title: Shadow compliance discovery description: Deploy in shadow mode, fingerprint traffic, select compliance packs, observe gaps, and graduate to enforcement. audience: Platform engineers and compliance officers timeEstimate: 60 minutes (full lifecycle) prerequisites:

  • Control Plane installed (Kickstart or Helm)
  • At least one Bouncer registered in sandbox

Shadow compliance discovery

Shadow compliance discovery is the end-to-end lifecycle for mapping regulatory gaps before inline enforcement. Control Core evaluates every request through OPA in shadow mode — traffic always reaches your upstream API — while the Control Plane builds fingerprints, scores compliance packs, and produces gap reports you can convert into controls.

Time estimate: ~15 min to deploy shadow + ~45 min for representative traffic and first gap report.

Lifecycle

Click to enlarge

PhaseGuideOutcome
DeployQuickstartBOUNCER_ENFORCEMENT_MODE=shadow, health checks green
FingerprintFingerprint & discoverPath/field tokens aggregated from shadow audit
SelectCompliance packsFINTRAC, OSFI, CCCP, NIST AI, HIPAA, etc. scored for relevance
ObserveGap reportSSIE tags + pack observations including CANNOT_ASSESS
ReportCompliance reportPDF/JSON auditor export with clause mapping
GenerateGenerate controlsCandidate Rego controls from gap findings
EnforceUpgrade to enforceLicense + enforce mode after review

Who should use this path

  • Compliance officers need audit-grade evidence (OSFI B-13, FINTRAC, PIPEDA, CCCP) before blocking production APIs.
  • Platform engineers deploy the standard universal Bouncer image — no fork, no demo-specific code.
  • Control authors promote gap findings into sandbox controls after Policy Impact Simulator review.

PIPs optional for discovery

Shadow discovery works from traffic fingerprints alone. Policy Information Points enrich observations when connected; controls marked pip_required in a pack manifest may report CANNOT_ASSESS until the expected PIP type is linked. See Gap report — CANNOT_ASSESS.

Troubleshooting: If /compliance is hidden, enable Integrity pilot mode, Sovereign compliance dashboard, and Shadow enforcement mode under Settings → Feature Flags. See Troubleshooting.

Next step: Shadow discovery quickstart