ATO Copilot

AI-powered compliance copilot that guides DoD teams through every step of the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) — from system registration through continuous monitoring and ATO authorization.

Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP) with Azure OpenAI function calling, 130 compliance tools, and multi-channel delivery (VS Code, web chat, stdio).

ATO Copilot is the first tool that:

• Covers all 7 steps in a single conversational interface
• Uses AI to automate the hardest part (control narrative writing)
• Integrates with Azure for automated compliance evidence
• Exports to eMASS so it fits into the existing DoD workflow instead of replacing it

ATO Copilot is where you DO the work, eMASS is where you SUBMIT the work.

Features

RMF Lifecycle Automation

• Prepare — Register systems, define authorization boundaries, assign ISSO/ISSM/AO roles
• Categorize — FIPS 199 impact levels with NIST SP 800-60 information type mapping
• Select — Baseline selection, control tailoring, CRM inheritance, STIG cross-reference
• Implement — Control narratives, batch SSP population, IaC compliance scanning
• Assess — Automated compliance assessment, evidence collection, SAR generation
• Authorize — ATO/IATT/DATO decisions, risk acceptance, POA&M management, authorization packages
• Monitor — Continuous monitoring plans, drift detection, ConMon reports, expiration alerts

AI-Powered Intelligence

• Azure OpenAI Function Calling — GPT-4o with intelligent tool selection (72/130 tools per request)
• Multi-Turn Conversations — Conversational context across turns with automatic tool execution
• System Name Resolution — Natural language system references resolved to UUIDs automatically
• Contextual Suggestions — Follow-up action buttons based on conversation context

Enterprise Security

• CAC/PIV Authentication — DoD smart card authentication with certificate role mapping
• Privileged Identity Management — Azure PIM integration with JIT role activation
• RBAC Enforcement — Viewer, Operator, Administrator, Auditor, AuthorizingOfficial roles
• Audit Logging — Full correlation-tracked audit trail with 7-year retention

Multi-Channel Delivery

• VS Code Extension — GitHub Copilot Chat participant with /compliance, /knowledge, /config commands
• Web Chat — React + Tailwind SPA with SignalR streaming and suggestion buttons
• Stdio Mode — Direct MCP integration for GitHub Copilot and Claude Desktop
• HTTP REST API — SSE streaming endpoint for custom integrations

Document Generation & Interoperability

• SSP, POA&M, SAR, RAR — QuestPDF and ClosedXML document generation
• eMASS Export — Controls, POA&M, and OSCAL format export
• Template Engine — Customizable document templates with save/reuse

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• .NET 9.0 SDK
• Docker (recommended for full deployment)
• Azure subscription (Azure Government preferred)

Docker (Recommended)

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your Azure credentials and OpenAI settings
docker compose -f docker-compose.mcp.yml up --build

This starts three services:

Service	Port	Description
ato-copilot-mcp	3001	MCP server with 130 compliance tools
ato-copilot-chat	5001	Web chat application
ato-copilot-sql	1433	SQL Server 2022 database

Build & Test

dotnet build Ato.Copilot.sln
dotnet test Ato.Copilot.sln    # 3,164 tests

Run Locally (HTTP mode)

cd src/Ato.Copilot.Mcp
dotnet run -- --http

Server starts at http://localhost:3001:

Endpoint	Description
GET /health	Health check with capability report
GET /mcp/tools	List all 130 available tools
POST /mcp/chat/stream	SSE streaming chat with AI function calling
POST /mcp/chat	Synchronous chat endpoint
POST /mcp	MCP JSON-RPC (tools/list, tools/call)

Run Locally (Stdio mode)

cd src/Ato.Copilot.Mcp
dotnet run -- --stdio

MCP Tools (130)

RMF Lifecycle Tools

Category	Tools	Examples
Registration (8)	System registration, boundaries, roles	compliance_register_system, compliance_define_boundary, compliance_assign_role
Categorization (3)	FIPS 199, information types	compliance_categorize_system, compliance_add_info_types
Baseline Selection (6)	Baselines, tailoring, inheritance, STIG	compliance_select_baseline, compliance_tailor_baseline, compliance_show_stig_mapping
SSP Authoring (5)	Narratives, batch populate, SSP generation	compliance_write_narrative, compliance_batch_populate, compliance_generate_ssp
Assessment (6)	Control assessment, evidence, SAR	compliance_assess_control, compliance_record_effectiveness, compliance_generate_sar
Authorization (7)	ATO decisions, risk, POA&M, packages	compliance_issue_authorization, compliance_create_poam, compliance_bundle_authorization_package
Continuous Monitoring (7)	ConMon plans, reports, reauthorization	compliance_create_conmon_plan, compliance_generate_conmon_report, compliance_reauthorization_workflow
Compliance Scanning (11)	Assessments, remediation, evidence, audit	compliance_assess, compliance_remediate, compliance_collect_evidence
Templates (4)	Document template management	compliance_list_templates, compliance_generate_from_template
eMASS/OSCAL (3)	Interoperability exports	compliance_emass_export_controls, compliance_emass_export_oscal

