Quickstart
This guide gets a first Shadow AI signal flowing — a pilot on a handful of devices — in under 30 minutes. For fleet-wide rollout (MDM, force-install policies, key rotation), see Deploying Agents & Extensions.
Before you start
- You're an Organization Owner or AI Steward (required to manage Shadow AI deployment and keys).
- You have a project in AgenticAnts.
- Pick one or two pilot devices you can install on directly.
Shadow AI is an enterprise feature. If you don't see it in the left nav, contact your account team to enable it for your organization.
Steps
Get your project keys
In AgenticAnts, go to Shadow AI → Settings → Deployment & Keys and click Reveal to generate (or show) your project's public key (pk-…) and secret key (sk-…).
These keys are how clients authenticate to your project. Copy them somewhere safe — the secret is shown in full only once.
There is one key pair per project, used by every client regardless of platform (macOS, Windows, browser, coding-agent telemetry).
Deploy a client
Pick the surface you want to pilot. You can deploy more later — they all attribute to the same users and devices.
The browser extension discovers web AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude.ai, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and more).
- Go to Shadow AI → Settings → Deployment & Keys → Browser extensions.
- Pick your browser (Chrome, Edge, or Firefox) and follow the Self-Serve install (store link or signed package).
- After installing, the extension reads your project keys and enrolls. The toolbar icon turns green when it's connected.
Full instructions, including MDM force-install: Deploying Agents & Extensions → Browser extensions.
Generate some activity
On the pilot device, use an AI tool — open ChatGPT or Claude.ai in the browser, run a prompt in Cursor or Claude Code, etc.
Confirm it's reporting
Open Shadow AI in AgenticAnts:
- Devices — your pilot device should appear with a Healthy status and a recent check-in.
- Overview / Apps / Users — within a minute or two, the AI tools you used should show up with interaction counts.
Next steps
- Roll out to the fleet — Deploying Agents & Extensions (MDM, force-install, key rotation).
- Enrich identities — Directory Integration to slice usage by department and manager.
- Set policy — AI Tools, Registry & Policy to sanction or forbid tools.
- Read the data — Understanding the Dashboard.