Adding agents from third-party platforms

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You can import agents from third-party platforms as collaborator agents in IBM watsonx Orchestrate.

Before you begin

Make sure you have:

  • Access to the external platform that hosts the agent (for example, a third-party provider or a custom service).

  • The agent’s URL, authentication token, or API key.

  • A deployed external agent endpoint.

Procedure

  1. On the agent edit page, click Toolset > Add agent.

  2. Choose Import from external sources > External agent.

  3. Select External protocol

Choose one of the following options:

  • External agent via A2A standard: Use this option for agents that implement the A2A protocol, an open standard that allows different agent systems to interoperate.

  • External agent via chat completion: Select this option to integrate an agent that implements an OpenAI-style chat completions API.

  • watsonx.ai: Choose this when importing an agent deployed from watsonx.ai.

  1. For External agent via A2A standard, specify:

    • A2A Protocol Version: Select the version from the dropdown.

    • Authentication type: Choose Bearer token or API key.

You get the authentication data from the platform where the external AI agent is hosted.

  • External agent's URL: Enter the URL of the server hosting the external AI agent.

  • Agent details:

    • Display name: Provide a name for the agent.

    • Description of agent capabilities: Include keywords that describe the agent’s functionality. For mode details, see Recommendations for agent descriptions.

  • Advanced settings: Toggle options for Support streaming, Support push notifications and Send conversation history.

  1. For External agent via chat completion, specify:

    • Authentication type: Choose Bearer token or API key.

You get the authentication data from the platform where the external AI agent is hosted.

  • External agent's URL: Enter the URL of the server hosting the external AI agent.

  • Agent details: Specify agent display name and description of agent capabilities

  • Set the Advanced settings for your connection, toggle Support streaming, Support push notifications, Send conversation history.

  • Advanced settings: Toggle options for Support streaming, Support push notifications and Send conversation history.

  1. For watsonx.ai, specify:

    • Authentication type: Choose Bearer token or API key.

You get the authentication data from the platform where the external AI agent is hosted.

  • Service instance URL: Enter the URL of the watsonx.ai instance.

  • Agent details: Specify agent display name and description of agent capabilities

  1. Click Import agent to complete the setup.

What to do next

  • Configure the agent’s behavior and guidelines to ensure it responds accurately in your use cases. See Configuring agent behavior.

  • Use Preview to validate the agent’s responses and verify that the connection works correctly.