API
Programmable pipeline
Stage issues, query state, subscribe to transitions, swap agent implementations. The HTTP API is the same surface the dashboard runs on; nothing’s reserved.
For platforms & integrators
Orchestration as substrate. Not a copilot.
Two shapes of platform buyer use Colony: (a) platform-engineering groups inside a larger company building internal services on top of the pipeline, and (b) integrator shops wrapping Colony into a product they ship to their customers. The state machine, ledger, and audit trail are the stable foundation either way. Integrators in (b) trigger the AGPL-3.0 OEM-agreement path — see the deployment comparison for details.
Three surfaces to build on
The pipeline is composable.
Colony is the orchestration — and the orchestration keeps widening. Build against the pipeline itself: stage issues, query state, subscribe to transitions, swap agent implementations.
SM
State-machine extension
Add states, add agents, gate transitions on your own checks. The state machine is designed to grow — bolt on a compliance-review state, fork the Inspector for a regulated codepath, schedule your own agent on the bus — without disrupting the core.
UI
Embeddable surfaces
Dashboard components — run timeline, agent activity, cost ledger — ship as React components you can embed in your product. Or skin them. Or skip them and build your own.
Stable contracts
The pipeline is the contract.
What you build against doesn’t shift under you. The agent interfaces are versioned. The state-machine schema is migrated, not rewritten. The audit trail format is forward-compatible. If a new state is added, your integration keeps working.
- Versioned agent and state-machine schemas
- OpenAPI spec for every public surface
- Long-term-support tagged releases
- Deprecation policy — at least one minor release of notice
// stage an issue from your product
POST /v1/issues
{
"repo": "acme/api",
"title": "Add idempotency to /charge",
"policy": "two_humans",
"on_transition": {
"merged": "https://acme.com/hooks/colony"
}
}
HTTP 201 Created
{ "id": "is_2841", "state": "triaged" } Three shapes the surface enables
What you could build on the pipeline.
Worked examples, not customer logos. The patterns below illustrate what the orchestration surface supports today — implementable on day one of an integration.
Bug-bash automation
Wrap the pipeline behind a Slack command. /colony-fix stages the linked issue; the team picks up the PR in their next standup. Engineers review; engineers merge.
Customer-portal scaffolding
Give your customers a portal that stages issues into customer-owned repos. Colony runs underneath; you see the ledger and run the SLA.
Internal-tooling factory
Route internal tickets through Colony with a custom Inspector agent that enforces your golden-path tooling. Tickets convert to PRs to internal tools without engineer intervention.
Build on it.
Platform-tier pilots include integration support and a dedicated engineering contact.