{"updatedAt":"2026-11-09","source":"https://agent-shopping-tracker.vercel.app/protocols","count":7,"protocols":[{"slug":"acp","name":"Agentic Commerce Protocol","shortName":"ACP","status":"live","date":"2025-09-29","who":"Stripe and OpenAI co-developed it. Stripe's current documentation also lists Meta as a creator. The public GitHub project says OpenAI and Stripe maintain the spec.","summary":"ACP is a shared checkout language. An AI agent can pass an order to a business, and the business still owns the sale.","sections":[{"heading":"What it is","paragraphs":["The Agentic Commerce Protocol is an open standard for the moment an AI agent is ready to buy. The agent and the business exchange the cart, the fulfillment choice, and a payment token. The business accepts or declines the order, charges the shopper, and handles tax, shipping, and returns the way it already does.","Stripe and OpenAI published it on September 29, 2025, the same day U.S. ChatGPT users could buy from U.S. Etsy sellers inside the chat. Shopify merchants were described as coming next. The payment token is scoped to a particular merchant and cart total, so the agent does not receive the shopper's card number."]},{"heading":"Who it is for","paragraphs":["A store uses it to take an order that started in a chat. An AI app uses it to offer checkout without becoming the seller. A payment company uses it to pass a secure token between the shopper and the store.","Stripe's documentation describes building blocks for checkout, product feeds, delegated payment, delegated sign-in, and order updates. Businesses that do not process payments with Stripe can still adopt the standard."]},{"heading":"Status","paragraphs":["The specification is public and Stripe and OpenAI both document it for builders, so this tracker marks it live. The GitHub repository still labels the spec beta. A later stable snapshot in that repository is dated April 17, 2026.","The first ChatGPT product built on it, Instant Checkout, did not stay in its original form. On March 24, 2026 CNBC reported that OpenAI was letting merchants use their own checkout and focusing ChatGPT on finding and comparing products. Some store apps inside ChatGPT still describe their own in-chat payment."]}],"links":[{"label":"Stripe announcement, September 29, 2025","url":"https://stripe.com/newsroom/news/stripe-openai-instant-checkout"},{"label":"OpenAI announcement","url":"https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/"},{"label":"Stripe documentation","url":"https://docs.stripe.com/agentic-commerce/protocols/acp"},{"label":"OpenAI commerce docs","url":"https://developers.openai.com/commerce"},{"label":"Specification on GitHub","url":"https://github.com/agentic-commerce-protocol/agentic-commerce-protocol"}],"uncertainty":"Stripe's docs name Meta as a co-creator. The September 2025 launch posts name Stripe and OpenAI. This page reports both.","faqs":[{"question":"What is the Agentic Commerce Protocol?","answer":"ACP is an open checkout language from Stripe and OpenAI. An AI agent can pass a shopper's order to a business, and the business still accepts the order, charges the payment, and handles shipping and returns."},{"question":"Who created ACP?","answer":"Stripe and OpenAI published it on September 29, 2025. Stripe's current documentation also lists Meta as a creator. The public GitHub project says OpenAI and Stripe maintain the spec, and it is still marked beta."},{"question":"Is ACP live?","answer":"The specification is public and both Stripe and OpenAI document it, so this tracker marks it live. A later snapshot in the GitHub repository is dated April 17, 2026. The first ChatGPT Instant Checkout that used it was later narrowed."},{"question":"Can a store use ACP without using Stripe?","answer":"Yes. Stripe said businesses that do not process payments with Stripe can still adopt the standard and keep their existing payment provider."}],"pageUrl":"https://agent-shopping-tracker.vercel.app/protocols/acp"},{"slug":"ap2","name":"Agent Payments Protocol","shortName":"AP2","status":"pilot","date":"2025-09-16","who":"Google announced it with more than 60 payments and technology companies. On April 28, 2026 Google donated the protocol to the FIDO Alliance.","summary":"AP2 is a way to prove that a person allowed an agent to pay, and to keep a record of what was approved.","sections":[{"heading":"What it is","paragraphs":["The Agent Payments Protocol is an open payments standard for agent-led purchases. Google describes it as a common language so a shopper, a merchant, and a payment provider can tell what the agent was allowed to do.","The core idea is a mandate: a signed record of the shopper's instructions. In a live shopping session, an intent mandate captures what the person asked for, and a cart mandate captures the exact items and price they approved. For a task the person will not watch, such as buying tickets the moment they go on sale, a more detailed mandate is signed in advance."]