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

# Discovery

> How formae finds resources you haven't told it about yet, and tracks them until you bring them under management.

formae continuously scans your cloud targets for resources it doesn't manage yet,
so you can adopt it gradually instead of migrating everything at once.

Discovery is enabled by default. As soon as you apply a
[discoverable target](/documentation/concepts/target#discovery), formae starts
scanning it every 10 minutes.

## What discovery does

Every resource discovery finds that formae doesn't already manage is recorded as
**unmanaged**. So formae can coexist with other tools without forcing a rapid
migration, an unmanaged resource is read-only: you can see it, but formae won't
change it until you bring it under management.

Find what discovery has turned up in your inventory:

```bash theme={"languages":{"custom":["/languages/pkl.json"]}}
formae inventory resources --query="managed:false"
```

To bring discovered resources under management (extract them into a forma, give
them a stack, and apply), see
[Bring existing resources under management](/documentation/guides/bring-resources-under-management).

## Controlling what gets scanned

Targets are discoverable by default. Set `discoverable = false` on any target you
want excluded from discovery. That field lives on the target, so see
[Target → Discovery](/documentation/concepts/target#discovery) for the config, and
[Configuration](/documentation/reference/configuration#discovery) for discovery
settings like the scan interval.

## How discovered resources are labeled

Every discovered resource needs a [label](/documentation/concepts/label). formae
derives it from the resource's own properties, using the plugin's default rule
(the AWS plugin reads the `Name` tag), and falls back to the provider identifier
when nothing matches. See
[Label → Labels for discovered resources](/documentation/concepts/label#labels-for-discovered-resources)
for the full resolution order, how to override it, and how duplicate labels are
disambiguated.

## Coexisting with other tools

A resource formae discovers can still be managed by another tool at the same time.
[Synchronization](/documentation/concepts/synchronization) keeps formae's view of
these resources up to date, so drift shows up rather than silently diverging.

## See also

* [Synchronization](/documentation/concepts/synchronization): how formae keeps resources it already knows about current.
* [Target](/documentation/concepts/target): where discovery scans run, and how to mark a target discoverable.
* [Label](/documentation/concepts/label): full labeling and collision rules.
* [Resources](/documentation/concepts/resources): managed versus unmanaged resources.