Agent Discovery

Agent Discovery brings AI agents operating across your enterprise into a unified inventory, enabling posture assessment, governance, and runtime security. It gives Agent Identity Security the information it needs to identify agents and bring available agent and platform context into a unified Agent Registry and AIBOM.

Once an agent is discovered, you can enrich it with identity context, assess it for posture and risk, govern it through workflows and compliance controls, and secure it with runtime policies.

Discovery methods

AI agents operate in different environments from coding agents on developer endpoints to agents hosted on enterprise AI platforms or built using custom frameworks. Agent Identity Security supports multiple discovery methods to give you a consistent inventory across all of them.

Discovery method When to use it Learn more
Coding Agents Discover supported coding agents running on developer endpoints through Code Guardian or managed endpoint deployment. Coding Agents
Enterprise AI / SaaS Platforms Connect supported enterprise AI platforms through API-based integrations to discover agents and available platform context. Enterprise AI / SaaS Platforms
Custom Agents Use the Agent Identity Security SDK to bring supported custom or framework-based agents into the Agent Identity Security inventory. Custom Agents
Endpoint-Based Discovery Extend visibility to supported AI agent activity identified through endpoint, MDM, or EDR-based discovery mechanisms. Endpoint-Based Discovery
Note: All supported discovery methods contribute to the Agent Registry and AIBOM, providing a common inventory for understanding agents and their associated resources.

Choosing the right discovery method

  • Use Coding Agents for coding assistants running in developer environments.
  • Use Enterprise AI / SaaS Platforms for agents hosted on supported enterprise AI or SaaS platforms.
  • Use the Agent Identity Security SDK for custom or framework-based agents.
  • Use Endpoint-Based Discovery to extend discovery through supported endpoint, MDM, or EDR mechanisms.

What happens after an agent is discovered

Discovery establishes the agent in Agent Identity Security. Other Agent Identity Security capabilities then provide additional identity, security, and governance context.

Capability What it adds
Identity Providers Enrich agents with enterprise identity, ownership, and lifecycle context.
Agent Posture & Risk Assess supported security, identity, access, and configuration conditions.
Workflows Automate governance actions in response to agent, identity, or posture events.
Agent Policies Control supported agent actions at runtime.
MCP Gateway Secure and govern supported agent-to-MCP interactions.
Tip: Discovery flow: Discover the agent → Build the inventory → Enrich and assess → Govern and secure