{
  "dataset": "protocols",
  "record": {
    "id": "acp",
    "name": "ACP",
    "full_name": "Agent Communication Protocol",
    "layer": "interop",
    "creator": "IBM / AGNTCY",
    "status": "emerging",
    "year": 2025,
    "one_liner": "A REST-native alternative to A2A for teams that want inter-agent messaging over plain HTTP with minimal new machinery.",
    "spec_url": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
    "snippet": "POST /agents/{id}/runs  { \"input\": [ ... ] }  // ordinary REST, no special transport",
    "abbreviation": "ACP",
    "also_known_as": [
      "Agent Communication Protocol"
    ],
    "canonical_spec_url": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
    "entity_uri": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
    "taxonomy_layer": "interop",
    "sub_layer": "agent-to-agent",
    "protocol_type": "transport",
    "central_problem": "Provides inter-agent messaging over ordinary REST/HTTP so teams can connect agents without adopting a new transport or RPC layer.",
    "maintainer": "IBM / AGNTCY community (Linux Foundation AGNTCY initiative)",
    "governance_body": {
      "value": "AGNTCY / Linux Foundation",
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
      "note": "Confirm current governance home (AGNTCY/LF) against the primary spec site at build."
    },
    "license": {
      "value": "Apache-2.0",
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
      "note": "Confirm spec license against the primary repo at build."
    },
    "maturity_tag": "emerging",
    "current_spec_version": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
      "note": "Confirm current ACP spec version against primary site at build."
    },
    "spec_date": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
      "note": "Confirm spec date at build."
    },
    "launch_date": {
      "value": "2025",
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
      "note": "Confirm exact first-release date at build."
    },
    "last_verified": "2026-06-15",
    "transport": "REST over HTTP",
    "core_mechanism": "Agents expose REST endpoints (e.g. POST /agents/{id}/runs) and exchange runs/messages as ordinary JSON over HTTP, deliberately avoiding a bespoke transport so existing web infrastructure applies.",
    "discovery_endpoint": "REST agent endpoints (implementation-defined; e.g. /agents/{id})",
    "settlement_type": null,
    "adoption_metric": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev",
      "note": "No audited adoption figure asserted."
    },
    "notable_adopters": [
      {
        "value": "IBM",
        "source": "https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev"
      }
    ],
    "relationships": [
      {
        "predicate": "competes_with",
        "target": "a2a",
        "note": "ACP is positioned as a REST-native alternative to A2A for inter-agent messaging."
      }
    ],
    "ideal_use_case": "Teams that want agent-to-agent messaging using plain REST conventions and existing HTTP tooling.",
    "when_to_use": "When you prefer a low-ceremony REST interface for agent messaging over A2A's richer agent-card + task model.",
    "when_not_to_use": "When you need the broad ecosystem, Agent Cards, and governance of A2A, or cross-vendor production interop today.",
    "code_example": "POST /agents/researcher/runs HTTP/1.1\nContent-Type: application/json\n\n{ \"input\": [{ \"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"Summarize the agentic web\" }] }",
    "source": "Spec home: https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev . Maintainer (IBM/AGNTCY): research §2 (AGNTCY listed among protocols to add).",
    "agent_readiness_link": "agent-readiness/a2a",
    "layer_legacy": "agent"
  }
}