Heroku Managed Inference

Heroku Managed Inference

Work with Heroku Managed Inference and Agents using the current add-on and CLI plugin model.

Start with plugin and add-on inspection

Resolve this installed skill's directory first. Do not assume the current workspace contains the skill source repository.

Run the bundled inspection helper from this skill's scripts/ directory:

python3 /path/to/heroku-managed-inference/scripts/plugin_status.py

Use the output to determine:

• whether the Heroku CLI is installed
• whether the Heroku AI plugin is already installed
• whether AI subcommands are available in the current shell

Preferred workflow

Follow the current documented flow:

1. install the AI plugin if needed with heroku plugins:install @heroku/plugin-ai
2. create or identify the target app
3. provision standard-plan access with heroku addons:create heroku-inference:standard -a <app>
4. inspect available models with heroku ai:models:list
5. inspect attached resources with heroku ai:models:info -a <app>
6. make bounded test calls with heroku ai:models:call <MODEL_RESOURCE> -a <app> --prompt '...'

Prefer the standard-plan add-on workflow over deprecated model-by-model creation and destroy commands. The current standard plan gives one add-on and one inference key access to the supported model catalog, so switching models should normally be a code change, not a reprovisioning step.

Resource handling

• Use aliases intentionally when attaching multiple model resources to one app.
• Keep region alignment in mind when provisioning resources.
• Treat chat, embedding, rerank, and image-capable resources as separate operational concerns even when they live on one app.
• Review the latest catalog before recommending a model. As of February 19, 2026, Heroku announced Claude 4.6 models, DeepSeek v3.2, Kimi K2.5, MiniMax M2.1, ZAI GLM 4.7, ZAI GLM 4.7 Flash, and Cohere Embed v4 under the standard-plan workflow.
• Prefer steering users away from deprecated Claude 3.5, Claude 3.7, and Claude 4 variants when Claude 4.5 or 4.6 satisfies the workload.

Guardrails

Ask for confirmation before:

• installing the Heroku AI plugin into a shared shell environment
• provisioning or destroying inference resources
• attaching a model resource from one app to another
• running test prompts that may expose sensitive data

Prefer harmless sample prompts when validating access.

References

• Read references/inference-workflows.md for current commands, deprecations, and source links.