{
 "id": "kya-os",
 "name": "KYA-OS (Know Your Agent Operating System)",
 "acronym": "KYA-OS",
 "aliases": [
  "MCP-I",
  "Model Context Protocol – Identity",
  "KYA-OS"
 ],
 "collisions": [
  "KYA (the generic Know-Your-Agent term in the glossary)",
  "KYAPay (Skyfire's token profile, tracked as kyapay-token, unrelated)"
 ],
 "step": "identify",
 "parties": [
  "agent-site",
  "agent-agent"
 ],
 "form": "document-format",
 "track": "industry-body",
 "scope": "general",
 "question": "How can an MCP server tell which agent is calling, on whose authority it acts, and keep signed proof of what it did?",
 "analog": "A signed letter of authority plus a receipt for every action",
 "origin": {
  "org": "Vouched (as MCP-I), donated to the Decentralized Identity Foundation",
  "date": null
 },
 "governance": "Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF), KYA-OS Task Force in the Trusted AI Agents Working Group (TAAWG); donated by Vouched; spec editors Dylan Hobbs and the KYA-OS Working Group",
 "native_status": "SPEC.md declares 'Version: 1.0.0, Status: Stable' and says it was ratified as a DIF standard; DIF's own posts describe a task force under community development",
 "phase": "stable",
 "implementation": "shipping",
 "adoption": {
  "level": "unmeasured",
  "by": null,
  "probe_run": null
 },
 "version": {
  "label": "1.0.0 (Stable, self-declared)",
  "date": null
 },
 "spec_url": "https://github.com/decentralized-identity/kya-os-mcp/blob/main/SPEC.md",
 "discovery": {
  "mechanism": "well-known JSON document on the MCP server naming its DID, capabilities and endpoints (SPEC.md §10, SHOULD)",
  "path": "/.well-known/mcp"
 },
 "probe": {
  "method": "GET",
  "path": "/.well-known/mcp",
  "parse": "JSON with 'serverDid', 'version' and a 'capabilities' object (proofs, delegation, statusList); validate against schemas/well-known-mcpi.json",
  "on_absent": "The server does not advertise KYA-OS; the endpoint is a SHOULD, so a KYA-OS server may still attach proofs in MCP _meta without it."
 },
 "evidence": [
  {
   "claim": "SPEC.md, 'KYA-OS Protocol Specification', declares Version 1.0.0, Status Stable; it defines agent DIDs (did:key, did:web), W3C Verifiable Credential delegation chains rooted at a Responsible Party, Ed25519 signed per-response proofs attached in MCP _meta, StatusList2021 revocation, and a /.well-known/mcp endpoint servers SHOULD expose.",
   "label": "VERIFIED",
   "url": "https://github.com/decentralized-identity/kya-os-mcp/blob/main/SPEC.md",
   "date": null
  },
  {
   "claim": "DIF's post 'Why We Brought KYA-OS (formerly MCP-I) to DIF' confirms the rename from MCP-I and the donation by Vouched.",
   "label": "VERIFIED",
   "url": "https://blog.identity.foundation/why-dif-said-yes-to-mcp-i/",
   "date": "2026-03-05"
  },
  {
   "claim": "DIF announces a KYA-OS Task Force inside the Trusted AI Agents Working Group, with a scope extending well beyond MCP.",
   "label": "VERIFIED",
   "url": "https://blog.identity.foundation/kya-os/",
   "date": "2026-04-22"
  },
  {
   "claim": "Vouched announces, with DIF, the launch of KYA-OS as an open trust layer for AI agents.",
   "label": "REPORTED",
   "url": "https://www.vouched.id/learn/vouched-and-the-decentralized-identity-foundation-launch-kya-os-an-open-trust-layer-for-ai-agents",
   "date": "2026-07-29"
  }
 ],
 "last_verified": "2026-10-20",
 "dispute": {
  "summary": "The spec's own status line says Stable 1.0.0 and claims ratification as a DIF standard, but DIF's posts describe a task force still developing it, and no DIF ratification notice was found.",
  "claims": [
   "SPEC.md: 'Stable 1.0.0 — Donated to DIF TAAWG ... and ratified as a DIF standard.'",
   "DIF blog 2026-04-22: a KYA-OS Task Force inside TAAWG, under community development."
  ]
 },
 "summary_md": "KYA-OS, formerly MCP-I, is an identity and delegation layer for MCP and other agent protocols [1][2]. Each agent has a DID. A chain of W3C Verifiable Credentials links it back to the person or company that authorised it. The server can then check who is calling and on whose authority [1]. Each tool response carries an Ed25519 signed proof in the MCP `_meta` field, giving both sides a record of what was done. Revocation uses StatusList2021 [1].\n\nServers SHOULD publish a JSON document at `/.well-known/mcp` naming their DID and which KYA-OS features they support [1]. Note that this is a different path from the `/.well-known/mcp.json` some MCP server cards use.\n\nVouched built it as MCP-I and donated it to the Decentralized Identity Foundation, which renamed it [2]. DIF runs it as a task force inside its Trusted AI Agents Working Group and says the scope now reaches well beyond MCP [3]. The spec calls itself Stable 1.0.0 and says DIF ratified it; DIF's own posts do not say so (see dispute). The repository's v1.20.0 tag versions the code package, not the spec.",
 "history": [
  {
   "date": "2026-10-20",
   "note": "added from gap scout 2026-10-20; verified against SPEC.md in decentralized-identity/kya-os-mcp (status line, §10 well-known endpoint) and DIF's posts of 2026-03-05 and 2026-04-22"
  }
 ],
 "part_of": null,
 "group": null,
 "watch": [
  {
   "type": "github",
   "repo": "decentralized-identity/kya-os-mcp",
   "mode": "tag",
   "version": false
  },
  {
   "type": "page",
   "url": "https://github.com/decentralized-identity/kya-os-mcp/blob/main/SPEC.md",
   "selector": "main",
   "cadence": "weekly"
  }
 ],
 "use_cases": [
  "prove-agent-identity",
  "delegate-user-authority",
  "audit-agent-actions"
 ],
 "audience": [
  "agent-builder",
  "platform"
 ],
 "pairs_with": [
  "mcp",
  "x401",
  "kyapay-token"
 ],
 "prerequisites": [
  "mcp"
 ],
 "freshness": "current",
 "url": "https://agenticweb.wiki/protocols/kya-os/",
 "category": "identify",
 "type": "protocol"
}