> ## 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.
# Governance
> Block specific MCP connectors, tools, and agents with organization-wide allow and deny rules
The Governance page in Ultra Hub lets administrators block specific MCP connectors, tools, and agents across an organization, a workspace, or a single device. When a governance rule matches a tool call, the call is denied at the device before it ever reaches the upstream connector, and the denial is recorded in the [audit log](/observability/audit-log).
Use governance when you need a fast, blunt control: removing access to a deprecated connector, cutting off a connector or agent during incident response, or sandboxing a newly registered integration while it is reviewed.
## How governance rules work
A governance rule is an explicit allow or block decision keyed on two target types: **connectors** and **agents**.
* **Connectors**: Tool calls to a specific upstream MCP connector. Add an optional tool filter to scope the decision to specific tools instead of every tool on that connector.
* **Agents**: Tool calls originating from a named MCP agent (for example, `claude-desktop`, `cursor`, `claude-code`). You can also target an agent *type* (a whole category of agents) when you want the decision to apply to every instance of that agent.
A rule can target connectors, agents, or both. Multiple values within the same target type are treated as "any of these." When both connector and agent targets are set, both must match for the rule to apply.
When a governance rule matches, Ultra applies the rule's decision immediately, before the call reaches the upstream connector. Block rules deny the tool call and emit a deny event into the audit log. Allow rules let the call through governance and hand it to the rest of the pipeline (guardrails, anomaly detection, etc.).
### Connector identity
Where Ultra can determine one, a connector's rule target is its durable identity. What serves as that identity depends on the connector:
* A **remote** connector's identity is the canonical form of the URL Ultra dials.
* A **stdio** connector's identity is the `source` coordinate declared in its config, so a rule follows the connector even when devices label it differently.
* A stdio connector with **no `source`** has no identity a rule can match on, and is targeted by its local name.
If the same connector is configured under different names on different devices, Hub treats it as one connector for governance and shows it as a single entry. A no-source stdio connector is the exception: the Governance page lists it once per configured name, each targeted by that name.
## Governance Posture
Posture is the baseline admission decision for tool calls that **no rule matches**. It is set per scope and answers a single question: "If governance has no opinion, what should happen?"
| Posture | Behavior for unmatched calls | When to use |
| - | - | - |
| **default\_allow** | Allow the call through. This is the historical behavior and the default for new organizations. | Permissive baseline. Rules act as a blocklist that carves exceptions out of "everything is allowed." |
| **default\_deny** | Block the call. Only connectors, tools, and agents covered by an explicit allow rule can reach the upstream connector. | Zero-trust baseline. Rules act as an allowlist of pre-approved access. Use this when you want to ensure nothing reaches an upstream connector without being explicitly named. |
Posture is set at the organization level as a baseline, and a workspace can tighten it. **A narrower scope can add restrictions but never remove them:** the effective posture is the stricter of the organization and workspace settings, so a workspace can move from `default_allow` to `default_deny`, but it cannot sit at `default_allow` beneath an organization on `default_deny`. Workspaces with no setting of their own inherit the org posture, and devices inherit from their workspace.
A workspace value that is not currently the effective one is still stored. If the organization later relaxes its posture, that workspace value takes over.
If a workspace genuinely needs an exception to an organization-wide `default_deny`, grant it as an allow rule created at that workspace's scope by an organization owner or admin, rather than by loosening the workspace's posture. Loosening the posture has no effect.
The Posture section appears at the top of the Governance page with a status badge showing the effective posture for the current scope (and a note when the value is inherited from a higher scope). Owners and admins can flip the setting from the same panel, and the control is unavailable in both directions for a workspace whose organization mandates a stricter posture. That control is a dashboard affordance: what actually holds the mandate is posture resolution, not a rejection at the API.
## Drift enforcement
Governance is also where you set **drift enforcement** for your organization: whether Ultra keeps itself installed in the MCP agents it finds on your members' devices, and how far it goes when it finds one it does not manage.
A **Policy configuration** panel at the top of the Governance page shows the current posture and the current drift-enforcement mode. Everyone can see it; owners and admins get a **Manage** button.
### Setting it
**Manage** opens the drift-enforcement dialog. Choose the scope first (**Organization** or **Workspace**), then the mode.
The dialog offers the same five modes the CLI does (**Off**, **Detect only**, **Default**, **Auto install**, and **Enforce all**), each described under [drift enforcement](/cli/config#drift-enforcement) in the CLI reference. The dialog shows a one-line explainer as you select one.
Two further options are not modes but ways of not setting one:
* **Device setting** (organization scope) leaves drift enforcement to each device's own local configuration.
