{
 "id": "erc-8444",
 "name": "ERC-8444: Agentic Resource Discovery (ARD) Onchain",
 "acronym": "ERC-8444",
 "aliases": [
  "EIP-8444",
  "ARD Onchain"
 ],
 "collisions": [],
 "step": "discover",
 "parties": [
  "agent-registry",
  "agent-site"
 ],
 "form": "onchain-registry",
 "track": "community",
 "scope": "general",
 "question": "How can on-chain skills, task bounties and agent identities be found through ordinary ARD search, without the searcher needing a wallet or an RPC endpoint?",
 "analog": "A search-engine listing backed by a land registry: the listing is ordinary, the title to it is on-chain",
 "origin": {
  "org": "Ethereum community (Gary Yang, finchip)",
  "date": "2026-10-12"
 },
 "governance": "Ethereum EIP/ERC process (Ethereum Magicians discussion + ERCs repository); status Draft",
 "native_status": "Draft Standards Track ERC, created 2026-10-12",
 "phase": "draft",
 "implementation": "prototype",
 "adoption": {
  "level": "unmeasured",
  "by": null,
  "probe_run": null
 },
 "version": {
  "label": "Draft, created 2026-10-12",
  "date": "2026-10-12"
 },
 "spec_url": "https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8444",
 "discovery": {
  "mechanism": "On-chain registry of value records, served by gateways that are conformant ARD registries; a domain acknowledges an address in its own ARD manifest through a top-level value:controllers member or an entry's value:controller",
  "path": "/.well-known/ard.json"
 },
 "probe": {
  "method": "GET",
  "path": "https://{origin}/.well-known/ard.json",
  "parse": "ARD manifest with a top-level value:controllers array (did:pkh identifiers) or entries carrying value:controller; a gateway's manifest must also list at least one application/ai-registry+json entry describing itself",
  "on_absent": "The domain has not acknowledged any ERC-8444 controller address; its ordinary ARD entries remain valid, and per the ERC every existing ARD entry is already a dormant (level 0) value record"
 },
 "evidence": [
  {
   "claim": "ERC-8444 defines an on-chain registry of value records for agentic resources: each record binds an ARD entry to an on-chain anchor (a token-bound executable skill, a token-bound task tender, an address-anchored agent identity, or an ARD registry endpoint) and, via a kind adapter, to the controlling address. Every record is a valid ARD entry and every resolver that serves records is a conformant ARD registry; a domain acknowledges an address in /.well-known/ard.json via value:controllers or value:controller. Status Draft; requires 165, 712 and 1271; created 2026-10-12; author Gary Yang (finchip).",
   "date": "2026-10-12",
   "label": "VERIFIED",
   "url": "https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8444"
  },
  {
   "claim": "The ERCs repository file erc-8444.md reads status: Draft and lists reference assets: an ARDOnchainRegistry.sol kernel, four kind adapters (skill, task, agent, registry), example descriptors, a gateway manifest and test vectors, and vendors the ARD v0.91 entry schema.",
   "date": "2026-10-12",
   "label": "VERIFIED",
   "url": "https://github.com/ethereum/ERCs/blob/master/ERCS/erc-8444.md"
  }
 ],
 "summary_md": "ERC-8444 puts ARD (Agentic Resource Discovery) on Ethereum [1]. ARD answers what exists and who says so, rooted in domains; this draft adds the other half, what a resource is worth and how it settles, rooted in addresses [1]. It defines an on-chain registry of value records. Each record is a valid ARD v0.91 entry bound to an on-chain anchor: a token-bound skill, a token-bound task tender with an escrowed bounty, an address-anchored agent identity (which can point to an ERC-8004 registration file), or an ARD registry endpoint [1][2].\n\nThe bridge to the web is two-way. Gateways that serve these records must be conformant ARD registries, so ordinary ARD clients find on-chain offers with no wallet or RPC endpoint [1]. A domain endorses an address by listing it under `value:controllers` (or an entry's `value:controller`) in its own `/.well-known/ard.json`, which plain ARD registries ignore [1]. Authority always sits with the address, never the domain, and records are identified by anchor, with ARD URNs as aliases [1]. Tenders add a new direction to ARD: an entry whose reader is a supplier looking for work [1].\n\nCurrent state: a Draft created 2026-10-12 by a single author, with reference contracts and test vectors in the ERCs repository [2]. It is not part of the ARD specification itself, and no deployment was found.",
 "part_of": null,
 "group": null,
 "use_cases": [
  "discover-my-api",
  "describe-agent-capabilities",
  "accept-agent-payments"
 ],
 "audience": [
  "agent-builder",
  "platform"
 ],
 "pairs_with": [
  "ard",
  "erc-8004",
  "x402"
 ],
 "prerequisites": [
  "ard"
 ],
 "dispute": null,
 "last_verified": "2026-10-20",
 "history": [
  {
   "date": "2026-10-20",
   "note": "added from gap scout 2026-10-20; verified against eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8444 and the ERCs repository file erc-8444.md (Draft, 2026-10-12)"
  }
 ],
 "watch": [
  {
   "type": "erc",
   "num": 8444
  }
 ],
 "freshness": "current",
 "url": "https://agenticweb.wiki/protocols/erc-8444/",
 "category": "discover",
 "type": "protocol"
}