},{"heading":"Who it is for","paragraphs":["Google positioned AP2 for card payments and, over time, other methods such as stablecoins and real-time bank transfers. It was introduced as an extension that can sit alongside agent-to-agent protocols and the Model Context Protocol.","The September 16, 2025 announcement named collaborators including Adyen, American Express, Coinbase, Etsy, Mastercard, PayPal, and others."]},{"heading":"Status","paragraphs":["The specification is public, and version 0.2 was released on April 28, 2026 with clearer support for purchases when the person is not present. The same day, Google donated AP2 to the FIDO Alliance so the work would stay open and not tied to one platform.","FIDO has working groups on agent authentication and payments. This tracker marks AP2 as a pilot because that standardization is still underway and version 0.2 is not a finished FIDO standard. A shopper cannot assume every card and every store already speaks AP2."]}],"links":[{"label":"Google announcement, September 16, 2025","url":"https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol"},{"label":"Donation to the FIDO Alliance, April 28, 2026","url":"https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/google-pay/agent-payments-protocol-fido-alliance/"},{"label":"AP2 documentation site","url":"https://ap2-protocol.org/"},{"label":"FIDO Alliance on AP2 and Verifiable Intent","url":"https://fidoalliance.org/building-the-trust-layer-for-agentic-payments-with-ap2-and-verifiable-intent/"}],"uncertainty":"Some documents title the spec Agentic Payment Protocol and others Agent Payments Protocol. Both refer to AP2.","faqs":[{"question":"What is Google's Agent Payments Protocol?","answer":"AP2 is an open payments protocol announced by Google on September 16, 2025. It records what a person allowed an agent to buy, including some purchases the person pre-approves and does not watch."},{"question":"What is a mandate in AP2?","answer":"A mandate is a signed record of the shopper's instructions. In a live session, one record captures the request and another captures the exact items and price. For a purchase the person will not watch, a more detailed record is signed in advance."},{"question":"Is AP2 a finished standard?","answer":"Not yet. Google released version 0.2 on April 28, 2026 and donated the protocol to the FIDO Alliance. FIDO is still standardizing it. This tracker marks AP2 as a pilot."},{"question":"Who is behind AP2?","answer":"Google announced it with more than 60 payments and technology companies, including Adyen, American Express, Coinbase, Etsy, Mastercard, and PayPal. The FIDO Alliance now stewards the work."}],"pageUrl":"https://agent-shopping-tracker.vercel.app/protocols/ap2"},{"slug":"ucp","name":"Universal Commerce Protocol","shortName":"UCP","status":"live","date":"2026-01-11","who":"Co-developed by Shopify and Google. Stripe joined the governing council on April 28, 2026. Google and Shopify remain permanent members.","summary":"UCP is a shared shopping language so an agent and a store can discover products, build a cart, pay, and follow the order afterward.","sections":[{"heading":"What it is","paragraphs":["The Universal Commerce Protocol is an open standard for the shopping trip, not only the payment. An agent can ask a business for products, start a checkout, apply a discount or loyalty detail, and complete or cancel the order. The business stays the seller of record.","Shopify and Google announced it on January 11, 2026. Shopify said it was already endorsed by more than 20 retailers and platforms. The same day, Walmart announced a Gemini shopping experience built with UCP."]},{"heading":"Who it is for","paragraphs":["A store uses UCP so it does not have to build a separate checkout for every AI chat. An AI platform uses it to sell inside the conversation. A payment company can plug in its own handler. Shopify says the protocol works with any payment processor, including Shopify Payments, and can sit alongside AP2.","On Google's surfaces, the shopper can pay with Google Pay using details already saved in Google Wallet. Shopify says that on ChatGPT, the buyer currently finishes on the merchant's own site inside an in-app browser, while Copilot and Google can use a more embedded checkout."]