Deployment Modes

protoLabs Studio supports two deployment modes depending on your use case.

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Mode 1: Web Application (Development)

The default mode. Runs the UI and server locally with hot reload via Vite.

Start:

npm run dev:full    # Starts UI (:3007) AND server (:3008) together

Characteristics:

• UI served at http://localhost:3007 with Vite HMR.
• Server at http://localhost:3008 with file watching.
• PWA support — installable from the browser.
• Suitable for individual developers and local development.

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Mode 2: Headless Server (No UI)

Run the Automaker backend server in production mode with auto-mode enabled and no browser UI. Ideal for CI runners, servers, or agent-only workloads.

Start:

# From the repository root (runs built dist/index.js)
cd apps/server && npm run start:headless

# Or via workspace script
npm --workspace=apps/server run start:headless

Characteristics:

• NODE_ENV=production — production logging and behaviour.
• AUTO_MODE=true — agents start and operate without manual intervention.
• No browser window, no UI dependencies.
• Exposes the same HTTP/WebSocket API as the web application.
• Suitable for 24/7 agent servers, staging environments, and headless CI builds.

Prerequisites: Build the server first.

cd apps/server && npm run build

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Headless Example: proto.config.yaml with 2-Agent Defaults

Place proto.config.yaml in your project root (or the DATA_DIR) to configure the headless server's default agent pool.

# proto.config.yaml — headless server example with 2-agent defaults

server:
  port: 3008
  autoMode: true

agents:
  defaults:
    count: 2
    model: claude-opus-4-6
    maxTokens: 8192

  pool:
    - name: builder
      role: engineer
      autoStart: true
      description: 'Implements features and fixes bugs'

    - name: reviewer
      role: reviewer
      autoStart: true
      description: 'Reviews PRs and enforces code quality'

Environment variables for headless mode:

Variable	Description	Default
PORT	Server listen port	3008
NODE_ENV	Node environment	development
AUTO_MODE	Enable autonomous agent operation	false
DATA_DIR	Path to persistent data directory	./data
AUTOMAKER_API_KEY	API key for client authentication	auto-generated
ALLOWED_ROOT_DIRECTORY	Restrict file access to this path	unrestricted