Platform Tools

Category	Tools	Examples
Compliance Watch (23)	Monitoring, alerts, drift, auto-remediation	watch_enable_monitoring, watch_detect_drift, watch_manage_alerts
Kanban (21)	Remediation task boards	kanban_create_task, kanban_update_status, kanban_get_board
Auth & PIM (15)	CAC auth, PIM roles, JIT access	cac_authenticate, pim_activate_role, jit_request_access
Knowledge Base (7)	NIST, STIG, RMF, FedRAMP guidance	compliance_explain_nist_control, compliance_search_stigs
IaC Scanning (1)	Infrastructure-as-Code compliance	compliance_iac_scan
Configuration (1)	Settings management	configuration_manage
Chat (1)	Open-ended compliance interaction	compliance_chat

Project Structure

ato-copilot/
├── Ato.Copilot.sln
├── src/
│   ├── Ato.Copilot.Core/              # Domain models, EF Core (40 entities), interfaces
│   │   ├── Data/Context/              # AtoCopilotContext — SQL Server / SQLite
│   │   ├── Models/Compliance/         # RMF, assessment, authorization models
│   │   └── Interfaces/Compliance/     # Service contracts
│   ├── Ato.Copilot.Agents/            # AI agents with 130 tool implementations
│   │   ├── Common/                    # BaseAgent (AI + keyword routing), BaseTool
│   │   └── Compliance/
│   │       ├── Agents/                # ComplianceAgent, ConfigurationAgent, KnowledgeBaseAgent
│   │       ├── Tools/                 # 25 tool files across RMF lifecycle
│   │       ├── Services/              # Business logic (40+ service implementations)
│   │       └── Prompts/               # AI system prompts
│   ├── Ato.Copilot.Mcp/              # MCP server (stdio + HTTP + SSE streaming)
│   │   ├── Server/                    # McpServer, McpHttpBridge, McpStdioService
│   │   ├── Middleware/                # CAC auth, RBAC, audit logging, correlation
│   │   └── Prompts/                   # Prompt registry
│   ├── Ato.Copilot.Chat/             # Web chat application
│   │   ├── Controllers/              # Chat API endpoints
│   │   ├── Hubs/                     # SignalR real-time streaming
│   │   └── ClientApp/                # React + Tailwind CSS SPA
│   └── Ato.Copilot.State/            # In-memory state management
├── extensions/
│   └── vscode/                        # VS Code extension (Chat participant + diagnostics)
├── tests/
│   └── Ato.Copilot.Tests.Unit/        # 3,164 unit tests (xUnit + FluentAssertions + Moq)
├── docs/                              # MkDocs Material documentation site
├── Dockerfile
└── docker-compose.mcp.yml             # 3-service deployment

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        MCP Clients                                  │
│  VS Code Extension │ Web Chat (React) │ Stdio (Copilot/Claude)     │
└────────┬────────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┘
         │                    │                   │
         ▼                    ▼                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Ato.Copilot.Mcp — MCP Server (HTTP :3001 + stdio)                 │
│  ├── SSE Streaming (POST /mcp/chat/stream)                         │
│  ├── JSON-RPC (POST /mcp)                                          │
│  ├── Middleware: CAC Auth → RBAC → Audit Logging → Correlation     │
│  └── Agent Router: Intent classification → agent dispatch           │
└────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                                 │
         ┌───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┐
         ▼                       ▼                       ▼
┌─────────────────┐  ┌────────────────────┐  ┌────────────────────┐
│ Knowledge Base  │  │ Compliance Agent   │  │ Configuration      │
│ Agent           │  │ (130 tools)        │  │ Agent              │
│ (7 tools)       │  │                    │  │ (1 tool)           │
│                 │  │ AI Path:           │  │                    │
│ NIST, STIG,     │  │  Azure OpenAI      │  │ Settings           │
│ RMF, FedRAMP    │  │  GPT-4o function   │  │ management         │
│ guidance        │  │  calling           │  │                    │
│                 │  │                    │  │                    │
│                 │  │ Keyword Path:      │  │                    │
│                 │  │  40+ route rules   │  │                    │
│                 │  │  w/ conversational │  │                    │
│                 │  │  fallback          │  │                    │
└─────────────────┘  └────────┬───────────┘  └────────────────────┘
                              │
              ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
              ▼               ▼               ▼
┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐
│ Core Services    │ │ EF Core      │ │ Azure SDKs     │
│ ├── 40+ services │ │ ├── 40 DbSets│ │ ├── Resource    │
│ ├── RMF workflow │ │ ├── SQL Server│ │ │    Graph       │
│ ├── AI prompts   │ │ └── SQLite   │ │ ├── Policy      │
│ └── Doc gen      │ │              │ │ ├── Defender     │
│    (QuestPDF,    │ └──────────────┘ │ ├── PIM          │
│     ClosedXML)   │                  │ └── Key Vault    │
└──────────────────┘                  └────────────────┘

