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

# Pipeline

> How Ultra observes and audits every MCP request

The pipeline is the core mechanism that gives you visibility into every MCP request and response. Each request flows through Ultra's observability layers — capturing traces, structured logs, audit events, and metrics — before reaching the upstream server.

## What the Pipeline Captures

| Layer       | What it captures                                               | Where to view                         |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| **Trace**   | Distributed traces for each request and response               | [Traces](/observability/traces)       |
| **Logging** | Structured request/response logs                               | [Dashboard](/observability/dashboard) |
| **Audit**   | Security-relevant events with severity, outcome, and principal | [Audit Log](/observability/audit-log) |
| **Metrics** | Request counts, latencies, error rates                         | [Dashboard](/observability/dashboard) |

## Request and Response Flow

```mermaid theme={null}
graph LR
    Client["<b>MCP Client</b>"]
    Pipeline["<b>Pipeline</b><br/>Trace · Logging · Audit · Metrics"]
    Server["<b>Upstream Server</b>"]

    Client -->|"Request"| Pipeline
    Pipeline -->|"Request"| Server
    Server -->|"Response"| Pipeline
    Pipeline -->|"Response"| Client
```

Every request and response passes through the same set of observability layers, so nothing slips by unrecorded.

## Audit Guarantees

The audit layer is designed to block a successful operation if it can't be recorded. This is a deliberate security choice: every completed MCP call must have a corresponding audit record, so compliance teams can rely on completeness.

The other layers absorb errors silently — observability should never break your workflow.

<Note>
  Beyond observability, the pipeline also enforces policy. [Governance](/hub/governance) admission determines which tool calls are allowed, and [Guardrails](/hub/guardrails) evaluate each request and enforce policy before it reaches the upstream server.
</Note>