Getting Started with the Forgecroft Agent

You will need:

• Your Forgecroft API URL
• An organization API key from Forgecroft
• git and tofu installed on the machine that will run the agent
• Cloud credentials available on that machine

Step 1: Create an organization API key

In Forgecroft, go to:

Settings > Infrastructure > API Keys

Create a new API key for your agent and copy it somewhere secure.

You will use it as:

FORGECROFT_API_KEY

This key authenticates the agent to Forgecroft for your organization. It does not grant cloud access by itself.

Step 2: Start the agent

Set these environment variables:

• FORGECROFT_API_URL
• FORGECROFT_API_KEY

Then start the agent.

Example:

export FORGECROFT_API_URL=https://api.forgecroft.com
export FORGECROFT_API_KEY=fc_live_...

./forgecroft-agent

The agent will poll Forgecroft for queued runs assigned to your organization.

Step 3: Point a workspace at the agent

In the workspace settings, set:

• Execution mode: agent

When that workspace runs, Forgecroft will hand the run to your self-hosted agent instead of using managed execution.

API key vs cloud credentials

The Forgecroft API key is only for agent-to-Forgecroft authentication.

Your actual cloud access still comes from the environment where the agent runs, such as:

• AWS instance profiles
• Kubernetes workload identity
• Local SDK credentials
• Environment variables