Zoho Makes Catalyst Agent-Ready for AI-Assisted Application Development
Zoho Corp. has introduced new capabilities for Catalyst by Zoho, its cloud application development platform, aimed at helping developers and businesses across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) turn AI-generated code into production-ready applications.
The enhanced Catalyst 3.0 is designed to work with agentic AI coding assistants including Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex. Developers can continue using the coding assistants they already work with, while Catalyst provides the cloud infrastructure, deployment capabilities and governance controls required to build and operate applications.
According to Zoho, the approach is intended to reduce the need for developers to connect and manage multiple cloud services and vendors, while providing AI coding assistants with a structured way to build and deploy applications.
“Agentic AI coding assistants have transformed how quickly applications are being created, but getting that code deployed and operating in production remains a major hurdle. For every app being built, developers spend a lot of time stitching together separate cloud services and managing infrastructure. We built Catalyst 3.0 to eliminate that friction. By delivering an agent-ready, full-stack platform, we are providing developers and AI agents complete freedom from managing cloud infrastructure. They can build, deploy, and scale applications faster safely, with far less operational overhead.” said Hyther Nizam, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Middle East and Africa region at Zoho.
Built for AI-assisted development
Catalyst 3.0 introduces capabilities intended to make the platform compatible with a range of AI coding assistants. Zoho has introduced Agentic AI skills that provide AI coding assistants with an understanding of the Catalyst platform and help them generate production-grade code. The skills are available as an open-source repository and have also been made available through the Claude Code, Codex and Cursor marketplaces.
The company says this approach can reduce the learning curve for developers and help AI assistants use tokens more efficiently when working with Catalyst. The platform also introduces a non-interactive command-line interface (CLI) capable of completing tasks from start to finish without requiring manual input during execution.
Meanwhile, Model Context Protocol (MCP) support allows developers to complete Catalyst actions and requests directly from their AI coding assistant console, reducing the need to switch to a separate platform interface for configuration and other tasks.
Deterministic orchestration
Zoho has built orchestration into its Agentic AI skills to connect the CLI and MCP capabilities. When an AI coding assistant needs to determine how to execute a request, the Skill is designed to route it through the appropriate CLI or MCP pathway rather than leaving the choice entirely to the AI model.
Zoho says the approach is intended to reduce unnecessary developer intervention, lower the risk of incorrect tool selection and improve the consistency of applications generated through AI-assisted development. The company has also open-sourced Catalyst’s SDK, CLI and Slyte lightweight JavaScript framework, alongside its Agentic AI skills. Developers can inspect the resources and contribute to their further development.
Local data residency in the UAE and Saudi Arabia
Catalyst supports local data residency in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with the platform hosted on Zoho’s data centre infrastructure within each respective country. This gives organisations in the region access to an AI-ready application development environment while supporting local data residency requirements.
Security and governance controls
Applications built on Catalyst are supported by Zoho’s security infrastructure, including DDoS protection, vulnerability assessments and penetration testing, SOC compliance and a web application firewall. Zoho has also separated development and production environments, preventing AI agents from directly making changes to live applications.
Businesses can define the actions available to developers and AI agents, while audit records provide visibility into activities and changes made during the development process. The combination of infrastructure, access controls and audit capabilities is designed to provide organisations with greater oversight as AI agents become more involved in application development.
Supporting the next generation of developers
Zoho also offers a free student programme across the region, providing access to full-stack hosting, functions, databases and AI tooling. The company said it plans to continue expanding Catalyst’s role in AI-assisted software development, including support for multiple AI agents working together, connections to additional AI tools and greater automation across the software development lifecycle.
