Runtime Connections
Runtime Connections
Loop Engine connects three different kinds of external capability. They are not interchangeable buckets of “integrations.”
| Layer | Responsibility | Not this | | --- | --- | --- | | Providers | Intelligence — analyze, recommend, classify, predict | Workflow engine, Slack, CRM | | Channels | Human coordination — approve, reject, escalate | System of record, model API | | Integrations | Operational execution — persist, trigger, apply writes | Governance, chat UI |
→ Runtime Taxonomy · Architecture · ABM examples
Hosted governance: Loop Engine Cloud (HTTP API) at loops.betterdata.co — multi-tenant connectors and API keys. OSS runtime: self-host with @loop-engine/sdk in your infrastructure.
Developer note: npm packages implement IntegrationAdapter archetypes (Store, Registry, AI, EventBus). Public grouping below follows the product taxonomy, not package folder names.
⟩ Providers — intelligence systems
Generate intelligence into the loop: recommendations, classifications, draft copy, research steps. Providers do not approve in Slack, do not write to CRM, and do not bypass guards.
Examples: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity Sonar, Vercel AI SDK.
Use any major LLM as a governed actor. Provider actor adapters produce the same AIAgentActor shape — switching providers requires changing one import. Perplexity Sonar covers grounded retrieval with citations as a ToolAdapter for research steps.
Anthropic / Claude
claude-opus-4-6, claude-sonnet-4-6
OpenAI
gpt-4o, o-series models
Grok (xAI)
grok-3, grok-3-mini via xAI API
Google Gemini
gemini-1.5-pro, gemini-2.0-flash
Perplexity Sonar
sonar, sonar-pro, sonar-reasoning — citations + domain filters
Vercel AI SDK
Governed tool calls and streams inside loop transitions
⟩ Channels — human coordination surfaces
Coordinate humans — request approvals, surface decisions, escalate operators. Channels are not Salesforce, Jira, or Postgres. They are not governance (that is loops + guards).
Examples: Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, Google Docs comments, OpenClaw messenger routing.
⟩ Integrations — systems of record
Execute operational actions and persist business state after governance passes: CRM updates, incident triggers, staged sheet apply, HTTP side effects. Integrations are not LLM APIs and are not human chat UIs.
Examples: Salesforce (via your connectors), PagerDuty, Jira, Google Workspace apply paths, Postgres, Kafka, Commerce Gateway.
Persistence and events
In-Memory
Zero-config store for development and testing
Postgres
Persist loop state and events to PostgreSQL
Kafka
Publish loop events to Kafka topics
HTTP
Generic HTTP adapter — connect any REST backend
Operations and commerce
PagerDuty
Incident-triggered governed loops with on-call human steps
Governed incident (Perplexity + PagerDuty)
Sonar research → governed loop → PagerDuty with audit_ref
Commerce Gateway
Controlled connectivity for AI tool execution in operational loops
Loop Engine Cloud API
Hosted multi-tenant runtime, connectors, and governance API
Coverage map (one category per page)
| Connection | Taxonomy | Developer primitive |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity, Vercel AI SDK | Provider | ActorAdapter / ToolAdapter |
| OpenClaw | Channel | Human-surface EventBus routing |
| Memory, Postgres, Kafka, HTTP, PagerDuty, Commerce Gateway, Loop Engine Cloud API | Integration | LoopStore / EventBus / operational adapters |
| Perplexity + PagerDuty (composite) | Integration | Provider step + ops trigger in one pattern |
| Vercel AI (/docs/integrations/vercel-ai) | Provider | Alias → vercel-ai-sdk |
Building an adapter?
Implement IntegrationAdapter archetypes. Set taxonomy: in frontmatter (provider | channel | integration) so nav and indexes stay aligned.