* **Use organization setting** (workspace scope) clears a workspace's value so it follows the organization again.
Drift enforcement is set at the organization or workspace level only; there is no per-device setting in Hub. A workspace value takes precedence over the organization's.
**Enforce all** rewrites the configuration of MCP connectors your members did not add through Ultra. It suits a centrally managed fleet; set it deliberately.
### How it reaches devices
A mode you set here overrides whatever a device has configured locally with [`ultra config set drift-enforcement`](/cli/config#drift-enforcement), including when the mode you set is **Default**.
Devices pick it up on their next contact with Hub, but apply it **when Ultra next starts**. A device that is running keeps the mode it started with, so expect a lag between saving here and seeing the behavior change on a fleet.
A device that is not linked to Hub follows its own local setting. Linking a device to a workspace clears any mode stored from a previous one.
Changes are recorded in the [Admin Log](/hub/admin-log).
## Scoping
Governance rules can be configured at three levels, exactly like guardrails:
| Scope | Description |
| - | - |
| **Organization** | Applies to every workspace and device in your org. The default starting point for blanket policies. |
| **Workspace** | Applies to every device in a workspace. Inherits all organization-scoped rules and adds to them. |
| **Device** | Applies to a single device. Inherits all organization and workspace rules and adds to them. |
Workspace and device rules **add to** the rules inherited from higher scopes, they do not replace them. Use the workspace and device filters at the top of the page to view rules in effect for a specific scope. Inherited rules appear faded in the table, with an indicator showing where they came from.
## Who can manage governance
Only users with the **owner** or **admin** role can create, edit, move, or delete governance rules. Members and viewers can see the Governance page and the list of active rules, but the **Create rule**, **Edit**, and **Delete** controls are hidden.
See [RBAC](/hub/rbac) for the full permission matrix.
## Creating a rule
There are two ways to create a governance rule.
### Quick block from the connector controls
The fastest way to block an entire MCP connector organization-wide.
Navigate to **Governance** in the Ultra Hub sidebar and find the connector in the Browse list. From a connector's detail page under **Connectors**, the **Governance** button opens the same list focused on that connector.
Use the connector's block control. The Connectors page itself is read-only in Hub and carries no block action.
The dialog creates an organization-wide governance rule that denies every tool call to that connector, for every user in your organization.
The rule appears immediately on the Governance page and is synced to all connected devices within seconds.
### Full rule editor from the Governance page
Use the full editor when you need to target agents, filter to specific tools, or scope the rule to a workspace or device instead of the whole organization.
Navigate to **Governance** in the Ultra Hub sidebar and click **+ Create rule**.
Choose Organization, Workspace, or Device. The form previews exactly which agents the rule will apply to once active.
Use a short, descriptive name (for example, `Block github-mcp` or `Sandbox new finance-mcp`). The name appears on the Governance page and in audit log events.
In the **Connectors** section, pick one or more connectors from the dropdown. The list is populated from upstream connectors Ultra has seen across your organization.
Click the tool summary on a connector row to optionally restrict the block to specific tools. Leave it as **all tools** to block the entire connector.
In the **Agents** section, pick one or more agents to limit the rule to specific MCP agents. Leave both lists populated to require a match on both connector and agent. Leave the Connectors section empty to block every call from a listed agent regardless of which connector it targets.
Click **Create rule**. The rule appears in the Governance table and syncs to every device in scope.
## Editing or moving a rule
Click **Edit** on any rule you own at the current scope to change its name or its targets. Inherited rules are read-only at lower scopes; navigate to the scope they came from to edit them.
To move a rule to a different scope, open it and click **Change scope...**. Picking a new scope creates the rule at the new scope and deletes the original. Both events are recorded in the audit log.
## Removing a rule
Click **Delete** on the rule's row, then proceed through the confirmation dialog. Tool calls that the rule was blocking are allowed again after the change syncs to your devices, falling back to the active posture and any other explicit rules. Existing audit log entries for past denials are preserved.
## Transitioning to default\_deny
Switching a scope from `default_allow` to `default_deny` is a meaningful change: every connector, tool, and agent without an explicit allow rule will immediately stop working in that scope. Ultra Hub helps you make the transition without breaking live traffic.
Navigate to **Governance** in the Hub sidebar and select the scope (organization or workspace) you want to lock down.
Click the posture control and choose **default\_deny**. A confirmation dialog opens listing every connector currently in use within the scope that does not yet have an allow rule.
