Deployment Tiers

Char offers three deployment tiers, each adding capabilities. Start simple and adopt more as your needs grow.

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Tier 0: Page-Scoped

The simplest deployment operates entirely within a single page with no network calls to Char’s backend. What you get:

• Embedded chat UI with full styling control
• WebMCP tools scoped to the current page
• Conversation stored in browser memory only

What you give up:

• No persistent history—refreshing clears the conversation
• No cross-app tools—each page is isolated
• No user tracking or analytics
• No connection to the Tool Hub

Why choose Tier 0: Tier 0 is ideal when you want to validate the embedded agent experience without committing to authentication infrastructure. It’s also appropriate for anonymous or public-facing use cases where user identity doesn’t exist. The trade-off is isolation: each page is a self-contained agent with no awareness of other applications.

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Tier 1: User-Scoped Tool Hub

Adding authentication unlocks Char’s defining capability: cross-application tool access. What changes:

• Tool Hub — Each user gets a personal hub that aggregates tools across all their applications
• Cross-app tools — An agent in one app can invoke tools from another
• Session inheritance — The agent operates with the user’s existing permissions
• Persistent threads — Conversations survive page refresh and browser restarts
• MCP server surface — External clients like Claude Desktop can connect to the user’s tool registry

Why choose Tier 1: Tier 1 is appropriate when users are authenticated and you want the agent to work across your application portfolio. The key enabler is identity—once Char knows who the user is, it can scope their Tool Hub and persist their conversations. The prerequisite is an identity provider. Char validates JWTs using JWKS, so you need an IDP that issues standard tokens. See Identity Providers for setup guidance.

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Tier 2: Enterprise Governance

Add policy controls and audit capabilities for regulated environments. Additional capabilities: Policy enforcement flow: Use cases:

• Financial services with compliance requirements
• Healthcare with HIPAA considerations
• Any environment requiring audit trails

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Comparison

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Progressive Adoption

The tiers are designed for incremental adoption. Each tier builds on the previous, so tools and configurations carry forward:

• Tier 0 → Tier 1: Add authentication. Your existing tools automatically publish to the Tool Hub.
• Tier 1 → Tier 2: Configure policies. Your existing cross-app workflows gain governance controls.

This design means you can validate the agent experience in Tier 0, then add identity and governance as your deployment matures—without rewriting tools or restructuring your integration.

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Development vs Production

Tier 0 includes a development mode that bypasses Char’s backend entirely, useful for local testing without authentication. This mode should never reach production—API keys embedded in HTML are visible to users.

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Further Reading