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

# Apps & Agents

> What apps and agents are in MCP Manager: the AI clients that connect to a gateway, how headed OAuth apps appear automatically while headless agents use token-based credentials, and how administrators disable a specific app or agent to control access.

An **app or agent** is any AI client that connects to an **MCP Manager** [gateway](/mcp-gateway-concepts/mcp-gateways) — an interactive app such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor, or a headless agent your team builds. In MCP Manager, each connecting client is tracked as a **host**, so you can see what is connected to your gateways, control which clients are allowed, and attribute every request in your logs to the app or agent that made it.

<Note>
  The **Apps & Agents** area and its controls are gated by capabilities — for example **Create and manage API tokens** (for token-based agents) and **Disable and enable hosts**. If you don't see the area or a control, your role doesn't have the relevant capability. See the [capabilities reference](/deployment/rbac-and-roles/capabilities).
</Note>

## How apps and agents appear

A client connects to a gateway in one of two ways, and that determines whether it shows up on its own or you set it up ahead of time:

* **Headed apps (OAuth).** Interactive clients connect through an OAuth flow and **appear automatically** the first time a user connects one to a gateway — there is nothing to register in advance. The connecting user's identity rides in their OAuth token.
* **Headless agents (token-based).** An agent with no human at a browser connects with an API token instead. You create a **token-based host** to represent the agent and generate credentials to insert into it. This path — and how an agent passes each end user's identity through to downstream servers — is covered in [Agents that Pass Identities to MCP Manager](/advanced/agents-passing-identities).

```mermaid theme={null}
%%{init: {'theme':'base','themeVariables':{'fontFamily':'Lato, sans-serif','lineColor':'#6a6b76','primaryColor':'#e0e2e8','primaryTextColor':'#12141d','primaryBorderColor':'#6a6b76','edgeLabelBackground':'#ffffff','textColor':'#12141d'}}}%%
flowchart LR
  App["🤖<br/>App — headed<br/>Claude · ChatGPT · Cursor"] -->|"OAuth, appears automatically"| GW["🛡️<br/>MCP Manager gateway"]
  Agent["🤖<br/>Agent — headless<br/>token-based host"] -->|"API token"| GW
  classDef gateway fill:#0086ff,color:#ffffff,stroke:#062b4c,stroke-width:2px;
  classDef client fill:#80cbc4,color:#062b4c,stroke:#00796b,stroke-width:1.5px;
  class GW gateway;
  class App,Agent client;
```

## Connecting an app or agent to a gateway

A host reaches MCP servers only through a [gateway](/mcp-gateway-concepts/mcp-gateways), which is provisioned to the [teams](/deployment/teams) that should use it. When an app or agent connects, the gateway authenticates it, applies your rules, and brokers the right identity to each upstream server — so the same governance applies no matter which client is calling. A given host can hold connections to more than one gateway.

## Controlling which apps and agents are allowed

An administrator can **disable** any app or agent to block its access immediately. This is how you standardize on some clients and not others — for example, allowing Claude across the organization while blocking ChatGPT — or cut off a specific agent. When a host is disabled, any request using its credentials is rejected before it reaches a server, and access resumes the moment it is re-enabled (no credentials are deleted). Disabling and enabling hosts is gated by the **Disable and enable hosts** capability.

## Seeing what an app or agent did

Because every request flows through the gateway, each one is logged against the app or agent that made it and the user it acted as. Use [Viewing Logs](/features/viewing-logs) to review activity by host, gateway, connection, or user — the audit trail of what each app and agent did, with which tool.

## Further reading

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Architecture & Trust" icon="building-shield" href="/mcp-gateway-concepts/architecture-and-trust">
    How the gateway is secured as the control point in the path of every call.
  </Card>

  <Card title="MCP Gateways" icon="network-wired" href="/mcp-gateway-concepts/mcp-gateways">
    The single governed URL that apps and agents connect to.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Agents Passing Identities" icon="id-badge" href="/advanced/agents-passing-identities">
    The advanced path for headless agents and token-based hosts.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Viewing Logs" icon="rectangle-list" href="/features/viewing-logs">
    Review what each app and agent did, attributed to the real user.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Capabilities" icon="key" href="/deployment/rbac-and-roles/capabilities">
    The host capabilities that gate creating and disabling apps and agents.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>