},{"heading":"Status","paragraphs":["The spec is published. The first tagged release is January 11, 2026, and the announcements page lists later releases, including v2026-08-25, which adds grocery-oriented features and tighter payment security. This tracker marks the protocol live.","Shopper-facing checkout is uneven. Shopify says Copilot checkout is live for eligible merchants selling to U.S. buyers, and Google AI Mode and Gemini checkout is available to selected brands with a broader rollout underway. On October 15, 2026 Google said Universal Cart was rolling out in the U.S. across Search and the Gemini app. The May 20, 2026 post had described several of those checkouts as coming soon."]},{"heading":"October 2026","paragraphs":["On October 13, 2026 Shopify launched Shop MCP, a hosted server at mcp.shop.com. Any MCP-compatible agent can search Shopify Catalog and, after a signed-in shopper confirms the total and payment method, complete the order with Shop Pay. The skill file linked from that changelog tells agents to prefer Shop/UCP checkout when it is available.","On October 15, 2026 Google said Universal Cart was rolling out in the United States across Search and the Gemini app. The cart is powered by UCP. A shopper can check out with Google Pay or transfer items to the merchant's cart at stores including Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and many Shopify merchants. The merchant remains the seller of record. Google's Merchant Center help says a UCP integration hub is gradually rolling out in the U.S., with Australia and Canada to follow next year, so selected merchants can test cart transfer and native checkout. That help page does not give a launch date.","On October 16, 2026 Shopify said Checkout MCP and Cart MCP support the UCP buyer-consent extension, starting with version 2026-08-25. A shop can list privacy and marketing choices, including email and SMS, and the agent can send the buyer's choices back with the cart, checkout, and order. If the agent sends no choice, Shopify applies the shop's default for the buyer's country.","On October 19, 2026 Shoplazza said TikTok's Buy Direct uses UCP to connect with merchant systems. A shopper can buy from a brand inside TikTok, and the brand stays the seller. Shoplazza is a commerce and payment partner. TikTok introduced Buy Direct on October 5, 2026. A separate Shopping Assistant answers product questions in TikTok's browser, then the shopper checks out on the merchant's website."]}],"links":[{"label":"Shopify announcement, January 11, 2026","url":"https://www.shopify.com/news/ai-commerce-at-scale"},{"label":"Shopify guide, updated June 18, 2026","url":"https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-agentic-commerce-works"},{"label":"UCP announcements","url":"http://ucp.dev/documentation/announcements/"},{"label":"Google shopping update, May 20, 2026","url":"https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/shopping-updates-google-marketing-live/"},{"label":"Google Universal Cart launch, October 15, 2026","url":"https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/universal-cart-launch/"},{"label":"Merchant Center UCP integration hub","url":"https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/16992327?hl=en"},{"label":"Google Merchant Center help","url":"https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/16837055?hl=en"},{"label":"Shopify changelog, Shop MCP, October 13, 2026","url":"https://shopify.dev/changelog/posts/add-shopping-and-shop-pay-checkout-to-any-agent-with-shop-mcp"},{"label":"Shopify changelog, buyer consent, October 16, 2026","url":"https://shopify.dev/changelog/posts/checkout-mcp-and-cart-mcp-now-support-ucp-buyer-consent"},{"label":"Shoplazza on TikTok Buy Direct, October 19, 2026","url":"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shoplazza-collaborates-with-tiktok-to-bring-product-discovery-closer-to-purchase-302912401.html"}],"uncertainty":"A protocol release and a shopper-facing buy button are different things. The spec can be live while a particular store's checkout is still a pilot. On October 15, 2026 Google said Universal Cart, powered by UCP, was rolling out in the U.S. in Search and the Gemini app. On October 16, 2026 Shopify turned on support for the UCP buyer-consent extension, which starts with version 2026-08-25, in Checkout MCP and Cart MCP. Shop MCP, launched October 13, is a hosted catalog and Shop Pay checkout. Neither one means every store has a buy button inside every chat.","faqs":[{"question":"What is the Universal Commerce Protocol?","answer":"UCP is an open standard co-developed by Shopify and Google so an agent can find products, build a cart, pay, and follow the order. The store stays the seller."