Last updated: 10 November 2026
Yes, you can build an AI agent once and rent it to many clients: shape one agent around one job, set it up for each client on that client's own server, and charge a monthly fee you choose. With CRHQ, the agent harness, the rented agent runs as a contained agent, sealed off so it reads only the knowledge you grant and spends only up to the caps you set.
What renting an AI agent means
Renting an agent means a client pays you every month for an agent that does one specific job for them, while you keep it running and improve it. The job is narrow on purpose. Answering website visitors for a clinic, a shop or a club is a good fit. So is a staff helpdesk that answers HR, IT or policy questions from the client's own documents.
What you reuse from client to client is the setup: the job, the skills the agent may use, the shape of its knowledge and its spending caps. What changes per client is the knowledge itself, such as opening hours, prices and policies, and the place where the agent appears.
| The job | Run it as | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Answer website visitors from the client's knowledge and hand off to a person | A contained agent on the client's website | It is sealed off, tells visitors it is an AI, and a person can join the chat |
| Answer staff questions from the client's documents | A contained agent in the app or on a Canvas page | It answers only from the knowledge you grant |
| Ongoing work that needs a browser, schedules, memory or email | A regular agent on the client's server that you manage as a service | Contained agents leave these out in their first version |
Contained agents: the sealed part
A contained agent is an agent you created with the Contained setting turned on. Each conversation runs in its own sealed space, and the agent treats every message as possibly hostile. Even if someone talks it into something, it can only reach what you granted, spend up to its cap and talk in that one conversation.
It may read the knowledge you granted (a knowledge folder, project documents and approved skills), write its reply and, on a website chat, ask for a person. Your files, other conversations, memory, credentials, saved logins, the browser and the internet stay out of reach.
Every contained agent has four spending limits, checked before any cost. You can change them in the agent's Contained settings.
| Limit | Default |
|---|---|
| Per answer | $0.50 |
| Per person or visitor per day | $2 |
| For the agent per day | $20 |
| For all contained agents on the server per month | $200 |
When a limit is reached, the person gets a polite message.
Contained agents run on the AI account and model already connected on that server: a Claude subscription or Anthropic API key, ChatGPT through Codex, Z.ai GLM, OpenRouter or DeepSeek. Cursor models cannot run contained agents. On a server that defaults to Cursor, contained agents use the next connected provider. The first version also leaves out the browser and saved logins, credentials, memory between conversations, schedules, messages to other agents, Slack and email. Chat blocks on Canvas pages work on signed-in pages only for now.
Give every client one rule early: treat everything in the agent's knowledge as public. A determined person may get the agent to repeat it, so private details, passwords, keys and tokens stay out of it.
Packaging: skills and a theme you build once
The part you build once lives in skills and a theme.
A CRHQ skill is a versioned package of instructions, scripts and references that agents follow. You build it once for your organization, roll it out to every server, and new versions arrive automatically. A contained agent can use the approved skills you grant it, so the know-how for the job goes into a skill you maintain in one place: how to answer, when to hand a chat to a person, the house rules for that line of business.
The theme is what the client sees. The Theme Builder agent builds a Canvas from your logo or website. You share it with your organization, set it as the default and lock it for client servers, and each new version reaches every client server. A chat block on one of its pages puts the rented agent inside the client's own interface.
A copy for each client, on the client's own server
The cleanest setup is one CRHQ server per client, with its own knowledge, caps and conversations. Each server is isolated: agents on one client's server cannot reach another client's server. Only your organization's Fleet Agent works across your servers, at the request of a person in your organization.
Built-in and organization-managed agents keep full power, so the contained agent itself is a separate agent you create on each client's server. The skills and the theme carry over, and per client you grant knowledge, set caps and choose where the agent runs.
With white label, each client server runs under your brand and your domain, and the sign-in page and support agents use your name. The website chat itself is always served from the server's crhq.ai address, even when the client's app uses their own domain.