Confirm the dialog to auto-generate one allow rule per listed connector, scoped to the same place as the posture change. These rules are tagged as posture-generated so Ultra can clean them up later. The posture flips to `default_deny` once the rules are saved.
Use the [Access view](#access-view) to see what is being allowed by the auto-generated rules versus by explicit policy. Replace the auto-generated rules with narrower allow rules (specific tools, specific agents) as you build out your allowlist, and delete the ones you no longer need.
Flipping back to `default_allow` cleans up after itself: the dashboard removes the posture-generated allow rules it created at that exact scope, restoring the previous "rules as a blocklist" model. Rules you created by hand are left in place, and so is an inherited organization-scope posture-generated allow, which a workspace flip does not touch. If any of the cleanup does not go through, Hub tells you.
A workspace cannot flip back to `default_allow` while its organization is on `default_deny`. The control is unavailable in that case, because the flip would delete the workspace's generated allow rules without changing what actually enforces.
## Audit log behavior
Every governance decision generates a `governance` event in the [audit log](/observability/audit-log), shown under the **Governance Rule** filter in the dashboard. Each event records:
* The decision (`outcome: deny` for blocks, `outcome: allow` for allow rules)
* The reason (`explicit rule`, `default deny posture`, or the rule's name)
* The MCP connector that was targeted
* The tool the agent tried to call
* The user and agent identity behind the call
Governance decisions recorded before the dedicated event type shipped remain `guardrail` events and stay under the **Guardrail** filter; new decisions use `governance`.
Use these events to confirm a decision is taking effect and to track who or what attempted to use a connector, tool, or agent after it was disabled. Posture changes themselves also emit a governance event so the audit trail captures every flip between `default_allow` and `default_deny`.
## Access view
The **Access** panel on the Governance page is a per-connector view of how governance is treating live traffic in the selected scope. Each row carries:
| Column | Description |
| - | - |
| **Connector** | The upstream MCP connector. |
| **Status** | `Managed` when Ultra is the source of truth for the connector, `Unmanaged` when drift was detected on an agent, or `Partial` when some agents have it and others don't. |
| **Access** | Allowed or Blocked, based on the effective rules and posture at the row's scope. |
| **Reason** | One of: `Explicit allow rule`, `Explicit block rule`, `Default allow`, or `Default deny`. |
| **Rule** | The matched governance rule, if the decision came from a rule rather than the posture. |
| **Context** | Whether the decision is set directly at this scope or inherited from a parent. |
Click a row to open the **Audit samples** drawer, which shows the most recent denied and allowed calls against that connector, with timestamps, the agent that initiated each call, and the IdentityLink for the user behind it. This is the fastest way to confirm a posture or rule change is having the effect you expected before you tighten further.
## Common scenarios
| Scenario | Recommended action |
| - | - |
| Decommissioning an internal MCP connector | Quick-block the connector from the Connectors page, then remove it from your device configs once traffic has stopped. |
| Vendor outage or compromise | Quick-block the affected connector, unblock once the issue is resolved. |
| Blocking a connector only inside one workspace | Create a workspace-scoped block rule targeting that connector. The block applies inside the workspace and adds to any org-wide rules already in effect. |
| Blocking a single dangerous tool but keeping the connector | Create a block rule with the connector selected and a tool filter listing only the tools to block. |
| Sandboxing a new agent until reviewed | Create an agent-scoped block rule across the org while the integration is evaluated. |
| Zero-trust for a sensitive workspace | Set the workspace posture to `default_deny`, accept the auto-generated allow rules for currently-used connectors, then narrow them down to specific tools and agents over time. |
| Fine-grained matching on parameters or content | Use a [custom guardrail](/hub/guardrails) instead. Governance only matches on connector, tool, and agent identity. |
## Governance vs. guardrails
Governance and guardrails answer different questions:
| | Governance | Guardrails |
| - | - | - |
| **Question it answers** | Should this connector, tool, or agent be reachable at all? | Is this specific tool call safe? |
| **Granularity** | Connector, tool, or agent identity | Tool name, parameters, content patterns, user, and more |
| **Action** | Always block | Block, monitor, or redact |
| **Scope** | Organization, workspace, or device | Organization, workspace, or device |
If you need finer control, for example matching on parameter values, redacting matched content instead of blocking, or raising an alert without disrupting traffic (a guardrail in **Monitor** mode, switched on under **Alerts > Configuration**), use [custom guardrails](/hub/guardrails) instead.
## Related
Enforce policies on tool names, parameters, and content
Browse upstream connectors and quick-block from the table
Review every governance and guardrail enforcement event
Control who can manage governance rules
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