AAM Operator User Guide

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What is AAM? The Three Operator Jobs Pipes Inventory Screen Pipe Detail Screen Candidates Screen Drift & Health Screen Common Workflows Glossary

What is AAM?

AAM (Adaptive API Mesh) is the integration layer that inventories your enterprise's reusable data pipes and makes their behavior and meaning explicit. Think of it as a catalog of all the ways data can flow between your systems.

The Big Picture

AAM sits between two other systems:

AOD (discovers what exists) → AAM (catalogs the pipes) → DCL (unifies meaning)
What AAM Does NOT Do

AAM does not move data, transform data, or act as an integration platform. It only observes and documents what already exists.

The Three Operator Jobs

As an operator, AAM supports exactly three jobs:

  1. See what pipes exist - View the inventory of data pipes with their metadata and trust state
  2. See what's wrong - Identify drift, health issues, and coverage gaps with evidence
  3. Take bounded actions - Run collectors, acknowledge drift, tag ownership, export to DCL

Nothing more, nothing less. AAM deliberately avoids "magic" actions like "fix automatically" or "connect now."

Pipes Inventory Screen

This is your main dashboard showing all discovered data pipes. Access it via the Pipes navigation link.

What You See

ElementWhat It Means
Pipe NameHuman-readable name for this data pipe (clickable to view details)
Source SystemWhere the data comes from (e.g., "Salesforce", "Workday")
ModalityHow this pipe connects: CONTROL_PLANE, DECLARED_INTERFACE, PASSIVE_SUBSCRIPTION, or MINIMAL_TEE
TransportHow data moves: API, EVENT_STREAM, TABLE, FILE, or WEBHOOK
Trust LabelsQuality signals like data freshness, schema stability, ownership clarity

Actions You Can Take

ButtonWhat It Does
Run CollectorTriggers a collector to observe systems and update pipe information
Run InferenceProcesses raw observations into declared pipes
Export to DCLGenerates a snapshot of all pipes in DCL format

Pipe Detail Screen

Clicking on a pipe name takes you to its detail view with complete information.

Key Sections

SectionWhat It Shows
Identity & ClassificationPipe ID, display name, source system, modality, transport kind
Data CharacteristicsEntity scope, identity keys, change semantics, freshness
ProvenanceDiscovery source, when discovered, lineage hints
Trust & OwnershipTrust labels, owner signals
Version HistoryHow this pipe's definition has changed over time
Drift EventsAny drift events specific to this pipe

Candidates Screen

Shows connection candidates from AOD that haven't been fully processed yet.

Candidate Statuses

StatusWhat It Means
NewJust arrived from AOD, not yet reviewed
TriagedReviewed but not yet connected to a pipe
ConnectedSuccessfully matched to a declared pipe
DeferredIntentionally set aside (with a reason)

Actions

Drift & Health Screen

Shows issues that need attention - places where reality has diverged from expectations.

Drift Types

TypeWhat It Means
SCHEMAThe structure of the data changed (fields added/removed/modified)
FRESHNESSData stopped updating at the expected rate
CONTRACTThe agreed behavior of the pipe changed

Severity Levels

LevelWhat It MeansResponse
CriticalMajor breaking changeImmediate action required
HighSignificant changeReview within 24 hours
MediumNotable changeReview within a week
LowMinor changeReview when convenient

Drift Statuses

Common Workflows

Processing New Candidates
  1. Go to Candidates screen
  2. Review candidates with "New" status
  3. For each candidate: Match to a pipe, or Defer with a reason
Discovering New Pipes
  1. Go to Pipes screen
  2. Click Run Collector to observe systems
  3. Click Run Inference to process observations
  4. Review newly created pipes
Investigating Drift
  1. Go to Drift & Health screen
  2. Review items with "Open" status
  3. Click on the pipe name to see full details
  4. Acknowledge or Suppress as appropriate

Glossary

TermDefinition
CandidateA potential connection discovered by AOD that AAM might catalog
CollectorA component that observes enterprise systems and creates observations
Declared PipeA cataloged data connection with full metadata
DCLData Catalog Layer - consumes pipes from AAM to unify meaning
DriftWhen reality diverges from what was previously observed
ModalityThe approach for connecting (control plane, declared interface, etc.)
ObservationRaw data from a collector before being processed into a pipe
PipeA reusable data connection between systems
ProvenanceOrigin and lineage information about a pipe
Schema HashA fingerprint of the data structure for detecting changes
TransportHow data physically moves (API, events, files, etc.)

Need more help? Check the API Documentation for complete endpoint details.