No accountable owner
Assign a sponsor before the agent is trusted with consequential work.
AI Agent Discovery
Know which AI agents exist—who owns them and what they can reach.
Build an accountable inventory of AI agents across connected environments. Map each agent to an owner, business purpose, tools, credential paths, and reachable systems—then flag higher-risk agents for review, containment, or runtime governance.
Turn discovered activity into accountable identity—and accountable identity into a defined control path.
From agent activity to accountable identity
Agent platforms
Custom applications
MCP and tool traffic
Automation environments
Agent identity record
Accountable ownerAssigned
PurposeRecorded
ReachMapped
Credential pathObserved
Control stateNeeds review
Next control
Review
Contain
Govern at runtime
Illustrative view. Coverage depends on connected sources.
The first control
You cannot govern an agent you cannot identify.
AI agents appear through copilots, automation platforms, custom applications, agent frameworks, and tool-connected workflows. Security teams need a working inventory that shows which agents exist, who is accountable for them, why they exist, and what they can reach.
Which agents are operating?
Identify agents from supported sources and bring them into one inventory.
Who is accountable?
Associate each agent with an owner or sponsor, operating team, and business purpose.
What can each agent reach?
Map connected tools, systems, APIs, and credential paths where source data is available.
What needs action now?
Prioritize agents with missing ownership, broad reach, reusable credentials, or sensitive destinations.
Accountable inventory
Turn agent activity into accountable identity records.
A discovered agent becomes governable when its identity record establishes who is responsible, why it exists, what it can reach, and how it acts.
Inventory is not the finish line. It is the context required to review reach, assign responsibility, and connect supported actions to control.
AI agent inventoryIllustrative product view
Agents discoveredOwnership gapsReviews requiredGoverned paths active
Agent
Owner or sponsor
Credential path
Governance state
Illustrative view. Available fields and relationships depend on connected sources.
Agent identity record
Deployment agent
agt-deploy-prod
Accountable owner
Platform Engineering
Sponsor
Maya Chen
Business purpose
Production deployment automation
Discovery source
Custom application
Agent type
Pipeline automation agent
Reachable tools and systems
Repository write · cloud deployment
Credential handling
1 reusable credential observed
Related policies
Production change policy
Governance state
Review required
Evidence status
Partial — decision only
Observed
First 64 days · last 12 minutes ago
Agent identity recordDeployment agentagt-deploy-prod
Accountable owner
Platform Engineering
Sponsor
Maya Chen
Business purpose
Production deployment automation
Discovery source
Custom application
Agent type
Pipeline automation agent
Reachable tools and systems
Repository write · cloud deployment
Credential handling
1 reusable credential observed
Related policies
Production change policy
Governance state
Review required
Evidence status
Partial — decision only
Observed
First 64 days · last 12 minutes ago
Reach and exposure
See where an agent can cause change.
An inventory count is not enough. Connect each agent to the tools, APIs, systems, and credential paths it may use so reviewers can focus on agents with the greatest operational reach.
Relationship view: the selected agent connects to credential paths, tools and APIs, and reachable systems; the reusable credential and production route are highlighted as one open-finding path.
ObservedDeclaredInferredOpen finding
Relationships shown depend on source data and connected integrations.
Operational reach
- Systems reachable
- 3
- Tools callable
- 3
- Credential paths
- 2
- Credential exposure
- 1 reusable credential
- Sensitive destinations
- 1
- Open findings
- 2
Values shown are illustrative for the selected example agent.
Priority findings
Reusable credential in the path
Move supported actions to a controlled execution boundary so the agent does not hold the destination credential.
Sensitive or high-impact destination
Require an explicit runtime decision before the action is dispatched.
Unconfirmed purpose or scope
Confirm why the agent exists and which actions are appropriate.
From discovery to control
Reduce exposure. Govern consequential actions.
Discovery should lead to an appropriate response: register the agent, assign accountability, reduce unnecessary reach, remediate unsafe credential paths, or require runtime control for consequential actions.
Register the identity
Create a governed identity record and connect the agent to an accountable owner and stated purpose.
Assign accountability
Resolve missing ownership and route the agent to the team responsible for its operation.
Reduce unnecessary reach
Reduce reachable tools, systems, or credentials through the control responsible for that path.
