{
  "dataset": "glossary",
  "record": {
    "id": "nlweb",
    "term": "NLWeb",
    "category": "protocols",
    "short_def": "Microsoft's standard for turning a website into a conversational endpoint that answers natural-language queries — and is itself an MCP server.",
    "long_def": "Introduced by Microsoft at Build 2025 (May 2025) and led by Schema.org/RSS/RDF creator R.V. Guha, NLWeb combines a site's Schema.org data, a vector index and an LLM to answer questions grounded in the site's own content, exposing the result over a simple endpoint that doubles as an MCP server.",
    "see_also": [
      "mcp",
      "json-ld",
      "agentic-web"
    ],
    "etymology_origin": "Introduced by Microsoft at Build 2025 (May 2025); conceived and led by Ramanathan V. (R.V.) Guha, creator of RSS, RDF and Schema.org, who joined Microsoft as CVP and Technical Fellow.",
    "related_to": [
      "mcp",
      "json-ld",
      "agentic-web",
      "rag"
    ],
    "contrast_with": "Unlike MCP, which is the tool-calling protocol, NLWeb is a way to make an existing website conversationally queryable — and every NLWeb endpoint is itself exposed as an MCP server, so it builds on MCP rather than competing with it.",
    "example": "Microsoft introduced NLWeb at Build 2025 (May 2025) with early adopters including Shopify, Snowflake, O'Reilly Media, Tripadvisor and Eventbrite.",
    "source": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLWeb",
    "status": "emerging",
    "why_it_matters": "NLWeb lets a site reuse its existing Schema.org data to become an agent-queryable MCP endpoint — a low-lift path from structured data to conversational agent-readiness.",
    "sameAs": [
      "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLWeb"
    ],
    "bridge_entity": "protocols/interop/nlweb",
    "last_verified": "2026-06-15",
    "md_twin": "/glossary/nlweb.md"
  }
}