Salesforce and Databricks Announce Shared Governance and AI Agent Infrastructure

Salesforce and Databricks used the 2026 Data + AI Summit to announce a deeper integration of their platforms, centered on a shared foundation for AI agents and human users. The partnership expands beyond the 2023 zero-ETL data sharing agreement by adding federated governance controls, bidirectional search, and Slack-based workflow tools .

Governance and Zero Copy expansion

The foundation of the partnership is an expanded Zero Copy architecture. New governance capabilities include Federated Authentication, identity mapping, and metadata-aware access controls. These are designed to enforce consistent security and compliance policies across Salesforce Data 360 and Databricks Unity Catalog without duplicating data . This builds directly on the zero-ETL data sharing integration first announced in 2023/2024 .

Cross-platform search and agent discovery

Federated Search is a headline feature enabling bidirectional discovery: Salesforce Agentforce agents can search Databricks data, and Databricks users can query Salesforce, all from a unified interface . On the governance side, MuleSoft Agent Scanners for Databricks are designed to provide automatic visibility into APIs and integrations within Agent Fabric, helping organizations govern their agent ecosystems at scale .

The partners are also exploring integration between Salesforce Agentforce and the Databricks Unity AI Gateway, and including Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations to help agents discover information and access tools across both environments .

Slack and workflow integrations

The collaboration extends into Slack, where new integrations bring Databricks Genie, a Q&A App, and a Security App directly into the collaboration workspace. The goal is to let users access Databricks-powered insights, AI experiences, and security workflows without switching contexts. The Slack Genie App is positioned as a key piece of the “enterprise context in the flow of work” pillar .

What’s shipping and what’s ahead

The press release does not provide granular GA or public-preview labels for every feature, but it does position MuleSoft Agent Scanner for Databricks and the Data 360 Zero Copy capabilities as foundational, deliverable components of the expanded partnership. The Slack Genie App and related Slack integrations are presented as new, shippable capabilities .

The bigger picture for enterprise AI agents

The partnership reflects a broader industry push to solve a critical challenge for AI agents: they need real-time, governed data combined with the business context—permissions, approvals, workflows—necessary to act safely. By linking Databricks' data platform with Salesforce’s CRM, Data Cloud, MuleSoft, and Slack, the two companies are building a unified operating model where agents can search, reason, and take action across silos without compromising governance .