# Core Concepts

The terms defined below appear regularly throughout Natoma’s product and are helpful to understand when using Natoma.

#### **Applications (MCP Servers)**

<mark style="color:$primary;">**Applications**</mark> are external business systems that can be connected to AI clients via protocols like MCP or A2A. These systems expose data or functionality that an AI client, such as an LLM, can leverage. The most common example of an application in Natoma today is an MCP server.

#### **Connections**

<mark style="color:$primary;">**Connections**</mark> are instances of an application configured for access by a specific user or group. Connections control how AI clients interact with applications on behalf of a prompting user. There are two types of Connections in Natoma:

* **Managed Connections:** Created and maintained by administrators. Admins configure all credentials and settings required to connect to the Application.
* **Personal Connections:** Enabled by admins but configured by end users. Only the user who creates a personal connection can access it. Admins can allow or disallow personal connections for a given Application.

#### **Profiles**

A <mark style="color:$primary;">**Profile**</mark> is a named collection of MCP server connections. A **managed profile** is defined by an admin and distributed to members, who use it in read-only form. A **personal profile** is created by a member for their own use (up to five per user). Profiles make it easy to bundle related tools together and share access through a **single** [**shareable URL**](/docs/manage-ai/profiles.md#shareable-urls) for an entire set of connections.

#### **Tools**

As defined by MCP, a <mark style="color:$primary;">**Tool**</mark> is an executable function exposed to clients by an application. Tools define what functionality is available for a client to invoke, such as a call to a public API. Natoma allows admins to enable or disable Tools at an application level. When disabled for an application, a tool will not be visible to any client connecting to that application via Natoma.

Note: Changing the Tools enabled is only available on a per-application basis. Per Connection configuration is not supported today, but is on Natoma’s near-term roadmap.

#### **AI Clients (LLMs)**

<mark style="color:$primary;">**AI Clients**</mark> are the interfaces through which users interact with applications via AI. These include, but are not limited to, agents like ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Google Gemini, and custom-built LLM wrappers (e.g., using public APIs or SDKs). Clients act on behalf of users by invoking tools via connections.

#### **Key Relationships**

* An <mark style="color:$primary;">**Application**</mark> contains one or more <mark style="color:$primary;">**Connections**</mark>.
* A <mark style="color:$primary;">**User**</mark> may have access to one or more <mark style="color:$primary;">**Connections**</mark>.
* An <mark style="color:$primary;">**AI Client**</mark> can leverage <mark style="color:$primary;">**one or more Connections**</mark> on behalf of a User.
* A <mark style="color:$primary;">**Connection**</mark> exposes <mark style="color:$primary;">**one or more Tools**</mark> to a <mark style="color:$primary;">**Client**</mark>.
* A <mark style="color:$primary;">**Profile**</mark> groups <mark style="color:$primary;">**one or more Connections**</mark> (and their tools) for distribution and for shareable, client-specific configuration.


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