Configuration

Environment Variables

# Server mode
ATO_RUN_MODE=http                                        # stdio | http

# Azure AD / Entra ID
ATO_AZURE_AD__TENANT_ID=your-tenant-id
ATO_AZURE_AD__CLIENT_ID=your-client-id

# Azure Government
ATO_GATEWAY__AZURE__SUBSCRIPTION_ID=your-sub-id
ATO_GATEWAY__AZURE__CLOUD_ENVIRONMENT=AzureGovernment

# Azure OpenAI (AI-powered tool calling)
ATO_GATEWAY__AZUREOPENAI__ENDPOINT=https://your-endpoint.openai.azure.us/
ATO_GATEWAY__AZUREOPENAI__APIKEY=your-api-key
ATO_GATEWAY__AZUREOPENAI__CHATDEPLOYMENTNAME=gpt-4o
ATO_GATEWAY__AZUREOPENAI__AGENTAIENABLED=true

# Database
ATO_CONNECTIONSTRINGS__DEFAULTCONNECTION="Server=localhost,1433;..."

Key Configuration Sections

Section	Description
Gateway:AzureOpenAI	Azure OpenAI endpoint, model, temperature (0.3), max tool rounds (5)
AzureAd	Azure AD / Entra ID with CAC/MFA toggle
Gateway:Azure	Subscription, managed identity, Gov cloud
ConnectionStrings	SQLite (dev) / SQL Server (prod)
NistCatalog	NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 OSCAL source with 30-day cache
Agents:Compliance	Default framework, impact level, 20 control families
Agents:KnowledgeBaseAgent	Token limits, confidence threshold
Agents:Kanban	SLA tiers (24h–90d), notification channels
Pim	Activation durations, high-privilege role definitions
CacAuth	Session timeout (8h / 24h max)
Retention	Assessments 3yr, audit logs 7yr
FeatureFlags	8 toggles for scans, evidence, remediation, docs
Performance	10 concurrent ops, 512MB budget, 300s timeout

Compliance Frameworks

Framework	Support Level
NIST 800-53 Rev 5	Full
FedRAMP High	Full
FedRAMP Moderate	Full
DoD IL2	Supported
DoD IL4	Supported
DoD IL5	Supported

VS Code Extension

The VS Code extension integrates as a GitHub Copilot Chat participant:

@ato register a new system called Eagle Eye
@ato /compliance assess my system
@ato /knowledge explain AC-2
@ato /config set framework FedRAMP High

Features:

• Chat participant with RMF workflow commands
• IaC compliance diagnostics with CAT severity mapping
• Code actions for STIG remediation suggestions
• RMF Overview webview panel
• Follow-up suggestion buttons

Install from extensions/vscode/ — see the extension README for details.

Testing

# Run all 3,164 tests
dotnet test Ato.Copilot.sln

# Run unit tests only
dotnet test tests/Ato.Copilot.Tests.Unit/

Test coverage spans:

• Tools (32 files) — All 130 tool implementations
• Services (40+ files) — Business logic, alert pipelines, PIM
• Agents (20+ files) — Routing, AI path, prompt handling
• Middleware (5 files) — CAC auth, RBAC, audit, correlation
• Scanners (12 files) — All NIST control family scanners
• Evidence Collectors (12 files) — Per-family evidence collection
• Models (6 files) — Domain model validation
• MCP/Server (6 files) — SSE streaming, error handling, intent routing
• Chat (9 files) — Chat service, SignalR hub, message mapping

Documentation

Full documentation is built with MkDocs Material:

pip install mkdocs-material
mkdocs serve

Sections: Getting Started (6 role-specific guides), Personas (ISSM, ISSO, SCA, AO, Platform Engineer), RMF Phases (Prepare through Monitor), Reference (tool catalog, API, configuration).

License

Proprietary. All rights reserved.