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

# Certified, exempt and beta partner agents

> What the certification status on a partner's sales agent means for a seller: certified, exempt from certification, or in its partner's beta, and what you can do about it.

A partner's sales agent is tested before it sells for publishers. Not every
partner agent you can connect to has finished that testing. Apostra tells you
which ones haven't, so you can decide whether to connect and what to do if you
already have.

## Where you see it

The status is one read-only field, `agentCertification`, on:

* **Partner agents in your list.** Each `partner` row of
  `search({ "kind": "agent" })` in a Seller Account, and the same agent read
  with `get({ "kind": "agent", "id": "AGENT_ID" })`, carries it. You see it
  before you choose an agent. Your organization's own agents (`own` rows) don't
  carry it: their certification stays in the account that owns them. See
  [Connect to a partner agent](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/seller-partner-connection-form.md#the-agents-a-seller-account-can-add).
* **Inventory sources.** A source you attached to a partner agent through
  `save_inventory_source` with an `agentId` carries the agent's
  `agentCertification` on `search({ "kind": "inventory_source" })` and on
  `get({ "kind": "inventory_source", "id": "SOURCE_ID" })`. It is `null` when the
  source has no partner agent, when its agent is one your own organization owns,
  or when the agent is not certified, exempt or in a beta.
* **The Connect sales agent task and Source diagnostics.** The task shows the
  status beside each partner agent, and Source diagnostics shows it on the
  **Powered by Agent** card of a source that runs through a partner agent.

The field has two parts:

| Field | Meaning |
| - | - |
| `status` | `certified`, `exempt` or `beta`. |
| `endsAt` | When an exemption or beta ends, as an ISO 8601 time. `null` when nothing ends, as for `certified`. |

## What each status means

| Status | What it means for you |
| - | - |
| `certified` | The agent has passed Apostra's [live certification](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/certification.md) for the use cases Apostra sends it buys for. Nothing to do. |
| `exempt` | The agent has **not** passed certification, but Apostra has exempted it from certification until `endsAt`. Apostra decides exemptions. |
| `beta` | The agent has **not** passed certification. Its partner is in the Apostra Partner Program beta, which lets the partner's agent serve publishers in other organizations while certification is in progress. The beta runs until `endsAt`. |

When more than one applies, Apostra shows the first in this order: `certified`,
then `exempt`, then `beta`.

An agent that is not certified has not passed Apostra's live certification, so
the check a certification gives you is not complete yet. It can still be a good
agent. Certification belongs to the agent, not to each publisher: when the agent
passes, every publisher connected to it is covered.

## What happens when an exemption or beta ends

Apostra decides the status from the agent's current record each time you read
it, so it changes on its own:

* If the agent passes certification, the status becomes `certified` and
  `endsAt` is `null`.
* If an exemption or beta ends first, the agent no longer shows `exempt` or
  `beta`. An agent that holds none of the three has `agentCertification: null`.
  Without a certification or an exemption, Apostra sends new buys to the agent
  only for the use cases it has passed. See
  [The certification deadline](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/certification.md#the-certification-deadline).

## What you can do

* **Choose before you connect.** The status is on the partner agent row, so you
  can decide before you open the connection form. Connect only if you accept an
  agent that is not yet certified.
* **Stop selling through the agent.** To disconnect a source from the agent,
  set the source's `status` to `DISABLED` with `save_inventory_source`. A
  disabled source stops selling. Nothing is deleted, and you can set it back to
  `ACTIVE` later.
* **Contact the partner.** The row and the **Powered by Agent** card name the
  partner. Ask the partner when its agent expects to pass certification, or how
  it handles buys until then. The partner's sign-up link, where it gave one, is
  on the row.
* **Keep it and watch the status.** The status is information. It does not
  pause or change a source by itself. Read the source again to see whether it has
  changed.

## What buyers see

Buyers never see which partner a seller connects through, and they never see
this status. It is for the publisher who connects the agent.

> [!NOTE]
>
> The Connect sales agent task and Source diagnostics are MCP apps, so they need
> a host that renders them. See [MCP Apps host](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/mcp-apps-host.md).


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