Air-gapped deployment
Built to run with no path to the internet at all, not just tolerant of a slow one.
Some deployments cannot have outbound connectivity under any circumstances. Nexus is packaged, licensed and updated to work that way, and this page is explicit about what that trade-off costs.
- required to operate
- No call-homerequired to operate
- artifact and model delivery
- Offlineartifact and model delivery
- verified before install
- Signed bundlesverified before install
- on what needs connectivity
- Honest limitson what needs connectivity
What air-gapped means here
No external connectivity, by design, not as a degraded mode.
An air-gapped Nexus deployment is not a cloud product with its network cable pulled out. It is packaged from the start to install, license, run and update without ever reaching the internet.
Licensing does not require a connection
The platform validates and enforces licensing locally inside the deployment. There is no periodic check-in to an external license server required for the platform to keep functioning.
Models and knowledge bases are already inside the boundary
Because model registries, endpoints and knowledge bases are self-hosted, an air-gapped deployment does not lose AI capability by virtue of being disconnected. The same self-hosted models that run in a connected deployment run inside the air-gapped one.
Questions
Operating Nexus without external connectivity.
Does an air-gapped Nexus deployment need to call home?
No. Platform operation and local licence validation do not require an external connection.
How are updates moved into a disconnected environment?
Versioned bundles move through the organisation's approved transfer process, are verified inside the boundary and are applied during an operator-controlled maintenance window.
Can AI inference run without internet access?
Yes, when the model endpoint, weights, retrieval data and supporting services are deployed inside the disconnected environment.
Offline artifact delivery
How software actually gets into an environment with no inbound or outbound connection.
This is the practical mechanics of getting updates, connectors and models into a disconnected environment.
Artifacts are packaged for transfer
Platform components, connector packages, model weights and knowledge base indexes are packaged into a versioned bundle on connected infrastructure the organization controls.
The bundle moves across the boundary under existing controls
Transfer into the air-gapped environment follows the organization's own approved media transfer or data diode process. Nexus does not require a specific transfer mechanism.
The bundle is verified before installation
Package integrity is checked against the bundle's signature before anything is installed, so a transfer error or tampering is caught before deployment.
Installation and activation happen entirely offline
Installation, licensing and activation run inside the disconnected environment. No call-home step is required to bring the platform into service.
Update and upgrade process
Updates arrive as bundles, on the organization's schedule.
There is no background update process reaching out to check for new versions. Updates are pulled in deliberately.
A typical update cycle
A new platform version, connector pack or model update is prepared as a bundle on connected infrastructure. The organization's own transfer process moves it across the boundary. An administrator inside the environment reviews the bundle, verifies its signature, and applies it during a maintenance window they control. Nothing is applied automatically.
Because the organization decides when to apply an update, air-gapped deployments can run a specific platform version for as long as their own change control process requires, rather than being forced onto a vendor's release cadence.
What is genuinely unavailable
Being direct about the trade-off.
Disconnected operation is a deliberate choice with real costs. These are the honest limits.
What still works fully offline
- Workflow execution, connectors to reachable internal systems, and code steps.
- Self-hosted model inference, retrieval and guardrail evaluation.
- Identity, RBAC, secrets management and the full execution record.
- Licensing, activation and platform administration.
What is genuinely unavailable without connectivity
- Any connector step that targets a system reachable only over the internet, such as a public cloud API or SaaS product outside the boundary.
- Real-time threat intelligence or vulnerability feeds that are normally pulled from an external source; these must be imported manually on the organization's own schedule.
- Automatic update notifications, since there is no channel for the platform to check for a new version on its own.
Relevant capabilities
Where this is implemented across the platform.
Deployment
On-premises, private cloud, sovereign cloud and air-gapped options in detail.
ExploreSovereign AI
Self-hosted models that run the same way connected or disconnected.
ExploreGovernance and Audit
Identity and the execution record inside a disconnected environment.
ExploreEnterprise Integration
Connectors to systems reachable inside the boundary.
ExploreArchitecture session
Tell us about your connectivity constraint.
We will walk through what a disconnected deployment of your specific workflows would actually require, including where the honest limits are.