---
sidebar_label: Legacy Scopes
doc_id: 67b61df9-58a3-459f-82da-4740ef123078
description: >-
  Legacy runtime environments where application assets are deployed and scale
  (Kubernetes, EC2, Lambda). Supported for existing workloads; prefer
  agent-backed scopes for new implementations.
keywords:
  - scopes
  - runtime environments
  - Kubernetes
  - AWS Lambda
  - deployment
---

# Legacy scopes

:::note
These scopes are **legacy**. They remain supported for existing workloads, but for new implementations use [agent-backed scopes](/docs/agent-backed-scopes/) instead.
:::

Legacy scopes are runtime environments where your application assets are deployed. A scope represents a logical unit where the asset (for example, a Docker image or Lambda function) runs and scales with the same technological specification.

In a server-based application, a scope is a cluster or pool of VMs that run replicas of your application. In a serverless application, a scope is the host of a single function.

## Supported types

Legacy scopes support three infrastructure types:

- **Kubernetes**: container-based deployments on EKS
- **Server instances (EC2)**: VM-based deployments with auto-scaling groups
- **Serverless (Lambda)**: serverless function deployments

## Partitioning scopes

You can create as many scopes as you need. Common partitioning strategies include distributing an application across multiple regions, creating production, testing, and development environments, separating reads from writes, and rightsizing infrastructure by allocating different resources to different workloads.

:::info
**On AWS, each balancer supports up to 100 deployments.** There's a hard limit of 100 deployments per balancer (specifically per `ELBListener`) imposed by AWS. Distribute scopes across different balancers to avoid reaching this limit. The [Management](/docs/scopes-legacy/management) page covers how to increase this limit.
:::

## Access control

Scopes are subject to approvals and policies. Refer to those topics to learn how to manage scope security in your organization.

## Next steps

- [Agent-backed scopes](/docs/agent-backed-scopes/): the recommended approach for new implementations
- [Scope types](/docs/agent-backed-scopes/scope-types): compare all available scope types
- [Management](/docs/scopes-legacy/management): manage, resize, and troubleshoot legacy scopes