US-12619423-B1 - Privacy preserving continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD) via remotely deployed agents

US12619423B1US 12619423 B1US12619423 B1US 12619423B1US-12619423-B1

Abstract

An agent deployment request is received for an external computing environment. An agentic module is configured for deployment to the external computing environment based on characteristics of the external computing environment, wherein the agentic module comprises a computational agent operable to process information stored within the external computing environment and a corresponding agentic controller. Responsive to the agent deployment request, a first unit of software instructions is generated that, when executed, instantiates an agentic module instance within the external computing environment. The first unit of software instructions is transmitted to the external computing environment. A performance metric related to processing of the information stored within the external computing environment by a computational agent instance of the agentic module instance is received from an agentic controller instance of the agentic module instance.

Inventors

Craig Geoffrey Statham
Adam Robertson Noll

Assignees

SAS INSTITUTE INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20250811

Claims (20)

1 . A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the computer-program product including instructions operable to cause a processor device of a computing system to: receive an agent deployment request for an external computing environment external to the computing system, the external computing environment associated with a first entity, wherein the computing system is associated with a second entity that is different from the first entity; configure an agentic module for deployment to the external computing environment based on one or more characteristics of the external computing environment, wherein the agentic module comprises a computational agent and a corresponding agentic controller, wherein the computational agent is operable to process information associated with the first entity and stored within the external computing environment, the information associated with the first entity and stored within the external computing environment comprising sensitive information; responsive to the agent deployment request, generate a first unit of software instructions that, when executed, instantiates an agentic module instance within the external computing environment; transmit the first unit of software instructions to the external computing environment; receive, from an agentic controller instance of the agentic module instance, a performance metric related to processing of the information associated with the first entity and stored within the external computing environment by a computational agent instance of the agentic module instance, wherein the performance metric is configured to prevent access by the computing system to the sensitive information; and based on the performance metric, update the agentic module instance within the external computing environment.
2 . The computer-program product of claim 1 , wherein, to update the agentic module instance within the external computing environment, the processor device is further to: receive information descriptive of a modification for the agentic module; modify the agentic module based on the modification for the agentic module to obtain an updated agentic module comprising at least one of an updated agentic controller or an updated computational agent; generate a second unit of software instructions that, when executed, instantiates an updated agentic module instance within the external computing environment; and transmit the second unit of software instructions to the agentic controller instance of the agentic module instance.
3 . The computer-program product of claim 2 , wherein, to transmit the second unit of software instructions to the external computing environment, the processor device is to: receive, from the agentic controller instance, a query as to whether an update is available for the agentic module; and transmit the second unit of software instructions to the agentic controller instance of the agentic module instance responsive to the query.
4 . The computer-program product of claim 2 , wherein the updated agentic module comprises the updated computational agent, and wherein the processor device is further to: receive, from an updated agentic controller instance of the updated agentic module instance deployed to the external computing environment, an updated performance metric related to processing of the information associated with the first entity and stored within the external computing environment by an updated computational agent instance of the updated agentic module instance, wherein the updated performance metric is greater than the performance metric.
5 . The computer-program product of claim 2 , wherein to process the information associated with the first entity and stored within the external computing environment, the computational agent is operable to perform one or more computational operations.
6 . The computer-program product of claim 5 , wherein the one or more computational operations comprise a decision operation in which the computational agent evaluates the information associated with the first entity and stored within the external computing environment based on one or more criteria.
7 . The computer-program product of claim 6 , wherein the modification for the agentic module comprises at least one of: a modification for at least one of the one or more criteria; or a new criteria.
8 . The computer-program product of claim 5 , wherein the computational agent comprises a machine-learned model; and wherein the modification for the agentic module modifies at least one of: a parameter of the machine-learned model; or a prompt provided to the machine-learned model.
9 . The computer-program product of claim 5 , wherein the computing system implements a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) development pipeline, and wherein the modification for the agentic module comprises a CI/CD artifact.
10 . The computer-program product of claim 9 , wherein, to receive the information descriptive of the modification for the agentic module, the processor device is to: receive the CI/CD artifact from a code versioning system associated with the agentic module, wherein the CI/CD artifact is submitted by a developer of the agentic module.
11 . The computer-program product of claim 9 , wherein, to receive the information descriptive of the modification for the agentic module, the processor device is to: receive the CI/CD artifact from the external computing environment, wherein the CI/CD artifact is submitted by a developer associated with the external computing environment.
12 . The computer-program product of claim 1 , wherein the first unit of software instructions comprises a packaged agentic module comprising one or more dependencies, and wherein, to configure the agentic module for deployment to the external computing environment based on the one or more characteristics of the external computing environment, the processor device is to: select, by the computing system, the one or more dependencies from a plurality of candidate dependencies based on the one or more characteristics of the external computing environment.
13 . The computer-program product of claim 12 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the external computing environment comprises at least one of: an identity of a cloud computing platform that implements the external computing environment; a type of hardware architecture associated with the external computing environment; a type of operating system associated with the external computing environment; computing resources available within the external computing environment; security requirements associated with the external computing environment; or operating requirements associated with the external computing environment.
