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title: Create a Scanner for Provider Services
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keywords: scanner, provider services, create scanner, entry points, experience services, mulesoft integration, service discovery
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# Create a Scanner for Provider Services

> For the full documentation index, see: https://docs.mulesoft.com/llms.txt

To create a scanner, connect to a provider. The system runs scanners against supported cloud
platforms, discovers services (such as agents, APIs, and MCP servers), and registers them in the
matching catalog in **Portfolio**. You supply credentials and scanner metadata so the integration is
repeatable and auditable.

Start the flow from **Home** or from a specific catalog in **Portfolio**. To see how this flow
relates to manual registration, see
[Adding Services to Your Portfolio](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-services-add-to-portfolio). To create and tune scanners, see
[Adding Scanners from Providers](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-scanners-add-from-providers).

> [!NOTE] Amazon, Microsoft, and HashiCorp use this same **Connect to a Provider** flow to register
> an external vault (AWS Secrets Manager, Microsoft Azure Key Vault, or HashiCorp Vault). A vault
> syncs secret metadata rather than discovering services, so it doesn’t create a scanner or register
> anything in a **Portfolio** catalog. For the vault registration flow, see
> [Using Credentials Stored in External Vaults](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-vaults-manage).

## Before You Begin

Before getting started, make sure you have:

- An Anypoint Platform account.

- One of these permissions:

  - Exchange: Exchange Administrator

  - Exchange: Exchange Contributor

  - API Manager: API Creator

  - API Manager: Manage Policies

  For more information, see [Enhanced Experience Permissions](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-home-start#permissions).

## When to Use a Scanner

Use a scanner when your team maintains services in an external platform and wants those services to
appear automatically in portfolio catalogs after authentication and discovery, instead of
registering each service manually.

## Entry Points for Creating a Scanner

- **Home**

  Use **Add Services**, select **Connect to Provider**, then work through the flow to pick a
  provider, validate access, and save scanner settings. Use this path when you’re not starting from
  a single catalog view.

- **Portfolio**

  Open a supported service catalog in **Portfolio**. Use the add control for that service type (for
  example **Add API** or **Add MCP Server**), select **Connect to Provider**, and complete the same
  style of flow scoped to that catalog.

Labels differ by catalog and release. Match what you see in the UI.

## Create a Scanner

Across **Home** and **Portfolio** entry points, scanner creation includes the same decisions:

- Which provider or platform to target for discovery and import.

- Credentials and authentication so the system can reach the provider securely.

- Connection validation so you know discovery can run against live data.

- Scanner identity and settings: name, description, and options your administrator expects before
  you save the scanner.

When the scanner runs successfully, the system registers discovered services in the catalog you
started from (for example, APIs land in the **APIs** catalog).

## How Catalog Selection Affects Registration

Scanner setup decisions stay the same across catalogs. However, after successful runs, discovered
results get registered in specific service catalogs.

For example, when you start from **APIs**, discovered APIs are registered in the **APIs** catalog.

## See Also

- [Adding Services to Your Portfolio](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-services-add-to-portfolio)

- [Register Services Manually](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-services-register-manually)

- [Adding Scanners from Providers](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-scanners-add-from-providers)

- [Viewing Service Details in the Portfolio](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-services-view-details)

- [Using Credentials Stored in External Vaults](https://docs.mulesoft.com/general/exp-vaults-manage)