Agent protocols
Agent protocols covers the standards that let agents talk to tools, to interfaces and to each other.
In brief
Agent protocols, in brief.
What it isAgent protocols covers the standards that let agents talk to tools, to interfaces and to each other.
Where it sitsOne of 6 categories in the Tools and protocols layer. Tools and protocols covers how agents reach the outside world: the standards that connect agents to tools, gateways in front of MCP servers, hosted tool catalogues, and sandboxes where agent code runs safely.
What we track15 products, including A2UI, AG-UI (Agent-User Interaction Protocol), Agent Client Protocol (ACP, editor-agent), Agent Communication Protocol (ACP, IBM BeeAI) - archived, merged into A2A and Agent Network Protocol (ANP).
The products
15 products in Agent protocols.
Each name opens a search for that product in our index.
ProductMakerIts own site
Agent Communication Protocol (ACP, IBM BeeAI) - archived, merged into A2AIBM / BeeAIagentcommunicationprotocol.dev
Model Context Protocol (MCP)Anthropic, now under the Linux Foundation's Agentic AI Foundationmodelcontextprotocol.io
From our census of 2026-11-08. A product listed here is one that belongs in this category; the search answer says whether we have checked it.
Questions
Agent protocols, answered.
What is Agent protocols in AI infrastructure?Agent protocols covers the standards that let agents talk to tools, to interfaces and to each other.
Which layer of AI infrastructure is Agent protocols in?Agent protocols is in the Tools and protocols layer. Tools and protocols covers how agents reach the outside world: the standards that connect agents to tools, gateways in front of MCP servers, hosted tool catalogues, and sandboxes where agent code runs safely.
Which products are in Agent protocols?We track 15 products in Agent protocols, including A2UI, AG-UI (Agent-User Interaction Protocol), Agent Client Protocol (ACP, editor-agent), Agent Communication Protocol (ACP, IBM BeeAI) - archived, merged into A2A, Agent Network Protocol (ANP), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), Agent2Agent Protocol (A2A) and Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP, commerce). The full list is on this page.
Tools and protocols