The watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition enables you to have a local server environment of watsonx Orchestrate running on your computer. You can use the watsonx Orchestrate ADK to automatically install the watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition local server.

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Installation prerequisites

  • Your computer needs to meet the following requirements:

    ComponentMinimumRecommended
    CPU8-core8-core
    RAM16 GB32 GB

  • Install Docker and Docker Compose engine. It is containerization engine used to install the watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition. For more information, see Docker and Docker compose.

    • For Windows users, to install Docker and Docker Compose engine, you should also install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). For more information, see Windows Subsystem for Linux.

    Note:

    • To ensure better integration and performance, it’s recommended to install the ADK inside your WSL environment, as your server will be running there. Once installed, you can build and manage your agents directly within WSL for a smoother development experience.
    • The WSL 2 with Ubuntu distribution is recommended.

  • Install the ADK. For more information, see Installing the ADK.

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Setup the environment

  1. Purchase the watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition license from a salesperson.

  2. Access My IBM.

  3. Click View Library.

  4. Click Add a new key +.

  5. Create a watsonx.ai instance on IBM Cloud, if you do not have one already, and locate your space ID. For more information, see Developer access.

  6. Create a .env file with the following contents:

[.env]
WO_DEVELOPER_EDITION_SOURCE=myibm
WO_ENTITLEMENT_KEY=<your entitlement key>
WATSONX_APIKEY=<your ibm cloud api key>
WATSONX_SPACE_ID=<your watsonx ai space id>

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Installing the watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition with ADK

To install the watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition with the ADK, run the following command in the CLI:

[BASH]
orchestrate server start --env-file={{The path of your .env file}}

Important:

To run this command, you need to accept all the Watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition with ADK terms and conditions. For more information, see License reference.

To accept all terms and conditions, type “I accept”.

This will start a local server instance that you can connect to using the CLI. You can then use the CLI to manage your agents and tools just as you would for a production watsonx Orchestrate service instance.

The server start command is used to download and run the services that compose the watsonx Orchestrate service.

Once your server is installed, you can use it as a local environment to manage your agents and tools locally. To activate the local environment, use the command:

[BASH]
orchestrate env activate local