> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://panaptico.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connecting providers

> Set up provider connections for live system discovery

Panaptico connects to your real systems to discover what actually exists in your environment. Provider connections power the systems ontology, architecture diagrams, and reconciliation engine.

## Supported providers

Panaptico supports connections to cloud platforms, identity providers, data platforms, security tools, and other enterprise systems including:

* **Cloud** — AWS, Azure, GCP
* **Identity** — Okta, Azure AD, Auth0
* **Data** — Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery
* **Security** — Palo Alto, CrowdStrike, Wiz
* **Networking** — Cisco, Fortinet
* **Storage** — NetApp, Pure Storage
* **Collaboration** — Microsoft 365, Google Workspace

The ontology normalizes provider-specific resources into a shared representation so cross-provider relationships can be reasoned about in the same implementation.

## Add a provider

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to Settings → Providers">
    Navigate to the provider management page
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Add Provider">
    Select your provider from the catalog
  </Step>

  <Step title="Authenticate">
    Follow the provider-specific authentication flow — OAuth, API key, service account, or role assumption
  </Step>

  <Step title="Scope the connection">
    Select which accounts, tenants, or projects the connection should discover. You don't need to connect everything — scope to what's relevant to your implementation.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Read-only by default

<Note>
  Provider connections use **read-only access** by default. Discovery inspects your environment without making any changes. Write permissions can be granted later for bounded execution tasks.
</Note>

## What discovery finds

When a provider is connected, Panaptico discovers:

* **Resources** — compute instances, databases, storage, networking, IAM roles, policies
* **Relationships** — dependencies, integrations, data flows between resources
* **Configurations** — settings, parameters, security posture
* **Access models** — who can access what, through which mechanisms

Discovered resources appear in the **Systems Ontology** view, where they can be confirmed, flagged, or mapped to implementation tasks.

## Multiple providers

Most implementations span multiple systems. Panaptico's cross-provider ontology means that an Okta group, an AWS IAM role, and a Snowflake warehouse can all appear in the same implementation graph with their relationships mapped.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Creating blueprints" icon="file-plus" href="/docs/guides/creating-blueprints">
    Use connected providers to generate a blueprint
  </Card>

  <Card title="Systems ontology" icon="diagram-project" href="/docs/core-concepts/implementation-graph">
    How discovered systems feed the implementation graph
  </Card>
</CardGroup>