How integrations work
Agent Hive connects to outside tools over MCP, the Model Context Protocol. An integration gives a scoped set of agents the ability to act in a tool you already run on, like a help desk, a store, or an analytics account. Auth respects scope, and every call is audited.
You can also bring your own MCP servers. If a tool you use is not in the catalog, you can wire it in yourself.
Scope and audit
An integration does not hand the whole colony the keys to a tool. It grants a specific capability to specific roles, and every action taken through it lands in the audit trail with the agent that took it. The integration catalog lists what is available today.
This is the same principle as agent scope, applied to tools. Just as a support agent cannot change your pricing, an integration that lets an agent post to a channel does not also let it delete the channel. Capabilities are granted narrowly, so connecting a tool never quietly widens what your colony can do to it.
Bring your own MCP server
If a tool you depend on is not in the catalog, you are not stuck. Because integrations speak MCP, you can point your colony at your own MCP server and give your agents a capability we never shipped. This is how internal tools, niche vendors, and bespoke systems get wired into the same governed, audited flow as everything else.
A custom integration is held to the same rules: scoped to specific roles, audited on every call, and subject to your approval gates. Bringing your own server widens what your colony can reach without widening what it can do unchecked.
Why integrations route through the gateway
Agent Hive does not let the browser client call an integration directly. Calls route through the gateway, which is what keeps auth scoped, every call audited, and the dashboard fast. It is also why the UI never has to hold a tool's credentials: the credential lives in the colony, and the client only ever sees the result.
This article is part of the launch docs set; boundaries and depth are still being reviewed with engineering and will keep sharpening.
