{
  "dataset": "protocols",
  "record": {
    "id": "agents-txt",
    "name": "agents.txt",
    "full_name": "agents.txt",
    "layer": "discovery",
    "creator": "open community (multiple competing proposals; asturwebs reference among them)",
    "status": "draft (community proposal)",
    "year": 2025,
    "one_liner": "A root-level file that declares a site's identity, terms of use for AI agents, service catalog and agentic endpoints in a machine-readable form.",
    "spec_url": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt",
    "snippet": "GET /agents.txt → identity, permissions, services, agentic endpoints (with /api/agents JSON twin)",
    "abbreviation": "agents.txt",
    "also_known_as": [
      "/agents.txt",
      "agent-manifest.txt (proposed 2026 rename of one variant)"
    ],
    "canonical_spec_url": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt",
    "entity_uri": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt",
    "taxonomy_layer": "discovery",
    "sub_layer": "agent-capability-declaration",
    "protocol_type": "declaration",
    "central_problem": "Gives a site a sanctioned, machine-readable channel to tell AI agents who it is, what they are permitted to do, and which agentic endpoints exist — instead of agents guessing.",
    "maintainer": "Community proposal (asturwebs reference implementation; other variants by kaylacar, dennj, and the agent-manifest.txt rename)",
    "governance_body": "none (community proposal; IANA well-known registration pending review)",
    "license": {
      "value": "MIT",
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt",
      "note": "MIT for the asturwebs variant; other competing agents.txt proposals carry their own terms. Confirm at build."
    },
    "maturity_tag": "experimental",
    "current_spec_version": {
      "value": "2.0 (asturwebs variant, draft)",
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt",
      "note": "Version 2.0 observed on the asturwebs variant; there is no single canonical agents.txt spec — confirm the relevant variant at build."
    },
    "spec_date": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt",
      "note": "Confirm latest spec date at build."
    },
    "launch_date": {
      "value": "2025",
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt",
      "note": "Confirm first-release date at build."
    },
    "last_verified": "2026-06-15",
    "transport": "Static file at the domain root (/agents.txt) with a JSON twin (/api/agents)",
    "core_mechanism": "A site serves a human-readable, machine-parseable file at /agents.txt declaring its identity, AI-agent terms of use, service catalog, and agentic endpoints (with a JSON twin); agents fetch it to learn what they are permitted to do. Note: multiple competing agents.txt proposals exist and one variant was renamed agent-manifest.txt in early 2026, so the format is not yet converged.",
    "discovery_endpoint": "/agents.txt (and /.well-known/agents.txt per pending IANA registration)",
    "settlement_type": null,
    "adoption_metric": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt",
      "note": "No audited adoption figure asserted; several competing proposals dilute any single count."
    },
    "notable_adopters": [
      {
        "value": "AsturWebs (reference implementation)",
        "source": "https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt"
      }
    ],
    "relationships": [
      {
        "predicate": "discovers",
        "target": "mcp",
        "note": "agents.txt -discovers-> MCP (research §2 seed triple): an agents.txt-class discovery file can point agents to a site's MCP / agentic endpoints."
      },
      {
        "predicate": "complements",
        "target": "llms-txt",
        "note": "agents.txt declares agent permissions/endpoints; llms.txt declares readable content — paired Layer-1 discovery files."
      }
    ],
    "ideal_use_case": "Declaring, in one root file, what AI agents are allowed to do on your site and where your agentic endpoints live.",
    "when_to_use": "When you want to publish agent permissions and a service/endpoint catalog beyond what llms.txt (content) or robots.txt (crawl rules) cover.",
    "when_not_to_use": "When you only need to expose readable content (use llms.txt) or you require a converged, stable standard — agents.txt has multiple competing drafts.",
    "code_example": "# /agents.txt\nName: Acme\nPolicy: agents may read and call the catalog API; no scraping of /account\nServices:\n  - search: /api/search\n  - checkout: /.well-known/agents.json#checkout",
    "source": "Reference variant (MIT, v2.0 draft, identity/permissions/services/endpoints, /agents.txt + /api/agents, IANA well-known pending, agent-manifest.txt rename of one variant): https://github.com/asturwebs/agents-txt . Seed triple (agents.txt discovers MCP): research §2. Honesty note: multiple competing agents.txt proposals exist.",
    "agent_readiness_link": "agent-readiness/discoverability",
    "layer_legacy": "content"
  }
}