Connections across environments and deployments
A channel is the interface through which users interact with an agent, such as preview chat, in‑portal chat, embedded web chat, Slack, or Microsoft Teams. Each channel has different capabilities for collecting identity, supporting authentication flows, and sending requests. Because channels differ in how they handle user identity and session information, watsonx Orchestrate applies connection settings differently in the draft and live environments. Environment selection determines how credentials are applied, how authentication occurs, and whether a user must provide identity information or rely on SSO. During build and testing, agents use the connection configuration from the Draft environment. When deployed and running through a channel, agents use the connection configuration from the Live environment.
Draft environment
The draft environment is used for testing before an agent is deployed.
Draft is applied automatically when you run your agent in preview chat or other testing channels.
Member credential flows can collect user credentials interactively, depending on the authentication type.
Draft allows you to test authentication steps, token exchange, and tool behavior without affecting production users.
Live environment
The live environment is used when the agent runs in production channels, including in‑portal chat, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and embedded chat.
The connection uses the live configuration and its associated credentials.
Member credential prompts depend on channel capabilities and whether SSO is enabled.
watsonx Orchestrate verifies that every tool has a valid live connection before deployment can proceed.
Channel specific considerations
Channel behavior influences how authentication and credentials are used across environments:
Embedded channels often require SSO to pass the user’s identity to the external application. Without SSO, some member credential flows cannot complete.
Channels differ in how they collect identity, such as allowing interactive login, opening a redirect window, or supporting delegated access.
Live environment behavior controls how user identity flows across channels such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, in‑portal chat, and embedded chat, which influences when personal credentials or delegated identities are used.