Define deployment modes

Deployment modes let you choose how an integration is installed and managed.

• Default mode: Your install and manage Elastic Agent yourself (for example using Fleet).
• Agentless mode: Elastic Stack manages the agents for you, no need to install anything yourself.

Some integrations can support both modes, while others may only support one.

When you create a policy template for your integration, you can specify which modes it supports using the deployment_modes property.

Example:

format_version: 3.2.0
name: aws
title: AWS
version: 2.13.1
...
policy_templates:
  - name: billing
    title: AWS Billing
    description: Collect billing metrics with Elastic Agent
    deployment_modes:
      default:
        enabled: false
      agentless:
        enabled: true
    data_streams:
      - billing
    ...
		

1. Defines the supported deployment modes
2. Disables agent deployment support
3. Enables agentless deployment support

Here, only agentless mode is enable for the "billing" template.

Sometimes, you want certain configuration options to show up only in specific modes. Use the hide_in_deployment_modes property for this.

Example:

streams:
  - input: filestream
    vars:
      - name: paths
        type: text
        title: Paths
        multi: true
        required: true
        show_user: true
        default:
          - /var/log/my-package/*.log
      - name: agentless_only
        type: text
        title: Agentless only variable
        multi: false
        required: false
        show_user: true
        hide_in_deployment_modes:
          - default
     - name: hidden_in_agentless
       type: text
       title: Hidden in agentless variable
       multi: false
       required: false
       show_user: true
       hide_in_deployment_modes:
         - agentless
		

1. Disables visibility of the variable in default deployment mode
2. Disables visibility of the variable in agentless deployment mode

This helps keep the UI clean and relevant for each deployment type. For more information on variable property definitions, refer to Define variable properties.

Agentless deployments are protected by a capabilities file (capabilities.yml). This file lists what inputs and features are allowed or blocked in agentless mode, making sure only safe and supported features run.

You can see the current allowed capabilities in the capabilities.yml.