When a website visitor asks for a person, the chat shows as waiting in that server's settings, the agent stays quiet, and a person replies in the same chat under their name.
Billing: you bill the client, and the referral program
As the rent-out use case puts it, you decide what you charge each client. CRHQ bills the server, and contained agents use the AI account connected on that server.
CRHQ offers agencies two separate routes.
| White label | Referral program | |
|---|---|---|
| Who the client pays | You, at prices you set | CRHQ, for their server |
| Who CRHQ bills | You, for the servers you run | The client |
| What you earn from CRHQ | Your margin is the difference between your price and CRHQ's | $50 a month for every server the client pays for, for 12 months from their first paid month, including servers added later |
| Client offer | Set by you | $60 off the client's first paid month |
| CRHQ pricing | Partner pricing, shared on a call | Standard list prices, from $299 a month per server |
| How to start | Book a call about white label | Apply from the Referrals page in your account, or write to hello@crhq.ai (details) |
Two terms of the referral program matter here: resellers with a partner discount may join, but their own servers never earn, and the $19 trial fee earns nothing. The page's own example is five clients with two servers each, which comes to $500 a month once all of them pay.
To price a rental, add up the server (from $299 a month at list price, or your partner price), the model spend for contained agents and your own time. The server's monthly cap for contained agents ($200 by default) puts a ceiling on the model spend, so a busy month cannot surprise you or your client.
How to rent out your first agent
- Pick one job in one line of business, such as answering visitors for clinics. Write down what the agent may know and what it must hand to a person.
- Build and test it on your own server. Create a new agent, open its Contained settings and switch Contained on. The first time, press "Set up on this server", which needs about 6 GB of free disk space and uses about 4 GB.
- Put the reusable know-how into skills and roll them out to your servers. Grant the agent a knowledge folder, project documents and the approved skills.
- Build the client view with the Theme Builder agent, make it your default and lock it for client servers (with white label).
- Give your first client their own server, either under white label or through your referral link.
- Build the client's agent with the client. Agree what it may know, switch Contained on, grant their knowledge, check that an AI account is connected on the client's server and set caps that match your price.
- Choose where it runs: the client's app, a chat block on a Canvas page, or the client's website with "Anyone can talk to it" and "On websites" turned on. On a website, add one script tag or a plain iframe.
- Hand it over. Make sure the client's privacy notice covers the chat and names the AI provider connected on that server and Cloudflare Turnstile, and show someone at the client where the chat's off switch is.
- Read conversations together with the client and update the agent's knowledge. For client two, reuse the same skills and theme and start again at step 6.
The CRHQ setup guide, linked from contained agents, has every screen.
FAQ
Answers checked on 8 November 2026.
Can I rent out an AI agent I built?
Yes. In CRHQ you build a contained agent around one job, set it up for each client on their own server and charge a monthly price you set. CRHQ bills the server, and the agent's model usage runs on the AI account connected on that server.
What should I keep out of a rented agent's knowledge?
Treat anything in a contained agent's knowledge as public, because a determined person may get the agent to repeat it. Private details, passwords, keys and tokens stay out of it. An admin sees everything on their server, including an agent's instructions and skills. So give the client's people a role instead of admin access, with "Create and edit agents and skills" and the Workspace areas switched off.
Is there a reseller or referral program?
Yes, there are two routes. With white label you sell CRHQ under your own brand, bill your clients directly and get partner pricing on a call. With the referral program you earn $50 a month for every server your customers pay for, for 12 months, and each customer gets $60 off their first paid month.
What does a client need to run a rented agent?
A CRHQ server, with about 6 GB of free disk space the first time contained agents are set up. It also needs an AI account other than Cursor connected on that server and the knowledge the agent may share. For a website chat, the client also needs a privacy notice that covers the chat and names the AI provider and Cloudflare Turnstile.
Start with one agent and one client
Run your first contained agent on a dedicated CRHQ server: $19 for a 7-day trial, then from $299 a month per server (pricing). AI subscriptions and API usage are billed by your provider.