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

# Gateway Overview

> What the customer gateway is, why it exists, and what Atlas expects from it.

## The boundary

The gateway is the customer-owned bridge between Atlas and the customer’s private systems.

* expose actions
* keep secrets and business logic on the customer side
* translate Atlas requests into whatever internal systems the customer already uses

## Why Atlas uses a gateway

Without a gateway, Atlas would need direct access to customer secrets and internal systems.

That is the wrong boundary.

The gateway keeps the contract clean:

* Atlas asks for a capability
* the gateway decides how to execute it
* the customer keeps control

## What can sit behind it

* internal REST APIs
* webhooks
* workflow engines
* internal agents
* MCP servers
* OpenClaw-style capability layers
* data stores and search layers

## What Atlas sees

Atlas does not need to know what runtime is behind the gateway.

It only sees:

* a manifest
* an invoke endpoint
* job resources
* optional callbacks

Separately, when external work completes, a gateway or downstream workflow can also prepare a **debrief contract** that Atlas later presents in-room with speech and canvas pages.

## One workspace gateway

Today, the clean model is one gateway per workspace.

That gateway can expose many actions. Atlas agents then get different subsets of those actions.

## Good action design

Keep actions task-shaped.

Good:

* `fetch_internal_context`
* `trigger_followup_workflow`
* `lookup_candidate_packet`
* `query_research_agent`

Less useful:

* raw model completion endpoints
* thin wrappers around low-level internal APIs with no clear task boundary

## The v1 contract

Gateway Contract v1 is built around:

* `GET /v1/manifest`
* `POST /v1/invoke`
* `GET /v1/jobs/{jobId}`
* `POST /v1/jobs/{jobId}/cancel`

Optional:

* async callbacks
* approval flows

## What it is not

Gateway actions are not Atlas skills.

* Atlas skills live on the Atlas side and shape behavior
* gateway actions live on the customer side and perform work