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

# Overview

> The full Hoop platform: web app, agents, session recording, access requests and integrations.

The Hoop Gateway is Hoop's full platform. It is a layer 7 gateway that sits between engineers, AI agents, service accounts and your infrastructure, with a web app for administration, agents deployed next to each resource, and a broad feature set built on top: access requests, session recording, runbooks, resource provisioning, identity federation and integrations with Slack, Teams, Jira and your SIEM.

It is fully supported, and everything documented under this section works today.

<Note>
  **Starting fresh?** Begin with the [Sidecar](/docs/core-concepts/sidecar). It installs in one command, runs from a single config file, and needs no gateway, agent or database. The Gateway is where you go when you need the full platform. See [Getting Started](/docs/introduction/getting-started).
</Note>

***

## Gateway or Sidecar?

|                | [Sidecar](/docs/core-concepts/sidecar)                                               | Hoop Gateway                                                                                                                              |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Deployment     | one binary, one config file                                                     | gateway service, database, identity provider, one agent per network                                                                       |
| Dependencies   | none                                                                            | PostgreSQL, an IdP, deployed agents                                                                                                       |
| Administration | the config file, and the [Control Plane](/docs/core-concepts/control-plane) at scale | web app                                                                                                                                   |
| Data Masking   | [in-Sidecar, config-driven](/docs/features/data-masking)                             | [DLP providers, per resource role](/docs/learn/features/live-data-masking)                                                                     |
| Guardrails     | [typed rules, deny or defer](/docs/features/guardrails)                              | [regex patterns, block, warn or require approval](/docs/learn/features/guardrails)                                                             |
| Also includes  | —                                                                               | access requests, session recording, runbooks, secrets management, resource provisioning, MCP server, SSH, chat and ticketing integrations |
| Licensing      | free for one rule per feature                                                   | Enterprise                                                                                                                                |

The two are converging: the Gateway becomes the [Control Plane](/docs/core-concepts/control-plane), and the two run in parallel through the transition.

***

## The problems it solves

Organizations managing access to critical infrastructure run into the same five things:

* Security risk from overly permissive access policies
* Productivity bottlenecks from complex approval workflows
* Compliance gaps from inadequate audit trails
* No clear answer to *which identity accessed what, and when*
* Sensitive data exposed during ordinary access sessions

The Gateway sits between your users and your infrastructure and enforces controls inline at the wire protocol, for engineers, AI agents and service accounts alike.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="AI Agent Enablement">
    Agents reach real data through the same gateway engineers use, with PII masked at the wire, destructive operations blocked, and every session recorded.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Improve Engineering Productivity">
    Provide secure, audited access to databases while masking sensitive data. Developers run queries without ever handling production credentials.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Data Masking in Production">
    Make PII, PHI, PCI and credentials invisible in database responses, API payloads and terminal output, so production access does not expose sensitive data.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Compliance Evidence">
    Meet regulatory requirements with session recordings, access logs and data protection features that document who accessed what and when.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Explore

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Features" icon="stars" href="/docs/learn/features/live-data-masking">
    Live Data Masking, access requests, access control, ABAC, guardrails, runbooks, session recording, MCP server and more.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/docs/quickstart/overview">
    Connect a resource. Databases, cloud services, web applications, development environments, AI and LLMs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Clients" icon="terminal" href="/docs/clients/cli">
    The `hoop` CLI, the `hsh` shell, and the web app.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Setup & Administration" icon="gear" href="/docs/setup/architecture">
    Architecture, deployment, configuration, identity providers, APIs and licensing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Concepts" icon="lightbulb" href="/docs/concepts/agents">
    Agents and resource roles.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Integrations" icon="puzzle-piece" href="/docs/integrations/slack">
    Slack, Teams, Jira, SIEM, Svix, AWS and Microsoft Presidio.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Get the Gateway

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Managed Service" icon="cloud" href="https://hoop.dev/start">
    No setup. Register and start connecting resources.

    <br />

    **Create an account** <Icon icon="arrow-right" />
  </Card>

  <Card title="Self-Hosted" icon="server" href="/docs/setup/deployment/overview">
    Deploy in your own infrastructure with Docker, Kubernetes or AWS.

    <br />

    **Go to the deployment guide** <Icon icon="arrow-right" />
  </Card>
</CardGroup>