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MAF Learning Hub

MAF project lifecycle

What to do first, and what comes next, when you implement a MuleSoft Agent Fabric project. Follow the phases in order the first time; afterwards the lifecycle repeats as you refine the network.

  1. Phase 1. Learn and prepare

    Understand the building blocks and confirm you have the access you need before touching the platform.

    Steps

    1. Learn how LLMs, RAG, MCP, and A2A fit together.
    2. Get your data foundations AI-ready (clean, governed, discoverable).
    3. Confirm Anypoint Platform permissions for Runtime Manager, Anypoint Code Builder, API Manager, and Exchange.
    4. Install Anypoint Code Builder and allowlist its URLs; plan your target (CloudHub 2.0 or Runtime Fabric).

    Lessons

    Official docs

  2. Phase 2. Discover existing assets

    Find the agents, MCP servers, and APIs you already have so you reuse them instead of rebuilding.

    Steps

    1. Review your portfolio and Anypoint Exchange for existing agents, MCP servers, and APIs.
    2. Add scanners to keep the inventory current.
    3. Decide what to reuse, wrap, or build new.

    Lessons

    Official docs

  3. Phase 3. Enable agent actions

    Make the APIs and agents you already run available as tools. Add a broker only when work spans specialized agents.

    Steps

    1. Expose existing APIs as MCP servers.
    2. Use an A2A bridge for agents that are not A2A-compliant.
    3. Bind MCP tools through connectors.

    Lessons

    Official docs

  4. Phase 4. Set up the environment

    Step 1 of the agent network procedure: prepare where the network will run and the gateway that fronts it.

    Steps

    1. Choose a CloudHub 2.0 shared or private space, or a Runtime Fabric deployment target.
    2. Associate a private space with the business groups and environments you will deploy to.
    3. Set up Managed Omni Gateway for the space or target (a single gateway for ingress and egress is the recommended configuration).

    Choose your target carefully

    After you deploy an agent network you cannot redeploy it to a different target or gateway. To switch, first delete the existing Runtime Manager application, then redeploy.

    Lessons

    Official docs

  5. Phase 5. Build the agent network

    Steps 2 to 4 of the procedure: create the project, define the network, and publish its assets.

    Steps

    1. Create an agent network project with MuleSoft Vibes, Anypoint Code Builder, or the Anypoint CLI.
    2. Define the network in agent-network.yaml and exchange.json (brokers, agents, MCP servers, and their links).
    3. Publish the project to Exchange, which creates an asset for each broker, agent, and MCP server.

    Lessons

    Official docs

  6. Phase 6. Govern and control

    Put Omni Gateway in the request path so authentication, policy, and cost controls apply to live traffic.

    Steps

    1. Apply policies and governance strategies once, across agents, APIs, and MCP servers.
    2. Secure A2A and MCP interactions (authentication, access control, PII handling).
    3. Cap and track LLM spend with model proxies and rate limiting.

    Lessons

    Official docs

  7. Phase 7. Deploy

    Step 5 of the procedure: run the network instance on your target so governed traffic starts flowing.

    Steps

    1. Deploy the agent network instance with MuleSoft Vibes, Anypoint Code Builder, or the Anypoint CLI.
    2. Confirm the policies you applied now enforce real traffic through the gateway.

    Lessons

    Official docs

  8. Phase 8. Observe

    See how agents, brokers, and MCP servers connect, and watch latency, errors, and volume in production.

    Steps

    1. Visualize the network in Agent Visualizer.
    2. Monitor metrics, logs, and traces in Anypoint Monitoring.
    3. Configure alerts so regressions and rogue behavior surface quickly.

    Lessons

    Official docs

  9. Phase 9. Assure with testing (forward-looking)

    Turn what you observe into repeatable tests so each change to the network is verified before and after release.

    Steps

    1. #
    2. Isolate agents with A2A mocks and follow the multi-broker test pyramid.
    3. Add protocol conformance, graph, auth, and governance tests, then automate them.

    Forward-looking

    This phase is a recommended practice from this learning hub, not a step in the official Agent Fabric procedure. Confirm the details against current MuleSoft documentation.

    Lessons

    Official docs

It is a loop, not a line

Observation and testing feed back into earlier phases. Findings from Observe and Assure lead you to adjust the network definition, tighten governance, or add new assets, then republish and redeploy.