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Universal Platform Offering

By default, a device sees only the software offerings that belong to its specific platform and device type.

The Universal Platform feature is for special devices — such as management consoles, gateways, or universal installer nodes — that need to see the complete software catalog across every platform and device type, not just their own.

How It Works​

When a device is configured with the universal platform identifier, the server automatically returns offerings for all platforms and all device types in a single response.

From the device's perspective, it simply receives a richer catalog — no special handling is needed on the device side.

Enabling Universal Platform Offering​

To enable this behavior, assign the platform name universal to the device in the server configuration.

Case-Insensitive

The token is case-insensitive — universal, Universal, and UNIVERSAL are all recognized and treated the same way.

Reserved Name

universal is a reserved platform identifier. Do not create a regular platform with this name — it will be treated as the universal token and bypass normal platform-scoped offering.

What the Device Receives​

Device PlatformWhat the device sees
linux-x64, windows-arm, etc.Only offerings relevant to that platform
universalOfferings for every platform and device type in the system

The response is a single merged list — the device does not need to make multiple requests or know how many platforms exist.

Notes​

  • Complete catalog: The device receives offerings from all platforms and all device types — not just its own.
  • Partial availability: If offerings for one platform or device type are temporarily unavailable, the device still receives everything else. No error is returned for partial failures.
  • No duplicates: If the same software release is offered under multiple platforms or device types, it appears only once in the response.
  • Dependencies included: Any software that another offering depends on is automatically included in the response.

Agent-to-Agent (A2A) Mode​

In an A2A topology, one agent acts as an intermediary server that downstream agents connect to instead of the main GetApp server. The intermediary agent proxies discovery, delivery, and deploy requests upstream.

Universal Platform in A2A​

For an A2A intermediary to serve downstream agents across multiple platforms, assign the universal platform token to the intermediary agent:

# In the agent's .env file
DEVICE_PLATFORM_TOKEN=universal

With this setting, the intermediary agent's own discovery will retrieve offerings for every platform, making the full catalog available locally for all downstream agents regardless of their platform.

How It Works in A2A​

The intermediary agent, configured with universal, downloads the full catalog — all platforms and device types — from the upstream server.

Downstream agents connecting to the intermediary each receive only the offerings relevant to their own platform, exactly as they would connecting directly to the server. The universal setting is transparent to downstream agents.

Configuration Reference (Technical)​

There are three ways to set the universal platform on a device: via the .env file, via the enrollment CLI command, or via the REST API.

Option 1 — Environment Variable (.env file)​

Open the agent's .env file (see the Enrollment page for file location) and set or add the DEVICE_PLATFORM_TOKEN variable:

DEVICE_PLATFORM_TOKEN=universal

After saving the file, restart the agent service to apply the change.

note

If DEVICE_PLATFORM_TOKEN is commented out or not present, the agent uses the platform registered during enrollment. Uncomment or add the line to override it.

Option 2 — Enrollment CLI Command​

Use the device set-enrollment CLI command with the --platform flag:

getapp device set-enrollment --platform universal

You can combine this with other enrollment parameters in a single command:

getapp device set-enrollment --device-id <DEVICE_ID> --device-type <TYPE> --platform universal
Verify the change

Run getapp device get to confirm the platform is now set to universal.

Option 3 — REST API​

Send a PUT request to the agent's enrollment endpoint:

PUT http://<agent-host>:<port>/api/v2/device/enrollment
Content-Type: application/json

Request body:

{
  "platform": "universal"
}

You can combine it with other enrollment fields in a single request:

{
  "deviceId": "<DEVICE_ID>",
  "deviceType": ["<TYPE>"],
  "platform": "universal",
}

All fields are optional — only the ones provided will be updated.

Verify via API

After the call, send GET http://<agent-host>:<port>/api/v2/device to confirm the platform field is set to universal.

Comparison​

MethodWhen to use
.env fileScripted/automated provisioning, infrastructure-as-code, or when managing many devices
device set-enrollment CLIInteractive setup, one-off changes, or when UI/shell access is available
REST APIRemote or programmatic configuration, CI/CD pipelines, or management tools

All three methods produce the same result — the agent reports universal as its platform on the next discovery cycle.