Agents on the web
How does an agent find a service, understand its capabilities and choose an action? We examine the decisions behind the experience.
RESEARCH / AGENTIC WEB
Agentic Web research.
Test the actual.
We study the emerging Agentic Web: how agents discover, understand and act online. We test protocols before building useful experiences.
Agentic protocols
We test how tools, interfaces, identity, payments and commerce protocols work together. What is interoperable, and where does it break?
Experience & evaluation
We test relevance, reliability and human control together. A successful tool call is one step in a successful experience.
This atlas presents protocols we research. Inclusion does not imply implementation or endorsement. Sources and dates show what we have verified.
OUR RESEARCH MAP
A galaxy
of protocols.
MCP runs through our research. Six constellations map interfaces, agents, discovery, trust, payments and commerce.
Organizations and projects
GitHub contributors (6)
View all contributions ↗Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
GitHub contributors (6)
View all contributions ↗Organizations and projects
GitHub contributors (6)
View all contributions ↗Organizations and projects
GitHub contributors (0)
No verified public GitHub contributor list is available for this protocol.
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Organizations and projects
Official sources and GitHub contributions where verified · atlas updated October 11, 2026. Existing contributor lists are from September 27, 2026. Individual profiles do not imply affiliation with the organizations shown.
Protocol definitions and sources
A short definition for each protocol. In-depth profiles will follow.
MPP
Machine Payments Protocol
An HTTP payment flow for machine-to-machine requests, including one-off charges and metered sessions.
Official specification ↗x402
x402
A way to request and authorize payment for an HTTP resource using the 402 response.
Official specification ↗AP2
Agent Payments Protocol
Cryptographically signed mandates to express and verify payment authorization for agent transactions.
Official specification ↗A2UI
Agent to UI
A declarative format for agents to send interface components that a client renders.
Official specification ↗AG-UI
Agent–User Interaction
An event-based connection between an agentic backend and an interactive frontend.
Official specification ↗MCP Apps
MCP Apps
An MCP extension for delivering interactive interfaces from servers into host applications.
Official specification ↗NLWeb
Natural Language Web
An open protocol for asking a website questions in natural language and receiving structured answers; its implementation also exposes MCP.
Official specification ↗MCP
Model Context Protocol
A common way for agents to access external tools, resources and context.
Official specification ↗WebMCP
WebMCP
An emerging browser API proposal for websites to expose structured actions to agents.
Official specification ↗A2A
Agent2Agent
A protocol for independent agents to discover each other, exchange tasks and collaborate.
Official specification ↗AHP
Agent Host Protocol
A shared-session layer that synchronizes agent state across multiple clients.
Official specification ↗ACP
Agent Client Protocol
A point-to-point protocol connecting code editors and coding agents.
Official specification ↗SLIM
Secure Low-Latency Interactive Messaging
A secure, scalable messaging transport for agent systems, with bindings for protocols such as A2A and MCP.
Official specification ↗ARD
Agentic Resource Discovery
A proposal for publishing and discovering agents, tools and skills through federated catalogs with verifiable publisher metadata.
Official specification ↗ANP
Agent Network Protocol
An emerging protocol suite for agent identity, description, discovery and secure messaging; some parts remain drafts.
Official specification ↗Web Bot Auth
Web Bot Authentication
An IETF draft for signing automated HTTP requests so a website can verify the caller’s identity.
Official specification ↗PAP
Personal Agent Protocol
Poppy lets personal agents discover companies, sign users in and work through websites, APIs or company agents within agreed permissions. Draft 0.1, updated October 9, 2026; checked October 11, 2026. It may change before a stable release.
Official specification ↗TAP
Trusted Agent Protocol
Visa’s specification for an agent to prove its identity and commerce intent to a merchant using signed requests.
Official specification ↗ACP
Agentic Commerce Protocol
A commerce interface for agents, merchants and payment providers to exchange shopping and checkout information.
Official specification ↗UCP
Universal Commerce Protocol
Shared commerce building blocks across product discovery, checkout and post-purchase.
Official specification ↗OUR PRODUCT
Explore Research SandboxResearch Sandbox
An environment to test emerging protocols and authorized partner access, then turn experiments into technology.
Our first field of application: agentic commerce.
See CartmelAIA QUESTION. AN IDEA. A FIRST STEP.
Let’s build
what’s next.
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