> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getmodus.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Key Concepts

> The core building blocks of Modus — the context layer, Integrations, Context, Scopes, Workflows, and Home — and how they fit together.

Modus has five core concepts, one per page in the sidebar. Understanding how they
relate is the fastest way to get productive.

## The building blocks

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Integrations" icon="plug">
    Connections to your data sources and apps — warehouses and databases plus SaaS
    apps like Slack, Teams, and Notion. Structured and unstructured alike. This is
    how your data and tools enter Modus.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Context" icon="book-open">
    Your **context layer** — individual **context items** that describe your data:
    metrics, tables, columns, relationships, documents, and definitions. Modus
    builds this automatically from your integrations and keeps it fresh.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scopes" icon="users">
    Specialist AI configurations (your "digital workforce"). A scope bundles
    instructions, a focused slice of context, connections/tools, and access control
    into a focused expert.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Workflows" icon="diagram-project">
    Triggered, multi-step pipelines built from AI steps, actions, and conditions.
    They put scopes to work automatically.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What a context item captures

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Metrics" icon="chart-line">
    How they're defined — SUM, AVG, calculations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Dimensions" icon="table-cells">
    What you slice by — category, region, time.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Relationships" icon="link">
    How entities connect — `order_items → products`, or a Jira ticket → its account.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Statistics" icon="chart-bar">
    Cardinality, null rates, value ranges.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Documents" icon="file-lines">
    Definitions and knowledge from Notion, Confluence, and more.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Lineage" icon="arrow-right-arrow-left">
    Full data flow — `source → dbt → dashboard`.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Scopes: focus for efficiency and accuracy

Your context layer can hold tens of thousands of items. A **scope** narrows that
down to just the context a business case needs — plus its own instructions, tools,
and access. Because Modus composes only the relevant items at run time (a query
might pull a few hundred items across several sources rather than everything), you
get lower token spend, longer conversations, and more accurate, consistent
answers. Scopes are also where you add guardrails like evaluations and access
control. Publish a scope and use it on [Home](/guides/home) or expose it to Claude
or Cursor over MCP.

## Access and permissions

Modus is built for organizations, so control is first-class:

* **Respects source permissions** — it can honor your existing ACLs (for example, a Looker dashboard a user can't see stays hidden).
* **Configurable group access** — grant access per integration or dataset, so sensitive data can be limited to the right people.
* **Private connections** — for personal sources like a calendar or mailbox, each person connects their own; Modus only ever uses that individual's access.

## How they fit together

**Integrations → Context → Scopes → Home (or your assistant)**

* **Integrations** feed data and tools into Modus.
* **Context** is built from that data — the shared layer everything reads from.
* **Scopes** reference a focused slice of context (plus tools and instructions) to become specialists.
* **Workflows** optionally orchestrate scopes into automated, triggered runs.
* **Home** — or Claude, Cursor, the API, SDK, or CLI — is where you put it all to work.

<Tip>
  Each scope gets minimal, focused context — faster, cheaper, and more accurate
  than one assistant that tries to do everything.
</Tip>