Find the unknown workflows
Shadow AI Agents
Shadow AI agents are not always secret projects. They are often useful automations that moved from experiment to daily work before anyone created an inventory or review process.
What are shadow AI agents?
A shadow AI agent is an agentic workflow used without being visible in the organisation’s normal inventory, ownership or risk process. It may run in an automation platform, a browser tool, a SaaS feature or a small internal script.
Why they appear
Teams adopt tools quickly to solve local problems. A sales assistant or document workflow can prove useful in a week, while procurement and security processes take longer.
The problem is not experimentation itself. The problem starts when a workflow gains sensitive access or becomes business-critical without a named owner.
Why they are risky
An untracked agent can retain credentials, process sensitive data or keep acting after the original builder leaves. Nobody may know where to revoke access or how to investigate an unexpected action.
- Shared credentials with a scope larger than the workflow needs.
- Customer or employee data copied into an unreviewed service.
- Automated updates that bypass existing approval rules.
- No reliable logs, owner or emergency stop procedure.
- Duplicate agents doing similar work with different controls.
How to start reviewing them
Begin with discovery, not punishment. Ask teams which automations save them time and which tools those automations touch. Review the highest-impact workflows first.
- Survey business teams and automation builders.
- Review OAuth apps, automation platforms and service accounts.
- Record purpose, owner, tools and permission level.
- Prioritise agents with external, financial or destructive actions.
- Agree whether to keep, restrict, replace or retire each workflow.
How Roxea helps
Roxea provides a neutral place to record discovered agents and review them consistently. Teams can start with incomplete records, assign owners and convert gaps into an action plan.
FAQ
Questions people ask before a review
Continue the review
Related guides and product details
Give discovered agents a clear owner and review.
Bring scattered automations into one inventory and prioritise the ones with meaningful access.