# Agent Network Protocol ANP

[6 · Coordinate](/category/coordinate/)

| Agent Network Protocol |
| --- |
| Category | [Coordinate](/category/coordinate/) |
| Governed by | Community-led open-source project (agent-network-protocol GitHub org) |
| Status | Released v1.1 (core suite); meta-protocol (ANP-06) remains draft/unreleased |
| Phase | stable |
| Implementation | shipping |
| Adoption | unmeasured |
| Version | 1.1 (protocol document release); protocolVersion field remains 1.0.0 |
| Specification | [https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol](https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol) |
| Found at | /.well-known/agent-descriptions |
| Last checked | 2026-09-06 |

[Coordinate](/category/coordinate/) The Agent Network Protocol (ANP) is a suite of open specifications describing itself as aiming to become "the HTTP of the Agentic Web era": a protocol stack for agent identity, naming, discovery, negotiation, secure messaging, and application-level collaboration [[1]](#ref-1). It solves several coordinate-layer problems at once rather than one narrow one: did:wba (ANP-03) gives agents a Web-based DID identity method; ANP-04 layers human-readable WNS handles (e.g. alice.example.com) over DIDs; ANP-07 defines machine-readable Agent Description documents; ANP-08 (the Agent Discovery Protocol, ADSP) defines active discovery via a well-known JSON-LD collection page and a passive registration API for search-service agents; ANP-09 defines an end-to-end encrypted instant-messaging profile suite (direct and group messaging, attachments, federation, mentions); and ANP-10 layers an agent payment protocol (AP2) on top [[1]](#ref-1)[[2]](#ref-2).

## Overview
ANP explicitly does not rebuild core internet infrastructure — it reuses HTTP, DNS, CA/TLS, CDN, and search rather than defining a new network stack — and its meta-protocol layer (ANP-06, a semantic negotiation layer analogous in spirit to Agora's protocol negotiation) remains an unreleased draft, not part of the currently released architecture [[1]](#ref-1).

As of this verification (2026-09-05), the released specification-document version is 1.1, though the project is explicit that this document-version bump does not change the wire-level protocolVersion field, which remains "1.0.0" in released message examples — a versioning nuance worth flagging for implementers [[1]](#ref-1). Discovery is confirmed executable: GET https://{domain}/.well-known/agent-descriptions should return a JSON-LD CollectionPage whose items[] array lists ad:AgentDescription entries with pagination via a next field, per RFC 8615 conventions [[2]](#ref-2). The project also publishes vNext draft revisions (ANP-01 through ANP-09) that do not yet replace the released v1.1 text, and a separately versioned ANP Messaging 1.2 draft for multi-device cryptographic endpoints. What is unresolved: no independently measured count of live ANP deployments was found in this pass — adoption here is recorded as unmeasured, and the seed's prior "v0.1, experimental" characterization understated the protocol's actual maturity (v1.1, released), which was corrected in this pass.

## Discovery and probe

Agent Discovery Service Protocol (ADSP), active .well-known discovery · /.well-known/agent-descriptions

```
GET {origin}/.well-known/agent-descriptions
parse:     JSON-LD CollectionPage document with an items[] array of ad:AgentDescription entries confirms ANP active discovery is exposed
on absent: 404 or non-JSON-LD response means the domain does not expose ANP active discovery; agents there may still be reachable only via passive registration with a search service
```

Live check run by [the MCP probe](/mcp/server-card): GET /.well-known/agent-descriptions. ANP active discovery is a JSON-LD collection of AgentDescription items.

```
{
 "path": "/.well-known/agent-descriptions",
 "expect": {
  "content_type": "json",
  "text_match": "AgentDescription"
 },
 "note": "ANP active discovery is a JSON-LD collection of AgentDescription items."
}
```

## History
- 2026-09-05 — seeded from Exa Agent research run
- 2026-09-06 — verified against agent-network-protocol.com and github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol README + ANP-08 discovery spec; corrected version from v0.1/experimental to released v1.1 and filled discovery path

## Instances

- [agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol (specification repository)](https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol) · Observed 2026-09-05 · network
- [AgentConnect (ANP reference SDK)](https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentConnect) · Observed 2026-06-01 · service

Every instance with its source is listed on the [instances page](/instances/).

## See also

## References

- ANP's released specification suite (v1.1) covers did:wba identity, WNS handles, agent description (ANP-07), agent discovery (ANP-08), end-to-end instant messaging (ANP-09), and the AP2 agent payment protocol (ANP-10); the meta-protocol (ANP-06) remains an unreleased draft. — [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol/main/README.md](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol/main/README.md) (2026-09-05) VERIFIED
- ANP-08 (Agent Discovery Protocol, Released v1.1) defines active discovery via the well-known path https://{domain}/.well-known/agent-descriptions, returning a JSON-LD CollectionPage listing agent description documents, plus a passive registration API for search-service agents. — [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol/main/08-ANP-Agent-Discovery-Protocol-Specification.md](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol/main/08-ANP-Agent-Discovery-Protocol-Specification.md) (2026-09-05) VERIFIED

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