---
title: "Agent Pathfinder: Choose How to Run AI Coding Agents | Coder"
description: "Answer three questions to see how your teams should run AI coding agents on Coder, from self-hosted and air-gapped setups to Cursor and Claude Code."
image: "/agent-pathfinder/og.jpg"
canonical: "https://coder.com/agent-pathfinder"
---

## Three Paths. One Coder Deployment.

Three ways your developers run agents, all on one Coder deployment.

### Agent Relay

Agent Relay connects Cursor Cloud Agents and Claude Code cloud sessions to self-hosted Coder workspaces. The vendor runs the agent and the model. The work, like reading code, running commands, and reaching internal systems, happens in your workspace.

### Agent CLIs in workspaces

Claude Code, Codex, or custom agents run inside Coder workspaces, with model traffic routed through AI Gateway. Developers work hands-on in a terminal or IDE. Ready-made agent modules are in the Coder Registry.

### Coder Agents

Coder's native agent harness runs on the Coder control plane, so workspaces need no API keys or agent software. It works with the model providers you configure, and runs air-gapped with a self-hosted model. Hand off work through the chat UI or API. Built into Coder.

## Three Questions

Answer for your whole organization. You can change answers at any time.

## Your Agent Paths

## Compare the Paths

Where each part of the work runs, and what that means for credentials, offline teams, and keeping a record of AI use.

|  | Agent Relay | Agent CLIs | Coder Agents |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Where the agent runs | In the vendor's cloud | Inside a Coder workspace | In the Coder control plane |
| Where the model runs | In the vendor's cloud | Whatever the agent is set up to use | Any provider you configure, including self-hosted models |
| Where the agent executes | In a Coder workspace | In a Coder workspace | In a Coder workspace |
| Works fully offline | No | Depends on the agent | Yes, with a self-hosted model |
| AI provider credentials in dev environments | None for model calls, which happen in the vendor's cloud. A vendor worker in the workspace connects to the session. | The developer's Coder session token through AI Gateway, or a provider key without it | None |
| Every AI request recorded | No. The vendor handles the AI requests. | Yes, once the agent's traffic goes through AI Gateway | Yes, through AI Gateway automatically |
| How it's triggered | The Cursor or Claude Code app | A developer in a terminal or IDE | Chat UI or API |

## One deployment. Every agent.

Run every agent your teams need on infrastructure you control, with one set of controls.