Shift-Left Agent
Run API tests from your own machine, against APIs only your network can reach.
What It Does
The Shift-Left Agent is a local runner for tests in the Tests table. It executes them on your own machine, so APIs that only your network can reach can be tested without exposing them, and the results land in the same run history and reports as cloud runs. It still needs a connection to Shift-Left API: the desktop app issues it a 30-minute, audit-logged session token, and it reads auth profiles and uploads results through the platform. Test packs, workflows, schedules and CI runs execute on the Shift-Left Engine, not on the agent; WebSocket-RPC tests and server-only security checks also need the engine.
Overview
A lightweight, Bun-compiled runner that ships inside the Shift-Left Studio desktop app for Windows and macOS. It runs tests from the Tests table against private and VPN-only APIs, with the same executors as the cloud engine. Secrets use the OS keychain where it is available, otherwise environment variables.
Key Capabilities
How It Works
- 1
Install the Shift-Left Studio desktop app; the agent comes with it
- 2
Open a project’s Tests table and choose Shift-Left Agent as the execution mode
- 3
Start the agent; the app connects it with a short-lived session token
- 4
Run one test or a selection — requests go out from your machine to your private APIs
- 5
Results upload to the platform and appear in run history and reports
Available on
All Plans
Included in the free trial — no credit card required.
Documentation
Step-by-step guides for setting up and using Shift-Left Agent.
- Local RunnerRun tests from a lightweight desktop agent on your own machine so you can reach private or internal endpoints the central engine can't, then report results back to the platform.
- Execution ModeChoose where tests run: Shift-Left Engine on server for CI/CD and schedules, or Shift-Left Agent locally for development and private APIs.
Built for regulated teams
Teams in regulated industries rely on this capability to ship API changes with an audit trail.
Go deeper
Guides and playbooks that show this capability in practice.
Related Features
Auth Profiles
OAuth 2.0, NTLM, JWT Bearer, Hawk, Digest, AWS SigV4 and more, configured once per environment.
Learn moreRedirects & Certificates
Test a redirect itself, and run against test servers with private certificates, without weakening production.
Learn moreLoad Agents
Add machines to send more load, or load from several places, and still read one merged report.
Learn moreTry Shift-Left Agent Today
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