14 . The computer-program product of claim 13 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprises the security requirements associated with the external computing environment, and wherein, to select the one or more dependencies from the plurality of candidate dependencies based on the one or more characteristics of the external computing environment, the processor device is to: determine, for each dependency of the one or more dependencies, that the dependency is compatible with the security requirements associated with the external computing environment.
15 . The computer-program product of claim 13 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprise the type of operating system associated with the external computing environment, and wherein, to select the one or more dependencies from the plurality of candidate dependencies based on the one or more characteristics of the external computing environment, the processor device is to: determine, for each dependency of the one or more dependencies, that the dependency is compatible with the type of operating system associated with the external computing environment.
16 . The computer-program product of claim 13 , wherein the agent deployment request comprises the one or more characteristics of the external computing environment, and wherein, to generate the first unit of software instructions, the processor device is to: generate a container image comprising the agentic module and the one or more dependencies, wherein the container image comprises the first unit of software instructions.
17 . The computer-program product of claim 1 , wherein the agent deployment request comprises access credentials for the external computing environment; and wherein, to transmit the first unit of software instructions to the external computing environment, the processor device is to: access the external computing environment with the access credentials; and deploy the first unit of software instructions within the external computing environment.
18 . The computer-program product of claim 17 , wherein the agent deployment request further comprises second access credentials for a second external computing environment; and wherein the processor device is to: configure the agentic module for deployment to the second external computing environment based on one or more characteristics of the second external computing environment; generate a second unit of software instructions that, when executed, instantiates a second agentic module instance within the second external computing environment; and transmit the second unit of software instructions to the second external computing environment.
19 . The computer-program product of claim 18 , wherein the agentic module instance is configured with a first set of dependencies, and wherein the second agentic module instance is configured with a second set of dependencies different than the first set of dependencies.
20 . The computer-program product of claim 18 , wherein the first unit of software instructions comprises a containerized unit of software instructions, and wherein the second unit of software instructions comprises a packaged unit of software instructions.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM This application claims the benefit of, and priority based on, 35 U.S.C. § 119 to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/775,120, filed Mar. 20, 2025, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) refers to a set of software development practices and associated tooling that automate the process of integrating code changes into a shared repository and deploying software updates to production or other environments. In a typical CI/CD pipeline, source code changes are automatically built, tested, and packaged upon submission to a version control system. The resulting build artifacts are then staged for deployment through defined workflows that may include additional testing, configuration, and release steps. CI/CD systems may be implemented using orchestration platforms that manage the execution of various pipeline stages and facilitate coordination between development, testing, and deployment environments. SUMMARY This summary is not intended to identify only key or essential features of the described subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the described subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification of this patent application, any or all drawings, and each claim. In one implementation, a computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-program product includes instructions operable to cause a processor device of a computing system to receive an agent deployment request for an external computing environment external to the computing system. The processor device is further to configure an agentic module for deployment to the external computing environment based on one or more characteristics of the external computing environment, wherein the agentic module comprises a computational agent and a corresponding agentic controller, wherein the computational agent is operable to process information stored within the external computing environment. The processor device is further to responsive to the agent deployment request, generate a first unit of software instructions that, when executed, instantiates an agentic module instance within the external computing environment. The processor device is further to transmit the first unit of software instructions to the external computing environment. The processor device is further to receive, from an agentic controller instance of the agentic module instance, a performance metric related to processing of the information stored within the external computing environment by a computational agent instance of the agentic module instance. In another implementation, a computing system is provided. The computing device includes a processor device, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions which, when executed on the processor device, causes the processor device to receive, from a CI/CD system, a first unit of software instructions that, when executed, instantiates an agentic module comprising a computational agent and a corresponding agentic controller, wherein the computational agent is operable to process information accessible to the computing system. The processor device is further to execute the first unit of software instructions to instantiate an agentic module instance, the agentic module instance comprising a computational agent instance and an agentic controller instance. The processor device is further to perform, with the computational agent instance, one or more computational operations on the information accessible to the computing system to obtain an output. The processor device is further to evaluate the output to determine a performance metric for the computational agent. The processor device is further to, based on the performance metric, receive a second unit of software instructions that, when executed, instantiates an updated agentic module comprising at least one of an updated agentic controller or an updated computational agent. The processor device is further to execute the second unit of software instructions to instantiate an updated agentic module instance. In another implementation, a method is provided. The method includes receiving, by a computing system comprising one or more processor devices, an agent deployment request for an external computing environment external to the computing system. The method further includes configuring, by the computing system, an agentic module for deployment to the external computing environment based on one or more characteristics of the external computing environment, wherein the agentic module comprises a computational agent and a corresponding agentic controller, wherein the computational agent is operable to process information stored within the external computing environment. The