# Connections

Let the agent call your external tools, brokered server-side per project.

Canonical page: https://kortix.com/docs/concepts/connections

A **connection** (connector) lets a project's agent call an external tool or
service — Slack, Gmail, a database, any HTTP/GraphQL API. Connections are
per-project, and the agent can only use what you connect.

- **Declared as `connectors` in the manifest** — provider is one of
  **Pipedream, MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL, HTTP, Channel** (chat platforms like
  Slack and Microsoft Teams), or **Computer** (a connected machine). The definition lives in git; the
  **credentials live in the platform, never in the repo**.
- **Channel + Computer connectors auto-materialize.** Connecting Slack or
  Microsoft Teams ([Channels](/docs/concepts/channels)) creates a `kortix_slack`
  or `kortix_teams` connector (provider `channel`); connecting a machine
  ([Computers](/docs/concepts/computers)) creates the `computer` connector — no
  manifest entry needed. The `kortix_slack` / `kortix_teams` slugs are reserved
  and blocked from user-declared connectors so they can't shadow the built-in
  channel. The chat credential is the install token; the `computer` connector
  has no credential at all (the live tunnel is the credential), and per-machine
  access is granted in Computers.
- **Connection profiles choose the concrete identity behind a connector.** Each
  connector has a default project-owned profile, and the platform can also store
  additional project-scoped profiles owned by an agent, member, subject, or
  external identity (for example, several email inboxes). Profiles carry a
  credential only when the connector requires one; connectors such as `computer`
  use their live tunnel instead. A session can bind a specific profile per
  connector. Once a session binds any profile, every connector for that session
  must be bound explicitly (no silent fallback to the project default). (Legacy
  manifests can still say `credential = "per_user"` — per-member BYO credential —
  but that mode was removed; it's tolerated and silently resolves to `shared`.)
- **Per-call policies** — each tool can be set to run, require approval, or be
  blocked.
- **Set up in the dashboard** — the project's Connectors page offers Pipedream
  one-click connect plus a custom path for OpenAPI/GraphQL/MCP/HTTP. See
  [Connecting your tools](/docs/guides/connecting-tools).
- **Which agent may use which connector** is a separate, per-agent grant —
  each agent's `connectors` field in the manifest (`all`, `none`, or a list of
  slugs; see [Agents](/docs/concepts/agents)). Connecting a tool to the project
  doesn't hand it to every agent automatically.

> **Under the hood**
> Every session gets a `kortix-executor` MCP server and a scoped Executor token.
> The agent discovers tools through it (`connectors` → `discover` → `describe` →
> `call`); each `call` is brokered by the Kortix API, which resolves the credential
> server-side, enforces sharing and policies, runs it, and audits it. The agent
> never holds third-party credentials. Pipedream's one-click connect requires
> Pipedream API keys to be configured on the platform.