Last reviewed: July 15, 2026 .
This matrix describes behavior available today. It does not promise roadmap work or compare Colony Cloud subscription tiers.
Supported means the capability is available through the documented product path. Conditional means it has an important provider, deployment, configuration, or access-surface constraint. Not available means the product path does not currently provide it. Deprecated means the surface remains present for compatibility but should not be used for new operations.
Capability Colony Cloud Self-hosted / OSS Constraints and access surface Next step Managed control plane Supported Not available Cloud operates the API, database, dashboard, and managed scheduling. Cloud onboarding Self-managed control plane Not available Supported You operate Postgres, the Mayor, Workers, monitor, credentials, upgrades, and backups. Self-host getting started GitHub issues, repositories, and pull requests Supported Supported Cloud uses GitHub Apps. Self-host supports GitHub Apps or PAT-based authentication. Connect a repository · GitHub App setup Azure DevOps Repos, work items, and pull requests Not available Supported Self-host uses ADO PATs, work-item mappings, tags, and service hooks. Connect Azure DevOps Provider webhooks Supported Supported Cloud manages GitHub delivery. Self-host webhooks are optional and support GitHub or ADO when configured. Troubleshoot webhooks Polling fallback Conditional Supported Self-host continues full-sync polling when webhooks are absent or inactive. Cloud provider delivery is managed by the service. Troubleshoot webhooks
Capability Colony Cloud Self-hosted / OSS Constraints and access surface Next step Tagged or all-issue intake Supported Supported Tagged intake is the safer rollout mode; changing intake affects only newly discovered work. Configure intake Autonomous issue implementation Supported Supported Requires provider access, a healthy Worker, reproducible setup, and a workflow that can route the issue. Zero to first merge External review of human-authored PRs Supported Conditional GitHub only. The review verdict does not itself override branch protection or merge policy. Set up external PR review Built-in workflows Supported Supported New issues pin a workflow ID and version; in-flight issues keep their snapshot. The Workflow Custom workflow authoring and registration Conditional Supported Cloud can validate, register, and inspect definitions, but arbitrary registered definitions are not currently selected by the runtime as if they were built-ins. Self-host can resolve config-supplied or repository .colony/workflow.yaml definitions. Author a custom workflow Per-issue workflow routing Conditional Supported Routing rules must reference a workflow the runtime can resolve. Unknown workflow IDs fail intake instead of silently falling back. Configure intake Automatic merge Supported Supported Requires passing review/check policy and an operations identity distinct from the PR author when provider rules prohibit self-approval. Configure merge policy Branch protection setup Conditional Conditional colony init can create GitHub rulesets and an ADO minimum-reviewer policy when credentials have administration rights. Existing organization rules may require manual alignment.Configure merge policy Epics, subtasks, and dependencies Supported Supported Feature branches, automatic subtask merge, and final human review depend on epic configuration. Operate epics
Capability Colony Cloud Self-hosted / OSS Constraints and access surface Next step Strategy charters and proposals Supported Supported Strategy constrains and prioritizes work; it does not bypass the normal pipeline or human gates. Strategy Self-improvement tracks Supported Supported Tracks share Worker capacity with normal issues and allow only one open linked issue per track. Roll out SI tracks SI track management in colony tracks Not available Deprecated The CLI manages legacy file-backed tracks, not the Postgres records shown by the monitor dashboard. Roll out SI tracks Repository intelligence Supported Supported Collection, retrieval, and prompt injection have separate configuration and maturity controls. Agents and intelligence Guided issue drafting and decomposition Supported Conditional Cloud provides Issue Intake Studio. Self-host provides CLI and MCP issue/plan tooling rather than the Cloud wizard. Issue Intake Studio · MCP
Capability Colony Cloud Self-hosted / OSS Constraints and access surface Next step Managed Workers Supported Not available Cloud supplies managed capacity subject to the organization’s concurrency and plan limits. Operate Workers BYO or self-managed Workers Supported Supported Cloud BYO Workers still require the Cloud control plane and network access. Self-host Workers use the installation’s Postgres queue. Operate Workers Pipeline dashboard Supported Supported Cloud and the self-host monitor expose different navigation and controls. Cloud dashboards · Monitor dashboard Operational CLI Conditional Supported The self-host CLI has direct database and process-control commands. Cloud CLI support is limited to documented Cloud-aware commands. CLI reference HTTP API Supported Supported Authentication, route prefixes, and available control operations differ by deployment. Cloud API · Self-host API MCP tools Supported Supported Available write operations depend on authentication, provider permissions, and the specific MCP server. Cloud MCP · Self-host MCP Dead-letter inspection and recovery Conditional Supported Cloud exposes authenticated API operations but no row-level dashboard Retry/Resolve controls. Self-host provides CLI operations. Recover a dead letter Worker drain and task reclaim Supported Conditional Cloud exposes Worker drain/reclaim controls. Self-host can inspect/reclaim tasks and gracefully stop the installation; rolling capacity requires more than one Worker. Operate Workers Model routing and cost controls Supported Supported Availability of a model still depends on configured provider credentials and engine support. Tune routing and caps Configuration hot reload Supported Conditional Only declared reloadable keys apply live. Provider identities, repositories, database settings, commands, and other startup fields require redeploy. Rotate credentials Credential and secret management Supported Supported Cloud stores supported secrets and Worker tokens. Self-host operators manage environment variables, App keys, mounted feed credentials, and restarts. Rotate credentials Backup, upgrade, and rollback Managed by Colony Operator responsibility Self-host database migrations run forward automatically; rollback may require restoring a matching pre-upgrade database backup. Upgrade and roll back
Running a Cloud-connected Worker inside your network changes where code execution happens; it does not move the Cloud control plane, eliminate outbound connectivity, or create an air-gapped Colony installation. Use self-hosted Colony when those properties are required.
