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AI assistants work better when they are not flooded with hundreds of tool definitions at once. Passport controls how tools are presented so a large setup stays usable. You can still see which apps you can reach; only the detailed tool lists become on-demand as things grow. The default is auto. Free and Pro stay on that default. Enterprise Settings can show a pinned mode if one was set earlier, with a way to switch back to auto.

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The three tiers

Flat

Every permitted tool is defined up front. Best experience with no indirection, for small setups.

Apps

One meta-tool per MCP, named for the MCP (for example github, supabase). The tool list itself is the readable inventory; each MCP’s tool definitions load on demand inside its meta-tool.

Compact

Two global meta-tools (a search and a call) whose descriptions carry the MCP manifest. For very large fleets.

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How auto chooses

When the mode is auto, the workspace endpoint picks a tier from the count of permitted tools and MCPs for the caller:
1

Flat, until the threshold

While the total number of permitted tools is at or below the discovery threshold (default 40), the gateway serves flat.
2

Apps, past the threshold

Once the tool count passes the threshold, the gateway switches to one meta-tool per MCP, as long as there are 24 or fewer permitted MCPs.
3

Compact, for very large fleets

With more than 24 permitted MCPs, the gateway switches to the two global meta-tools.
Operators can pin a single tier instead of auto and change the threshold (any value from 1 to 500) when they need a fixed presentation. Day-to-day Free and Pro workspaces do not expose that control and remain on auto.
Auto only applies to the workspace endpoint (/mcp and /w/{workspace}/mcp). A per-MCP endpoint (/s/{appKey}/mcp) and a bundle endpoint (/b/{bundleKey}/mcp) are already curated slices, so they always stay flat regardless of this setting.

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Why the inventory always stays visible

Hiding the inventory would make an AI client capability-blind. It would answer “I don’t have GitHub” on clients that never proactively search. So at every tier the list of MCPs a person can reach stays readable. In apps mode the tool list is that inventory. In compact mode the meta-tool descriptions carry it. Only the detailed per-tool definitions load on demand, which is what keeps the context cost down. The repeatable context-efficiency benchmark measures the definition, task-context, wire, result, CLI-process, and latency costs of flat MCP, compact MCP, and Passport CLI against the same deterministic governed task.