Server setup

The SDK is a client. You need a Conductor server for anything to run.

Local, via Docker

docker run --init -p 8080:8080 conductoross/conductor:latest

• UI: http://localhost:8080
• API: http://localhost:8080/api

This is the default the SDK assumes when CONDUCTOR_SERVER_URL is unset. No authentication is required, so leave CONDUCTOR_AUTH_KEY / CONDUCTOR_AUTH_SECRET unset.

Orkes Cloud

Point CONDUCTOR_SERVER_URL at your cluster's API endpoint and supply a key pair:

export CONDUCTOR_SERVER_URL=https://<your-cluster>.orkesconductor.io/api
export CONDUCTOR_AUTH_KEY=...
export CONDUCTOR_AUTH_SECRET=...

See connection-authentication.md for how the token exchange works.

Server features the SDK depends on

Some SDK capabilities require server-side features to be enabled. These are server properties, not SDK settings — set them on the Conductor deployment:

Capability	Server requirement
WaitForMessageTool, runtime.SendMessageAsync	conductor.workflow-message-queue.enabled=true
Local [Tool] credential delivery	A server that resolves runtimeMetadata at poll time
Agent APIs (/agent/*)	A server build that exposes the agent control plane

If a capability is missing, calls fail at the API rather than degrading silently — see debugging.md.

Verifying the connection

using Conductor.Api;
using Conductor.Client;

var configuration = new Configuration { BasePath = "http://localhost:8080/api" };
var metadataClient = configuration.GetClient<MetadataResourceApi>();
var workflowDefs = metadataClient.GetAll();
Console.WriteLine($"Server reachable; {workflowDefs.Count} workflow definitions registered.");

A connection or auth problem raises ApiException here rather than later inside a worker poll loop, which makes this a useful startup check.

Which server version

See compatibility.md.