> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://neuraltrust-92b43583-develop.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> Compare SaaS, Hybrid, External, and Central control plane deployment models.

NeuralTrust ships as a **single umbrella Helm chart**,
[`neuraltrust-platform`](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform),
with one value selecting the topology:

```yaml theme={null}
global:
  deploymentMode: hybrid # hybrid | external | saas
```

Choose the deployment model before installation. It determines which components
you install, which prerequisites you need, and whether the deployment uses the
NeuralTrust console.

## Comparison

| Characteristic                      | **SaaS**           | **Hybrid**                                           | **External**                  | **Central control plane**                         |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Control plane                       | NeuralTrust        | NeuralTrust                                          | Your environment              | Your environment                                  |
| Data plane (TrustGate / TrustGuard) | NeuralTrust        | Your environment                                     | Your environment              | Your environment, in several clusters             |
| Raw payloads                        | NeuralTrust        | Your PostgreSQL                                      | Your PostgreSQL               | Stays in the cluster that produced it             |
| Metadata / analytics                | NeuralTrust        | Exported to NeuralTrust (OTLP)                       | Your in-cluster ClickHouse    | Exported to your central ClickHouse               |
| SaaS dependency at runtime          | Full               | Config sync + metadata export                        | None (optional hosted export) | None                                              |
| Clusters                            | None of yours      | One                                                  | One                           | One central, plus one per data plane              |
| Console setup first?                | Nothing to install | Yes — each product issues tokens you need at install | No                            | No, but your console issues tokens to data planes |
| Typical size                        | —                  | 3–4 workers at 8 vCPU / 16–32 GiB                    | 4–5 workers of the same class | 4–5 central, plus 3–4 per data plane              |
| `global.deploymentMode`             | —                  | `hybrid`                                             | `external`                    | `saas`                                            |

## SaaS

NeuralTrust operates both planes. There is nothing to install in your cluster
and nothing on these pages to follow.

## Hybrid

You run the data plane; NeuralTrust runs the control plane. Raw prompts and
responses stay in your PostgreSQL (`TELEMETRY_EXPORTERS_RAW=postgres`), and
metadata leaves as OTLP (`TELEMETRY_EXPORTERS_METADATA=otlp`). Your cluster
opens every connection to NeuralTrust — configuration is pulled, never pushed.

Each product you run is a separate console object with its **own** tokens, so an
install with both TrustGate and TrustGuard collects two token sets.

<Card title="Hybrid" icon="cloud-arrow-up" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/hybrid">
  Architecture, network rules, install, verification, and high availability.
</Card>

## External

You run **everything** — control planes, data planes, the product console, and a
self-hosted analytics stack (ClickStack collector, ClickHouse, DataCore, and
AlertEngine). There is no runtime dependency on NeuralTrust SaaS, so no console
tokens are issued and DataAgent does not run.

Choose it for air-gapped or strict data-residency environments.

<Card title="External (self-hosted)" icon="server" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/external">
  The full inventory, datastores, install, and high availability.
</Card>

## Central control plane

You run **one** control plane and enrol data planes into it from **other**
clusters. Choose it when a single External install cannot work because data has
to stay where it was produced — separate business units, jurisdictions, or
environments — but the console, alerting, and cross-cluster reporting have to be
in one place.

<Note>
  The chart value is `saas` because this control plane behaves like NeuralTrust's
  hosted one — but it is yours, and it runs in your environment. It is the opposite
  of the hosted **SaaS** model above, where there is nothing to install.
</Note>

<Card title="Central control plane" icon="sitemap" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/central">
  The central cluster, cross-cluster endpoints, remote data planes, and high availability.
</Card>

## Shared reference

The model guides link into these where they need them. You do not have to read
them first.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Requirements and dependencies" icon="list-check" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/architecture">
    Every dependency you provide, the ports between components, and capacity.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuration" icon="sliders" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/configuration">
    Managed stores, ingress, TLS, GPU workers, and every values switch.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Container images" icon="box" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/images">
    The registry key, mirroring for air-gapped clusters, chart sources.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Secrets" icon="lock" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/secrets">
    What the chart generates and what you must supply.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cloud notes" icon="cloud" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/cloud-notes">
    EKS, AKS, GKE, and vanilla Kubernetes particularities.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Validation checklist" icon="clipboard-check" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/validation">
    The hand-off gate: what to prove before an install counts as done.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Troubleshooting" icon="wrench" href="/neuraltrust/deployment/troubleshooting">
    Install, pod, config-sync, login, and telemetry failures.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## The chart repository

The Helm chart is developed in the open at
[NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform).
These pages are the task-oriented guide; the repository is the reference, and it
is worth a look if you are the person actually running the platform.

| There                                                                                                                                                          | What it gives you                                           |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| [`values.yaml`](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform/blob/main/values.yaml)                                                                     | Every setting the chart accepts, with its default           |
| [`SECRETS.md`](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform/blob/main/SECRETS.md)                                                                       | Exhaustive per-component Secret and key contract            |
| [`VALUES_SCENARIOS.md`](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform/blob/main/VALUES_SCENARIOS.md)                                                     | Worked scenarios and the values that implement them         |
| [`docs/`](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform/tree/main/docs)                                                                                  | Architecture contract, sizing, network, observability       |
| [`values-*.yaml.example`](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform)                                                                                 | Starting points for each topology                           |
| [CHANGELOG](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md) · [Issues](https://github.com/NeuralTrust/neuraltrust-platform/issues) | What changed between versions, and where to report problems |

All of it also ships inside the chart artifact, so `helm pull <chart-ref> --version <VERSION> --untar` gives you the copy that matches the version you run
— see [Get the chart sources](/neuraltrust/deployment/images#get-the-chart-sources).