{
  "dataset": "protocols",
  "record": {
    "id": "anp",
    "name": "ANP",
    "full_name": "Agent Network Protocol",
    "layer": "interop",
    "creator": "Agent Network Protocol open-source community",
    "status": "emerging (open source)",
    "year": 2025,
    "one_liner": "An open protocol aiming to be the 'HTTP of the agent internet': decentralized DID-based identity, a meta-protocol negotiation layer, and JSON-LD agent descriptions so billions of agents can connect.",
    "spec_url": "https://agent-network-protocol.com/",
    "snippet": "did:wba identity + meta-protocol negotiation + JSON-LD agent description for open agent discovery.",
    "abbreviation": "ANP",
    "also_known_as": [
      "Agent Network Protocol"
    ],
    "canonical_spec_url": "https://agent-network-protocol.com/specs/agent-description.html",
    "entity_uri": "https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol",
    "taxonomy_layer": "interop",
    "sub_layer": "decentralized-agent-network",
    "protocol_type": "transport",
    "central_problem": "Defines how agents connect across an open, decentralized network — establishing identity and trust, exchanging interpretable messages, and understanding each other's intent — to build an 'internet of agents'.",
    "maintainer": "Agent Network Protocol open-source community (agent-network-protocol on GitHub)",
    "governance_body": "open-source community (ANP)",
    "license": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol",
      "note": "Confirm the ANP repo license at build."
    },
    "maturity_tag": "emerging",
    "current_spec_version": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://agent-network-protocol.com/specs/agent-description.html",
      "note": "Confirm current ANP spec version at build (multi-document spec set: communication / meta-protocol / agent-description)."
    },
    "spec_date": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://agent-network-protocol.com/specs/agent-description.html",
      "note": "Confirm latest spec date at build."
    },
    "launch_date": {
      "value": "2025",
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol",
      "note": "Confirm first-release date at build."
    },
    "last_verified": "2026-06-15",
    "transport": "HTTPS + W3C DID (did:wba) for identity/encryption; JSON-LD agent descriptions; meta-protocol negotiation",
    "core_mechanism": "ANP layers three tiers: (1) an Identity & Encrypted Communication layer using W3C DIDs (the did:wba method, each DID resolving to an HTTPS-hosted DID document) for decentralized authentication and end-to-end encryption; (2) a Meta-Protocol layer where agents negotiate which protocol to speak; and (3) an Application Protocol layer using semantic-web/JSON-LD agent descriptions to advertise capabilities, endpoints, and auth schemes.",
    "discovery_endpoint": "JSON-LD agent description document (HTTPS) + did:wba DID document",
    "settlement_type": null,
    "adoption_metric": {
      "value": null,
      "verify_status": "verify-against-primary-at-build",
      "source_hint": "https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol",
      "note": "No audited adoption figure asserted."
    },
    "notable_adopters": [
      {
        "value": "Agent Network Protocol community",
        "source": "https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol"
      }
    ],
    "relationships": [
      {
        "predicate": "competes_with",
        "target": "a2a",
        "note": "ANP is an alternative agent-interop protocol to A2A, distinguished by decentralized DID-based identity and a meta-protocol negotiation layer."
      },
      {
        "predicate": "complements",
        "target": "erc-8004",
        "note": "Both bring decentralized identity to agents; ANP uses W3C DIDs off-chain, ERC-8004 uses on-chain registries."
      }
    ],
    "ideal_use_case": "Building an open, decentralized agent network where identity and trust are self-sovereign (DID-based) rather than platform-issued.",
    "when_to_use": "When you want decentralized DID identity and protocol negotiation for agents instead of a single vendor's interop stack.",
    "when_not_to_use": "When you need the broad ecosystem and production interop of A2A, or you don't want to adopt DID infrastructure.",
    "code_example": "// ANP agent description (JSON-LD, schematic)\n{ \"@context\": \"https://agent-network-protocol.com/context\", \"did\": \"did:wba:example.com:agent\", \"name\": \"researcher\", \"interfaces\": [ ... ] }",
    "source": "ANP three-layer architecture (did:wba identity, meta-protocol negotiation, JSON-LD agent description): https://agent-network-protocol.com/ and https://agent-network-protocol.com/specs/agent-description.html ; repo https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol . Compared with MCP/ACP/A2A in arXiv:2505.02279. Listed for addition in research §2.",
    "agent_readiness_link": "agent-readiness/a2a",
    "layer_legacy": "agent"
  }
}