App Deployment and Invocation

Deploy serverless apps to Kernel and invoke them with payloads.

When to Use This Skill

Use app-deployment when you need to:

• Deploy serverless TypeScript or Python applications to Kernel
• Invoke deployed actions with custom payloads
• Monitor application logs in real-time
• Run browser automation or data processing tasks at scale
• Deploy apps with environment variables and secrets

Don’t use this when:

• You need one-off browser automation → Use browser-management directly

Prerequisites

Load the kernel-cli skill for Kernel CLI installation and authentication.

App Deployment Specific

• Valid TypeScript (.ts) or Python (.py) entry file
• package.json (JS/TS) or pyproject.toml (Python) must be present next to the entrypoint
• Node.js/Bun or Python runtime (for local testing)

Deploy Apps

TypeScript

Command:

kernel deploy index.ts -o json

Note: Ensure package.json is present in the same directory as index.ts.

Python

Command:

kernel deploy main.py -o json

Note: Ensure pyproject.toml is present in the same directory as main.py.

With Environment Variables

Command:

# Inline env vars
kernel deploy index.ts --env API_KEY=secret --env DB_URL=postgres://... -o json

# From .env file
kernel deploy index.ts --env-file .env -o json

MCP Tool: Use kernel:get_deployment with deployment_id to check deployment status.

Invoke Apps

Basic Invocation

Command:

kernel invoke my-app scrape -o json

MCP Tool: Use kernel:invoke_action with app_name, action_name, and optional payload.

With Payload

Command:

# Inline JSON payload (max 4.5 MB)
kernel invoke my-app scrape --payload '{"url": "https://example.com"}' -o json

# From file
kernel invoke my-app scrape --payload-file payload.json -o json

Note: JSON payloads are limited to 4.5 MB maximum.

Synchronous Invocation

Command:

# Wait for completion (timeout after 60s)
kernel invoke my-app scrape --payload '{"url": "https://example.com"}' --sync -o json

Note:

• Synchronous invocations timeout after 60 seconds
• JSON payloads are limited to 4.5 MB maximum
• Press Ctrl+C to cancel an in-flight invocation (associated browser sessions are cleaned up automatically)

View Logs

Command:

# Recent logs
kernel logs my-app

Follow logs (stream):

kernel logs my-app --follow

Expected Output: Real-time log stream (continues until Ctrl+C)

With filters:

# Logs from last hour with timestamps
kernel logs my-app --since 1h --with-timestamps

Note: Log lines longer than 64 KiB are truncated. For bulky payloads, emit them to external storage and log references instead.

Complete Workflow Example

End-to-end deployment and invocation:

# 1. Deploy app with environment variables
kernel deploy index.ts --env-file .env -o json
# Output: {"deployment_id": "dep_123", "app_name": "my-app", "status": "deployed"}

# 2. Invoke action synchronously
kernel invoke my-app scrape --payload '{"url": "https://example.com"}' --sync -o json
# Output: {"invocation_id": "inv_456", "status": "completed", "result": {...}}

# 3. Monitor logs in real-time
kernel logs my-app --follow
# Output: Live log stream...

Troubleshooting

Deployment Fails

Error: 401 Unauthorized

• Solution: Run kernel login to re-authenticate

Error: file not found: index.ts

• Solution: Ensure entry file exists and path is correct
• Check: Run ls -la index.ts to verify file exists

Error: syntax error in index.ts

• Solution: Fix TypeScript/Python syntax errors
• Check: Run local linter or type checker first