When implementing an identity solution, one of the biggest challenges can be bringing every application under management quickly and efficiently. Traditionally, the phrase “custom connector” has meant long development cycles, hiring professional services, and writing code from scratch. At ConductorOne, we’ve taken a different approach.
What exactly is a connector?
At a high level, a connector is a piece of software that communicates with an external service, whether that’s a SaaS application, REST API, or local database. Connectors perform two primary functions:
- Ingesting (syncing) data like users, groups, and permissions.
- Provisioning access back into the service.
Because every service speaks its own “language”—users here, accounts there, groups in one app, teams in another—connectors also need a way to normalize all of that data. ConductorOne solves this through a consistent data model that ensures applications can be managed side by side.
The foundation: Baton SDK
If you need to integrate a homegrown or back-office application, you can build your own connector with ConductorOne’s Baton SDK. Baton provides a flexible framework for defining and normalizing data across different services.
Key capabilities include:
- Traits: reusable object definitions like User, Group, Role, and App, which carry important details (email addresses, profile attributes, etc.).
- Resource Types: mapping upstream service objects (like GitHub “Team”) into a consistent model (a Group trait in Baton).
- Resources: the individual instances of those objects, like a specific team or account.
- Entitlements: the permissions or assignments tied to each resource, such as “read,” “write,” or “membership.”
- Grants: the facts that link principals to entitlements on resources, such as “User X has membership in Group Y.”
When a Baton connector runs, it syncs this entire model: listing resources, entitlements, and grants, then persisting them in ConductorOne’s platform. The SDK handles the heavy lifting, including rate limiting, pagination, and secure communication.
A new way: connectors without code
While the SDK is powerful, not every integration needs full development. That’s why ConductorOne also supports no-code custom connectors through YAML configuration.
With YAML, IT teams can define resources and map data without writing a single line of code. For example:
- Pull users from an API by defining a “user” resource in YAML and pointing to the API.
- Bring in groups or projects the same way, with configuration only.
- If an application doesn’t have an API, you can connect to its database using SQL statements you likely already have.
The connector handles the rest, normalizing data, mapping it back into ConductorOne, and making it manageable alongside other applications.
Why custom connectors matter to IT teams
For IT and security teams, the ability to integrate quickly is essential. Without flexible connectors, teams face:
- Delays in onboarding apps, slowing down governance and access reviews.
- Costly development cycles or reliance on professional services.
- Specialized coding requirements that limit who can build and maintain integrations.
ConductorOne’s approach eliminates those roadblocks:
- YAML configuration means new applications can be onboarded in hours or days, not months.
- Baton SDK gives developers full control for more complex or homegrown systems.
- A unified data model ensures consistent, reliable governance across APIs, databases, and SaaS apps.
- Teams can scale confidently, managing hundreds of applications without integration bottlenecks.
Flexible deployment
Connectors can run in the cloud or within your own environment. Whether you’re building with the SDK or configuring with YAML, the outcome is the same: faster time to value, easier maintenance, and a more comprehensive view of identity and access.
Why it matters
By treating connectors as configuration, not code, and by offering a full SDK for deeper use cases, ConductorOne dramatically reduces the time and effort needed to bring new applications into your IGA program.
With custom connectors, integration becomes faster, more flexible, and more accessible to every team—helping IT keep pace with business growth and secure every identity in the environment
ConductorOne makes it easy to bring every application under management with 300+ out-of-the-box connectors and the flexibility to build your own when you need to.
Book a demo to see how custom connectors can accelerate your identity program, or explore our integrations to discover what’s already available.
