Integrations in the automation orchestrator
Integrations connect the automation orchestrator to external services that workflows depend on, such as large language model (LLM) providers, Ansible Automation Platform, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.
An integration is a configured connection between the automation orchestrator and an external service. Workflows in the automation orchestrator use integrations to perform actions that depend on external systems, such as invoking a large language model, running a job template on Ansible Automation Platform, or accessing tools through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server.
Without integrations, the orchestrator cannot communicate with the external services that workflow nodes require. Before you can design and run production workflows, you must configure the integrations that your workflows depend on.
Integration types
Automation orchestrator supports three integration types. Each type corresponds to a category of external service that workflow nodes can use.
- LLM provider
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An LLM provider integration connects the automation orchestrator to a large language model endpoint that provides an OpenAI-compatible API. Specifically, the endpoint must implement the OpenAI v1 API. Agent nodes in workflows use LLM provider integrations to call large language models for agentic reasoning and decision-making.
Compatible providers include OpenAI, Red Hat AI (through OpenAI-compatible endpoint), and other OpenAI API-compatible services. Support for additional APIs might be evaluated for future releases based on customer feedback.
- Ansible Automation Platform
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An Ansible Automation Platform integration connects the automation orchestrator to an Ansible Automation Platform endpoint. Workflow nodes that run job templates or workflows use Ansible Automation Platform integrations to target a specific Ansible Automation Platform environment for execution.
Ansible Automation Platform integrations use either username+password or an OAuth token.
- MCP server
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An MCP server integration connects the automation orchestrator to an MCP server. MCP servers provide tool access for agentic reasoning, enabling Agent nodes to discover and use external tools during workflow execution.
Credentials and secure storage
Integration credentials, such as API keys and tokens, are stored securely using the platform's credential management system. Credentials are never stored as plain text.
Ansible Automation Platform and LLM provider integrations require a credential when they are created. Credentials are optional for MCP server integrations.
The credential assigned to an integration is used to perform health checks and discover resources for that integration. This is not the credential used by the integration at runtime in a workflow. Runtime credentials are configured separately in the workflow builder.
When you configure a workflow that uses an integration, you provide the necessary authentication details as part of the setup process. The credential management system encrypts and stores these details so that they are available to workflows at runtime without exposing sensitive values.
Connection testing and health monitoring
Before saving an integration, you can test the connection to verify that the endpoint is reachable and to discover integration resources. LLM provider and MCP server integrations discover available resources during the connection test. Resources must be discovered before an LLM provider or MCP server integration can be used in a workflow, so performing discovery is recommended. The connection test returns a success or failure result within the configured timeout (10 seconds by default). This helps you identify configuration errors before workflows attempt to use the integration.
After the integration is saved, automation orchestrator automatically monitors its ongoing health and periodically refreshes available resources for applicable integration types. The current status of each configured integration is displayed on the integrations list page. For integrations that have resources, you can view the discovered resources and the timestamp of the last fetch on the Resources tab in the integration details page.
The system runs health checks at a 5-minute interval by default and assigns one of the following statuses. You can change both the health check interval and the connection timeout under .
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Available | The integration endpoint is reachable and responding normally. |
| Unknown | The integration health status has not been determined. |
| Error | The integration endpoint cannot be reached. Verify the endpoint URL, network connectivity, and credentials. |
Access control
Integration configuration is an administrator-level capability. Only users with the appropriate administrator role can add, edit, or delete integrations. Access is governed by role-based access control (RBAC).
Workflow designers who are not administrators can select from existing configured integrations when building workflows, but they cannot modify integration settings. Workflow designers can only select integrations that are globally scoped or project-scoped to their current project. Administrators configure integration scoping when creating or editing an integration.
Integration state
Each integration has an Enabled or Disabled state. When you disable an integration, workflows that depend on it cannot use it. You can enable or disable an integration from the integrations list page or from the integration details page using the toggle.
Where to configure integrations
You configure integrations in the automation orchestrator under .