3.3. Agent Profiles¶

Backend.AI GO features an agent profile system that allows you to browse and install pre-configured profiles shared by the community, or create your own.

What are Agent Profiles?¶

Agent profiles are configurations that define how the Cowork agent behaves. Each profile includes:

• System Prompt: Instructions that shape the agent's personality and expertise
• Tool Configuration: Which tools are enabled and their permission settings
• Model Preference: Recommended model for the profile's use case
• Settings Overrides: Custom settings like temperature, max tokens, and sub-agent limits

Accessing Profiles¶

1. Click the Cowork icon in the sidebar.
2. Open the Profile Selector in the Cowork panel.
3. Browse profiles in the Local or Community tabs.

The profile selector displays all available profiles. The Local tab shows your installed and custom profiles, while the Community tab shows profiles from enabled registry sources.

Installing a Community Profile¶

To install a profile from the registry:

1. Browse the available profiles in the Community tab.
2. Read the profile description and tags to find one that matches your needs.
3. Click the Install button on the profile card.
4. Wait for the installation to complete.

Once installed, the profile will appear in the Local tab with a community badge indicator.

Profile Information¶

Each profile card displays:

• Name: The profile's display name
• Description: What the profile is designed to do
• Tags: Categories and features (e.g., "research", "coding", "web-search")
• Source: Which registry source the profile comes from
• Install Status: Whether the profile is already installed

When multiple sources are enabled, you can filter profiles by source using the filter chips in the Community tab header.

Refreshing the Registry¶

The registry index is cached locally for 1 hour to reduce network requests. To force refresh the list:

1. Click the Refresh button in the Community tab header.
2. Wait for the registry to fetch the latest index.

Registry Source Management¶

Backend.AI GO supports multiple registry sources, allowing you to browse and install profiles from different GitHub repositories.

Default Source¶

By default, Backend.AI GO includes the official community registry:

https://github.com/lablup/agent-catalog

This source cannot be removed and provides vetted, community-contributed profiles.

Adding Custom Sources¶

To add a custom registry source:

1. Navigate to Settings (gear icon in sidebar).
2. Select Agent Registry Sources from the settings menu.
3. Click Add Source.
4. Enter the GitHub repository details:
   • Repository Owner: GitHub username or organization (e.g., lablup)
   • Repository Name: Repository name (e.g., agent-catalog)
   • Branch: Branch name (e.g., main)
   • Label: Display name for this source (e.g., "My Custom Profiles")
5. Click Add to validate and save.

The source will be validated before being added. It must contain a valid index.json file at the repository root.

Managing Sources¶

In the Agent Registry Sources settings page, you can:

• Toggle Sources: Enable or disable sources without removing them
• Edit Sources: Update the label or branch of a custom source
• Remove Sources: Delete custom sources (the default source cannot be removed)

Profiles from disabled sources will not appear in the Community tab.

Custom Registry Format¶

Custom registries must follow the Agent Profile Registry Format.

Offline Behavior¶

Each registry source uses a stale-while-revalidate caching strategy:

• Online: Fetches the latest index on first access, then uses cache for 1 hour
• Offline: Uses the last cached index if available
• Cache Miss: Displays an error if no cached data exists and network is unavailable

When multiple sources are configured, failed sources display a warning banner while successfully fetched sources continue to work.

Privacy and Security¶

• Community profiles are fetched from public GitHub repositories
• Profile installations are local-only (no telemetry or tracking)
• Always review profile descriptions and permissions before installing
• Profiles from the official registry are reviewed by maintainers

Troubleshooting¶

Profile installation fails¶

Solution: Ensure you have write permissions to the agent profiles directory. Check the error message for specific details.

Registry index fails to load¶

Solution: Verify your network connection. If offline, the app will attempt to use cached data if available. If only some sources fail, check the warning banners in the Community tab for per-source error details.

Custom source validation fails¶

Solution: Ensure the GitHub repository exists, is public, and contains a valid index.json file at the repository root on the specified branch.

Profile doesn't appear after installation¶

Solution: Refresh the local profiles list by navigating to the Local tab and clicking refresh.