Agent runtime
An agent runtime is the engine an agent actually runs on: it holds the session, decides which tools to call, streams the reply, and enforces limits. In Dropstone the same runtime serves chat, the CLI, and the SDK.
An agent runtime is the engine an agent runs on. The model is one part of it: the runtime is what holds the session, decides which tools to call and in what order, streams the reply back, keeps memory in view, and enforces what the account is allowed to do.
It is the layer that makes an agent an agent rather than a chat completion. A completion answers one message. A runtime can read a file, run a command, wait for your approval on an action, call back into memory, and carry a task across many steps.
In Dropstone the same runtime serves every surface. Dropstone Chat and the CLI are two clients of it, and the SDK gives your own code the same one: sessions, tools, streaming, and the account's memory. That is why a session your application starts knows what you taught the CLI.
One consequence worth knowing: the public HTTP API is not the runtime. It is a stateless, OpenAI-compatible completions endpoint, so it carries no memory and no tools. If you want the agent in your code, the SDK's local client is the route.
Related articles
- Agent memoryAgent memory is what an agent stores between sessions and brings back when it is relevant: standing rules, facts, studied material, and short summaries of past conversations.
- Dropstone SDKA typed TypeScript and JavaScript client for the Dropstone agent, with two entry points: one for headless API calls from CI or a serverless function, one that runs the agent locally with the same account memory as the CLI and Chat.
- Using the API with your planCall Dropstone over HTTP with an API key. The endpoint is OpenAI-compatible, billed pay-per-use from your credit balance, and works from any language. Keys, errors, rate limits, and what the API does not carry.
- Dropstone CLI overviewThe Dropstone CLI is an agent for your terminal that reads your codebase, edits files, runs commands, and shares memory with everything else on your account. Install it in one command. The full reference is at docs.dropstone.io.