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Create an Environment in C3 AI Studio

An environment is a dedicated container within a cluster that holds its own set of resources (like databases, configurations, and runtimes). Environments host one or more applications for development, testing, or production. The C3 Agentic AI Platform supports two environment types:

  • Single Node Environment (SNE): A limited-resource environment, ideal for developing or testing single applications.
  • Shared environment (Multi Node Environment, MNE): Typically, a resource-intensive environment intended for production or advanced testing. It supports multiple applications and provides increased resources.

This document guides you to create an environment in C3 AI Studio. To manage an existing environment, see Manage Environments and Applications in C3 AI Studio. For more information on clusters, environments, and applications, see Overview of cluster architecture.

Prerequisites

Creating an environment requires access to a C3 Agentic AI cluster. Get your cluster's web address from your studio administrator. If your organization is a C3 AI customer, you may also request temporary access to the C3 Studio learning cluster by taking a course on learn.c3.ai.

If your organization is not yet a C3 AI customer, contact us for more information.

Create an environment

Follow these steps to create a new environment in your C3 AI Studio cluster:

  1. In C3 AI Studio, launch the Create new environment modal from one of the following pages:

    • Home: If you have no environments created, select Create environment. If you have existing environments, open the Current Environment dropdown and select the Create new environment option.
    • Envs: Select New Environment.

  2. In the Create new environment modal, select Single Node Environment or Shared Environment.

  3. Complete the following fields:

    • Name: Enter a unique environment name.

      Do not reuse names of existing or deleted environments.

    • Server version (optional): Leave blank to use the latest C3 Agentic AI Platform version, or specify a stable older version. Must not exceed cluster version.

Select Submit to finalize if you are creating a shared environment. If you are creating a single node environment (SNE), there are a few additional steps:

  1. (Optional) Activate the Enable Postgres database switch to persist data outside the environment. To use default in-memory storage, leave the switch inactive.
    A Postgres database provides temporary data retention after an environment terminates. Although primarily a convenience for SNEs, it mirrors the default behavior in multi node environments.

  2. Select Continue.

  3. In the final modal step, choose one of the following compute options:

    • Default: Create the environment with default compute power.
    • Custom: Configure the environment for increased compute power.
      Only users with the StudioAdmin role can customize compute settings: contact your studio administrator if you need access to this setting.

Environment states

A C3 AI Environment can have one of the following states:

  • Starting
  • Running
  • Stopping
  • Stopped
  • Terminating
  • Unknown
  • Error
  • Upgrading

You can view an environment's current state in the following pages:

  • Home: An icon is shown next to the environment name in the Current environment dropdown.
    • A play icon indicates readiness; a spinning icon indicates a pending state (for example, Starting or Upgrading).
  • Envs list: The Status column shows the current state of each environment.
  • Environment detail: The status banner displays the environment's current state (for example, Running).

You can access the environment console in a browser at the following address format:

https://<domain_name>/<env_name>/c3/console/index.html

Replace the following values:

  • <domain_name>: Your C3 AI cluster address.
  • <env_name>: Your actual environment values.

Wait up to 20 minutes for the environment to become fully available. If the browser returns a 404 or 503 error code, the environment is still in the creation process.

For additional guidance on managing your environment, see:

Stop, resume, or terminate an environment

Manage environment lifecycle as follows:

Step 1: Open the action menu

Access an action menu from any of these pages:

  • Home: Select the ellipsis (...) next to View details.
  • Envs: Locate the environment in the list and select the ellipsis (...) at the row end.
  • Environment detail: Select the ellipsis (...) in the page header.

Step 2: Select action

Choose from:

  • Stop environment: Pauses a running environment.
  • Resume environment: Reactivates a stopped environment.
  • Terminate environment: Permanently deletes an environment after confirmation.
  • Restart environment: Restart a single node environment (SNE).

You must stop all running applications before terminating an environment.

See also

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