
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Inactive (Ready to activate): No additional configuration is required. Select the More Actions icon, then select Activate deployment.
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Inactive (Needs setup to activate): Additional prerequisites must be completed before activation:
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Select the More Actions icon and choose Set up activation.
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Review the activation validation results and complete the required items:
- Add accounts and assign roles.
- Add machines to solution folders.
- Define account-machine mappings, if needed.
- Define asset values per robot, if applicable.
- Activate apps used in the solution.
- Fill in bindings for process-type components, if applicable.
Note:When deploying a solution, a Default Serverless template may be automatically attached to the target folder if the Set up runtime toggle was enabled on the Setup form. This ensures the solution can run without manually configuring machine templates. If a serverless template is already inherited, no additional template is attached.
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Resolve the listed items.
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Select Validate.
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Select Activate.
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Result: Once your solution is deployed and successfully activated, that solution is displayed on the Deployments tab with an Active status.