> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tensor9.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Tensor9 works

Tensor9 delivers your existing app to your customers as a private **appliance** installed directly into their environment.
A Tensor9 **controller** in your cloud account creates a control plane that orchestrates **deployments**,
and allows you to **operate** and **observe** your customers' appliances:

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/tensor9/tOdArbJGu-kXlo13/images/diagrams/architecture-simple-dark.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=tOdArbJGu-kXlo13&q=85&s=242c26f9ec183895f58647a7456e3607" className="block dark:hidden" width="3942" height="3102" data-path="images/diagrams/architecture-simple-dark.png" />

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/tensor9/nZ51YiGkkXVrKjJW/images/diagrams/architecture-simple-light.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=nZ51YiGkkXVrKjJW&q=85&s=40259e454f451b1078a43ac8dded0e69" className="hidden dark:block" width="3942" height="3100" data-path="images/diagrams/architecture-simple-light.png" />

Here are the steps you'll take to use Tensor9:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect your stack">
    Connect your app's **origin stack** to Tensor9.
    Tensor9 supports origin stacks defined in: **Terraform/OpenTofu**, **CloudFormation**,
    **Kubernetes Manifests/Helm**, and **Docker Compose/Containers**.

    <img src="https://mintcdn.com/tensor9/i99hvSEyeBFodjpK/images/diagrams/origin-stack-overview-dark.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=i99hvSEyeBFodjpK&q=85&s=205f991523cc6ab440c27666744f7b15" className="block dark:hidden" width="2490" height="1408" data-path="images/diagrams/origin-stack-overview-dark.png" />

    <img src="https://mintcdn.com/tensor9/i99hvSEyeBFodjpK/images/diagrams/origin-stack-overview-light.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=i99hvSEyeBFodjpK&q=85&s=8b53dba46af92e95cd5fd3c98397bc82" className="hidden dark:block" width="2488" height="1392" data-path="images/diagrams/origin-stack-overview-light.png" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create an appliance">
    Create an **appliance** for the customer environment you want to deploy to.
    An appliance is defined by its **form factor**, which specifies the target environment like
    **Amazon Web Services**, **Google Cloud**, **Microsoft Azure**, **Digital Ocean**, or a customer-provided **Kubernetes** cluster,
    as well as which managed cloud services are required.
    You create an appliance using `tensor9 CLI` or the [**Vendor Portal**](/fundamentals/key-concepts#vendor-portal).
    Your customer completes setup through a guided install wizard, a white-labeled web interface branded with your logo and company name.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Compile your stack">
    Use `tensor9 CLI` to **compile** your origin stack into a **deployment stack** for your new appliance.
    Tensor9 compiles your stack for the **form factor** of that appliance.
    For example, if your appliance is running in **DigitalOcean** on **Kubernetes**,
    then the compilation process will automatically replace an AWS load balancer
    in your origin stack with a Kubernetes ingress exposed via a DigitalOcean load balancer,
    and similarly replace AWS Aurora Postgres in your origin stack with a DigitalOcean
    managed Postgres instance.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Deploy to an appliance">
    Use standard tooling to **deploy** your deployment stack to a customer appliance.
    For example, if your origin stack is defined using Terraform/OpenTofu,
    then invoke `terraform apply` or `tofu apply` on a deployment stack to deploy
    that stack to the appliance it was compiled for.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Observe & operate appliances">
    **Observe** the state, performance, and usage of deployed
    resources in customer appliances; with metrics, logs, and
    traces asynchronously synchronized back to your **observability sink** of choice.
    Monitor appliance health from the [**Vendor Portal**](/fundamentals/key-concepts#vendor-portal) dashboard or the CLI.

    You can also **operate** deployed resources within customer appliances.
    For example, execute `kubectl` commands or request temporary, scoped access to cloud resources via IAM.
    Your customers review and approve operations requests through their [**Customer Portal**](/fundamentals/key-concepts#customer-portal).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Per-customer configuration

The same origin stack compiles into different deployment stacks for different customers, driven by customer-supplied configuration. Each customer can pick their ingress posture (public, allowlisted, Tailscale, or fully private), substitute their own managed services for default-shipped ones (for example, the customer's own managed Temporal), and choose how the appliance reaches your control plane (public internet, AWS PrivateLink, or Tailscale). You ship one stack; each customer gets a build shaped to their environment. See [Auto-Customizations](/customizations/overview) for the full picture.

## How Tensor9 compares to building it yourself

| Feature                 | With Tensor9                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     | Without Tensor9                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Service Equivalents** | Maintain a single origin stack. Tensor9 maps cloud services to their equivalents in the target environment during compilation (e.g., RDS → Cloud SQL, S3 → GCS).                                                                                                                 | Maintain separate infrastructure code for each cloud provider. Port resources manually and keep feature parity across cloud-specific APIs.                                                           |
| **Deployments**         | Tensor9 compiles your origin stack into a deployment stack for a private appliance in your customer's environment. Deploy using standard tooling locally (`terraform apply`, `tofu apply`), and Tensor9 applies changes to the corresponding appliance through a secure channel. | Manually set up a deployment pipeline unique to each customer environment. Request temporary access to customer infrastructure (VPN, IAM roles) for each deployment and execute operations manually. |
| **Observability**       | Telemetry (logs, metrics, traces) flows from appliances to your observability sink. Tensor9 configures forwarding automatically based on your origin stack.                                                                                                                      | Set up monitoring agents, configure log forwarding, and manage telemetry infrastructure separately in each customer environment.                                                                     |
| **Operations**          | Execute operations commands remotely through your control plane with customer approval workflows and audit logging.                                                                                                                                                              | Request and manage temporary access credentials for each operation. Coordinate with customers for access to their infrastructure.                                                                    |
| **Artifacts**           | Tensor9 identifies artifacts in your origin stack and copies them to appliance-local storage during deployment (container images, S3 objects).                                                                                                                                   | Build artifact replication and distribution systems. Manage credentials for artifact access across customer environments.                                                                            |
| **Secrets**             | Store customer-specific secrets in your control plane with access controls defining vendor vs. customer-only access.                                                                                                                                                             | Manage secrets across multiple systems. Coordinate with customers for secret injection and rotation.                                                                                                 |
| **Endpoints and DNS**   | Tensor9 provisions DNS records for each appliance under a domain you specify (vendor-owned or customer-owned) with delegation to customer infrastructure where appropriate.                                                                                                      | Coordinate with customer network teams to configure DNS for each deployment.                                                                                                                         |