# ACP (three protocols)

General terms

| ACP (three protocols) |
| --- |
| Category | General terms |
| Also known as | Agent Client Protocol, Agent Communication Protocol, Agentic Commerce Protocol |
| Related | [Agent Client Protocol](/protocols/agent-client-protocol/), [Agent Communication Protocol](/protocols/agent-communication-protocol/), [Agentic Commerce Protocol](/protocols/agentic-commerce-protocol/) |

ACP refers to three unrelated protocols from three organisations at three different steps. Zed's Agent Client Protocol connects editors to coding agents (Act). IBM's Agent Communication Protocol was an agent-to-agent protocol, archived in August 2025 and merged into A2A (Coordinate, defunct). The OpenAI/Stripe Agentic Commerce Protocol lets an agent buy from a merchant (Pay). Published guides routinely state facts about one as though they applied to all; the widely repeated claim that "ACP merged into A2A" is true only of IBM's. A fourth, IBM's Agent Commerce Protocol, could not be verified as a distinct specification on 2026-09-05.

## Instances

Not applicable.

## See also

- [Agent Client Protocol](/protocols/agent-client-protocol/)
- [Agent Communication Protocol](/protocols/agent-communication-protocol/)
- [Agentic Commerce Protocol](/protocols/agentic-commerce-protocol/)

## References

- [https://agentclientprotocol.com](https://agentclientprotocol.com) (2026-09-05) VERIFIED
- [https://github.com/i-am-bee/acp](https://github.com/i-am-bee/acp) (2025-08) VERIFIED
- [https://github.com/agentic-commerce-protocol/agentic-commerce-protocol](https://github.com/agentic-commerce-protocol/agentic-commerce-protocol) (2026-04-17) VERIFIED

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