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A Draft is an unpublished version. Owners and editors can run a saved draft normally in Chat; Draft status does not force a Preview panel. Publish a reviewed version for wider use and enabled triggers. Later edits create a new draft while the published version remains available.

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Preview before you publish

Preview starts a run in the builder against the draft. It does not publish the Agent. It uses real tools and can create real effects under the same authorization and approval policies as other runs.
1

Open the builder

Open the agent you are working on. The builder header shows Save, Preview, Publish, and Share.
2

Click Preview

The preview panel opens. Provide the trigger inputs — a chat message for an Assistant or Workforce, or the form fields for an Automation.
3

Watch the run stream

Steps run live with status updating in place. Open Steps to follow each node, and use the preview history to revisit earlier test runs.
4

Iterate

Adjust instructions, steps, skills, or connections, Save, and run Preview again until the agent behaves the way you want.
Preview runs are tagged Preview run in the agent’s run history, so you can identify where they started. Opening a Preview conversation from Chat returns to the builder Preview surface; a normal Agent chat stays in Chat. See Run history, traces & analytics.
A preview is a real run: if a step writes to NetSuite or another system, it still pauses for approval (or, with Auto-approve writes on, performs the write). Preview with read-only inputs first, or keep write tools set to Require approval. See Approving and rejecting AI actions.

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Publish to go live

Publishing records the version used by viewers and enabled triggers. Sharing still determines who can access the Agent. Owners and editors can continue to work with drafts.
1

Save your latest changes

Make sure your draft is saved. Resolve any Connections or Trigger setup warnings in the builder first — a required connection that is missing will block runs later.
2

Click Publish

From a draft agent, click Publish in the builder header. The agent’s status badge changes to Live.
3

Run it

A published agent shows Run in place of Publish. You can now run it from the library, the runs page, or the builder. See Running agents.

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Publishing gates: Run As

For agents that start automatically — an Automation with a Form or Schedule trigger — Erstan needs to know which user identity the run executes under before it will let you publish. This is the trigger’s Run As setting. Run As decides whose NetSuite authorization and permissions an automated run uses, since there is no person in the chat to act as. The builder surfaces its state:
Run As means an automated run acts with that user’s NetSuite role and permissions, including any write access. Choose the identity deliberately, and keep write-capable tools on Require approval unless you have reviewed the agent end to end. See Security & write safety.
If you publish an agent and then keep editing, the live version and your draft drift apart. When you try to run an agent with unsaved edits, Erstan prompts you to Save so the latest draft becomes the version that runs.

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Lifecycle: Draft, Live, Archived

Every agent sits in one of three states, shown as a badge in the library and the builder.

Draft

A work in progress. You can Preview it, but it isn’t runnable from triggers, schedules, or the library run action until you publish.

Live

Published and runnable. Shows Run in the builder and appears as a runnable agent across the workspace.

Archived

Retired. Archived agents cannot be run. Archive from the agent’s context menu in the library; unarchive to bring it back.
You can filter the Agents library by Status (Live / Draft / Archived) to find agents in any state.

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Versions and rollback

Each time you publish, Erstan saves a snapshot, so the builder tracks Live, Draft, and History versions of the agent.
1

Open Version history

In the builder header, open Version history to see past versions of the agent.
2

View a historical version

Select a version to view the exact steps and instructions it contained.
3

Restore this version

Click Restore this version to bring an earlier snapshot back as your current draft, then Preview and Publish it like any other change.
Restoring loads the older version as a draft — your current work isn’t discarded silently. Review it with Preview, then Publish when you’re ready for it to go live.

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Duplicate

Use Duplicate to make an independent copy of an agent — for example, to experiment without touching the live one, or to fork a read-only agent (such as a Solution Library template or a built-in agent) into one you can edit. The copy starts as its own Draft.

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Share an agent with a team

Publishing makes an agent runnable; sharing controls who in the workspace sees and can use it.
1

Open Share

Click Share in the builder header.
2

Choose who can access it

Share the agent with a team so its members can run it, or keep it to yourself while you build. Agents shared with you appear under the Shared with me preset in the library.
A shared agent still runs under each person’s own NetSuite authorization. Sharing grants access to the agent; it does not grant access to NetSuite data the runner isn’t already authorized to see. See Authorizing your NetSuite user.

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Next steps

Running agents

Run a live agent on demand or assign it as a task.

Scheduling recurring runs

Run an agent automatically on a schedule.

Run history, traces & analytics

Track every run and read its step-by-step trace.

The visual builder

Design steps, connections, and triggers on the canvas.