# Collectors

> The code that reads each of your systems: in its own repository, documented, certified by Atlantic Agentic Labs and scanned on every change.

A **collector** is the code that reads one of your systems: a wiki, a ticket queue, a mailbox, a feed. A [connector](/connect/) is the connection you make in LightHouse, with its credential and its access level; the collector is what the engine runs, in your own account, to read through it.

## One repository, one record per collector

Collectors live in their own repository at Atlantic Agentic Labs, apart from the engine. Each collector has:

| File                 | What it holds                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `collector.yaml`     | The manifest: its family and kind, the ways to connect, the scopes it asks for, whether it only reads, whether the vendor’s API can move money, the personal data it handles, every host it may contact, the vendor API versions it supports and the lowest engine version it runs on |
| `README.md`          | Its documentation, in fixed sections: what it reads, how to connect, permissions, limits, data handling and troubleshooting. Each collector’s page on this site is that file                                                                                                          |
| `certification.yaml` | Each certification, newest first: the date, the vendor API version, the method and when it expires. See [How collectors are certified](/collectors/certification/)                                                                                                                    |
| `security.json`      | Its security posture from the last scan on the default branch. See [Security posture](/collectors/security/)                                                                                                                                                                          |

A release of the repository publishes the **catalogue**: every collector’s manifest, documentation, certification and security summary in one file. LightHouse and this site read a pinned release of it, so what you see here is what that release contains.

## How the engine loads them

The collectors are one Python distribution, installed with the engine as an extra (`aal-engine[collectors]`) and loaded by entry point. The engine never depends on them: an engine without the extra keeps reading from the sources built into it. A collector you write yourself registers the same way, under the engine’s own `aal_engine.connectors` entry point, and stays in your repository.

Release 0.1.0 of the repository, which this site is built from, holds 72 collectors:

| Status               | Collectors |
| -------------------- | ---------- |
| Certified            | 4          |
| Built, not certified | 50         |
| Needs onboarding     | 18         |

Each has its page in the [catalogue](/collectors/catalogue/), with its status. **Built, not certified** means built and tested against recorded or synthetic responses, and not yet run against the vendor’s sandbox or a client environment. A collector is shown as certified only once it is. See [How collectors are certified](/collectors/certification/). Some sources are still read by code built into the engine; those move into the repository one at a time.

## Where to go next

[Collector catalogue](/collectors/catalogue/)Every collector in the pinned release, with its status.

[Collector pipeline](/collectors/pipeline/)Every request, from requested to certified.

[How collectors are certified](/collectors/certification/)The methods, the dates, the expiry and the statuses.

[Security posture](/collectors/security/)What is scanned, what blocks a release, and the summary.

Source: https://docs.atlanticagenticlabs.com/collectors/