Agentic Control Plane (ACP)

ACP is the identity and governance layer for Claude Code. When active, every tool call (Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Grep, WebFetch, and all MCP tools) is logged and governed through the user's ACP workspace. The user does not need to change how they work — ACP runs transparently via a PreToolUse hook.

What ACP does

• Audit logging — every tool call is recorded with identity, tool name, arguments, timestamp, and decision
• Policy enforcement — workspace admins can allow/deny tool calls by pattern, scope, or ABAC rules
• Rate limiting & budgets — cap tool calls per minute, per month, or by cost
• Content scanning — detect and optionally redact PII in tool inputs
• Team governance — multiple members per workspace, role-based access

ACP does NOT proxy or replace the user's tools. Their MCP servers, Bash commands, and file operations work exactly as before. ACP observes and governs the orchestration layer.

Setup flow — help users connect

When a user asks to set up ACP, connect to ACP, or enable governance, follow these steps:

Step 1: Check if already configured

cat ~/.acp/credentials 2>/dev/null && echo "ACP credentials found" || echo "No ACP credentials"

If credentials exist, skip to Step 4 (verify).

Step 2: Create account or log in

Open the browser to the ACP authorization page:

open "https://cloud.agenticcontrolplane.com/plugin/authorize"

Tell the user:

I've opened your browser to log in to ACP. If you don't have an account, you can sign up there with Google or email. After logging in, you'll see a token — please paste it here.

Step 3: Store credentials

Once the user provides the token, store it:

mkdir -p ~/.acp && echo "THE_TOKEN" > ~/.acp/credentials && chmod 600 ~/.acp/credentials

Confirm:

Your ACP credentials are stored securely. The governance hook is now active — every tool call in this session and future sessions will be logged to your ACP workspace.

Step 4: Verify connection

Test the governance endpoint:

curl -sf -X GET "https://api.agenticcontrolplane.com/govern/health" && echo " — ACP reachable"

Step 5: Direct to the console

Tell the user:

Your dashboard is ready. Open it to see your audit logs:

https://cloud.agenticcontrolplane.com/logs

Every tool call Claude makes — Bash commands, file edits, web fetches, MCP tools — shows up there in real-time. You can set policies, rate limits, and content scanning from the dashboard.

Console pages (for directing users)

For a mode or rule change, don't only point at the console — the user can type /acp-status, /acp-enforce, /acp-audit, /acp-allow <tool>, /acp-ask <tool>, /acp-deny <tool>, /acp-judge <tool>, or /acp-apply <proposal> right in the terminal; the hook files it and hands back a link they confirm themselves, no context switch required.

Managing ACP from within Claude

Users can ask Claude to help with ACP management. You can assist with:

Check status

TOKEN=$(cat ~/.acp/credentials 2>/dev/null)
curl -sf -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" "https://api.agenticcontrolplane.com/govern/health"

View recent tool calls

Direct the user to https://cloud.agenticcontrolplane.com/logs — the dashboard shows all tool calls with filtering by tool name, identity, time range, and decision.

Disconnect / pause governance

To temporarily disable ACP governance without uninstalling:

mv ~/.acp/credentials ~/.acp/credentials.paused

To re-enable:

mv ~/.acp/credentials.paused ~/.acp/credentials

Uninstall

rm -rf ~/.acp

Then disable the plugin: claude plugin disable agentic-control-plane

How the hook works (for user questions)

The plugin registers a PreToolUse hook that fires before every tool call:

1. Hook reads ~/.acp/credentials for the API key
2. Sends tool name + input to POST /govern/tool-use
3. ACP runs a 6-layer governance pipeline (immutable rules, scope enforcement, ABAC policies, rate limits, content scanning)
4. Returns allow or deny with a reason
5. If denied, Claude sees the reason and can adapt
6. If the API is unreachable, the hook fails open — Claude is never blocked by ACP outages

Important notes

• The hook adds ~50-200ms latency per tool call (negligible for most workflows)
• No tool inputs are stored permanently unless the workspace has logging enabled
• ACP never modifies tool inputs or outputs — it only observes and allows/denies
• The governance hook does NOT expose any new tools to Claude — it only monitors existing ones