Require approval or assurance
Require an explicit approval or assurance step before supported actions can proceed.
Govern execution at runtime
Evaluate the exact proposed action in context and dispatch approved actions through a governed path.
Response optionsIllustrative product view
Open findingReusable credential detected in agent path
Recommended response: move supported actions to governed execution
Agent
Operations agent
Owner
Operations automation team
Destination
Production administration API
Available
Available
Where source control is connected
On declared enforcement paths
Available response and containment actions depend on the connected source and declared enforcement path.
Coverage
Be explicit about what is discovered—and what is not.
Coverage depends on connected sources and the metadata each source exposes. Discovery, relationship mapping, credential visibility, and containment should be shown separately so buyers can evaluate the paths available to them.
Source
Agent inventory
Ownership and purpose
Reach mapping
Credential-path visibility
Available control actions
Agent platforms
Available
Available
Source dependent
Source dependent
Source dependent
Custom applications and APIs
Configuration required
Available
Source dependent
Source dependent
Configuration required
MCP gateways
Available
Configuration required
Available
Source dependent
Available
LLM gateways
Source dependent
Configuration required
Source dependent
Not currently available
Source dependent
Automation environments
Available
Source dependent
Source dependent
Source dependent
Source dependent
Coverage must be generated from EmpowerID’s approved connector and enforcement-path registry. “Discovered” does not imply that every relationship, credential path, containment action, or runtime control is available for that source.
Identity Fabric
Discovery connects to control on the Identity Fabric.
Once an agent is identified, EmpowerID can connect its identity record to accountable ownership, purpose-bound authority, runtime authorization, governed execution, and evidence on supported paths.
Agent platformsCustom applicationsMCP gatewaysLLM gatewaysAutomation environments
Discover
Identify the agent and its source.
Register the identity
Bind the agent to an owner, purpose, and governed identity.
Authorize
Decide the exact proposed action in context.
Execute
Dispatch approved actions through a governed path.
Prove
Record the decision, dispatch, and observed outcome where verification is supported.
EmpowerID Identity Fabric
Context and graphGoverned AuthorizationGoverned executionEvidence and verification
SaaSCloudERPAPIsEnterprise applications
MCP Gateway
Govern supported tool and MCP calls at the execution boundary.
LLM Gateway
Apply policy context to supported model access and interactions.
Agent Governance & Execution
Connect the acting agent, accountable sponsor, exact action, execution path, and evidence.
Gateways provide observation and enforcement points. They do not replace accountable agent identity, ownership, purpose, or inventory.
FAQ
Common questions
AI agent discovery is the process of identifying agent instances from supported sources and creating an inventory that can be reviewed and governed. A useful record includes the source, accountable owner or sponsor, purpose, and reachable tools or systems where that information is available.
A service account is typically a non-human identity used by an application or workload. An AI agent is an acting system that can select or propose actions, invoke tools, and operate toward a goal. An agent may use one or more service accounts, tokens, or delegated credentials, so the agent record and credential records should remain connected but distinct.
No. Discovery creates visibility and context. Containment or runtime enforcement requires a supported control path and an explicit policy or operator action.
At minimum, capture an accountable owner or sponsor, operating team, business purpose, discovery source, and review state. Where connected sources expose it, also capture reachable tools and systems, credential handling, related policies, and last-observed activity.
A discovered agent can be registered as a governed identity, associated with purpose and accountable authority, and connected to runtime controls. On supported paths, EmpowerID can evaluate the exact proposed action, require additional assurance or deny it, dispatch approved actions through a governed boundary, and record evidence.
No. Coverage depends on the sources connected to EmpowerID and the metadata those sources expose. EmpowerID should publish source-by-source coverage for discovery, relationship mapping, credential visibility, and available containment or enforcement actions.
MCP and LLM gateways can provide useful observations and enforcement points for agent traffic. They are part of the broader governance chain; they do not replace accountable agent identity, ownership, purpose, or an inventory across other sources.
Security teams can assign an owner, validate purpose, reduce access, remediate a credential path, require review, or connect supported actions to governed execution. The available response depends on the source and the declared enforcement path.
Get started
Bring AI agents into view—and under accountable control.
See how EmpowerID discovers agents across supported environments, connects them to owners and reachable systems, and routes higher-risk activity into containment or governed execution.
