Zoho upgrades Catalyst to close AI production gap
Zoho Corporation is targeting the gap between AI code generation and production deployment with a major upgrade to its Catalyst platform-as-a-service. The update introduces agentic development capabilities designed to help software developers move AI-generated code from prototype to the live environment with greater speed and control.
Connecting AI assistants to infrastructure
The new additions include Agent Skills, a non-interactive command-line interface, and support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP). These tools are paired with integrations for agentic AI coding assistants such as Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex. Catalyst acts as a structured, serverless full-stack environment where developers and AI assistants can build, test, and deploy applications without needing to juggle multiple cloud providers.
“In a very short period of time, AI coding assistants have transformed how quickly applications can be created, but moving that code into production reliably remains a challenge,” said Kehinde Ogundare, country head for Zoho Nigeria. “Developers still spend significant time managing infrastructure and bringing together separate cloud services. With Catalyst, we are reducing that friction by providing an agent-ready, serverless full-stack platform that helps developers build, deploy and scale intelligent applications with greater control and less operational overhead,” he added.
Automating workflows and ensuring accuracy
One of the major highlights is Catalyst Agent Skills, which provides AI coding assistants with contextual information about the platform’s services and architecture. Instead of forcing an AI model to independently determine how to interact with the system, the tool guides the assistant toward relevant capabilities and workflows. This is intended to produce more accurate and verified outputs.
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Zoho also released a non-interactive CLI that allows AI coding assistants to execute multi-step workflows on Catalyst without requiring human input at every stage. The company’s Catalyst MCP server provides coding assistants with direct access to these capabilities from existing developer environments like VS Code and Claude Code. This means tasks such as creating database tables can be performed directly within the code editor without switching to the Catalyst console. Orchestration built into Agent Skills routes requests through the appropriate pathway, reducing the risk of incorrect tool selection and improving the reliability of applications.
Human oversight and security measures
Development and production environments remain separate, requiring code to be promoted manually into production. This means AI agents cannot directly access production environments. The platform also provides scoped collaborator controls to define who—or what—can participate in development and the actions they are permitted to perform.
Full audit trails covering applications, platforms, and MCP tool calls allow developers to track the actions of AI agents and determine when those actions occurred. Changes made after applications are launched are versioned, attributable, and reversible. Applications built on Catalyst run within Zoho’s data centres and inherit the company’s security infrastructure, including distributed denial-of-service protection, SOC compliance, and regular vulnerability assessments.
Free access for students
Zoho said the decision to make Catalyst free for students was aimed at lowering barriers for the next generation of software developers. The company said students would be able to build and deploy non-commercial applications using full-stack and AI development capabilities without providing credit card details or paying subscription fees.
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“Making Catalyst free for students is about giving the next generation of developers the opportunity to move beyond learning how to code and experience what it takes to build and deploy complete applications. By removing the cost barrier and giving students access to full-stack development and AI capabilities, we want to enable them to experiment, build practical skills and turn their ideas into working applications,” the company said.
Pricing and availability
For developers more broadly, Catalyst offers a monthly free tier and N192,500 in free credits over six months for users seeking to explore the platform more extensively. The service operates largely on a pay-as-you-go model, with features priced according to usage rather than through additional licence fees. Developers can monitor consumption through the Catalyst console and set budget alerts and spending ceilings to manage costs. A structured subscription option is also available for teams seeking more predictable expenditure.
The enhanced platform is available for immediate use, as Zoho seeks to position Catalyst as infrastructure for an emerging generation of developers increasingly using AI agents to write software but still requiring reliable systems to deploy, secure and scale their applications. Airport efficiency depends on ground equipment size to manage this flow, much like Catalyst manages the flow of code.