},{"question":"When did UCP launch?","answer":"Shopify and Google announced it on January 11, 2026. Later releases are listed on the protocol site, including version 2026-08-25. Stripe joined the governing council on April 28, 2026."},{"question":"Can shoppers buy inside Google with UCP?","answer":"Some can. On October 15, 2026 Google said Universal Cart is rolling out in the U.S. in Search and the Gemini app, with Google Pay checkout or a transfer to the merchant at stores including Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and many Shopify merchants. The merchant remains the seller. That is a U.S. rollout at selected stores, not every shopper."},{"question":"Does the store still own the sale?","answer":"Yes. Shopify and Google both say the business remains the seller of record. On ChatGPT, Shopify says the buyer currently finishes on the store's own site inside an in-app browser."},{"question":"What did Shopify add for UCP in October 2026?","answer":"On October 13, Shopify launched Shop MCP so an MCP-compatible agent can search Shopify Catalog and complete Shop Pay checkout after a signed-in shopper confirms the total and payment method. On October 16, Checkout MCP and Cart MCP gained the UCP buyer-consent extension from version 2026-08-25, including email and SMS choices."},{"question":"Does TikTok use UCP?","answer":"Shoplazza said on October 19, 2026 that TikTok Buy Direct uses UCP to connect with merchant systems, and that the brand remains the seller. The release does not say which countries can use Buy Direct."}],"pageUrl":"https://agent-shopping-tracker.vercel.app/protocols/ucp"},{"slug":"x402","name":"x402","shortName":"x402","status":"live","date":"2026-06-15","who":"Coinbase incubated x402. Coinbase says it is now an independent foundation under the Linux Foundation, with AWS among the founding members.","summary":"x402 lets an agent pay for a web request on the spot, usually with a stablecoin, without opening a new account for that site.","sections":[{"heading":"What it is","paragraphs":["x402 revives the old web status code 402, which means payment required. A person or an agent asks for a page or an API. If the server wants to be paid, it answers with the price and instructions. The client sends a signed payment. A facilitator checks and settles it, and the server returns the content.","Coinbase's documentation says the usual starting payment is USDC, with support for more networks, and that the flow does not need an account, a session, or an API key for that request. It is aimed at paid APIs, digital content, and agents that buy access on their own."]},{"heading":"Who it is for","paragraphs":["A publisher or API owner uses it to charge agent traffic instead of blocking it. An agent developer uses it to pay for data or tools as the agent works. This is a different job from a retail checkout such as ACP or UCP. x402 is a payment for a web request, not a shopping cart at a department store."]},{"heading":"Status","paragraphs":["Coinbase documents x402 as a working protocol, so this tracker marks it live. On June 15, 2026 Coinbase and AWS said publishers already using CloudFront and WAF could turn on agent payments from their existing AWS settings. Coinbase's facilitator verifies and settles those payments.","The June 15 post says the protocol is payment-method agnostic and that USDC on Base is the natural starting point. It also says governance moved to a foundation under the Linux Foundation so no single company controls the standard.","On October 20, 2026 Mastercard said Agent Pay for Machines builds on x402. In that description, a paid digital service answers that payment is required, the agent signs a payment voucher inside an approved budget, and the provider checks the voucher before delivering the service. Mastercard said those steps happen off-chain and that vouchers can be redeemed later. That is one company's early-access product on top of x402. It does not change the June 15 statement that the protocol sits under a Linux Foundation foundation."]}],"links":[{"label":"Coinbase and AWS announcement, June 15, 2026","url":"https://www.coinbase.com/en-gb/blog/coinbase-and-aws-let-publishers-accept-agents-as-customers-via-x402"},{"label":"Coinbase x402 documentation","url":"https://docs.cdp.coinbase.com/x402/welcome"},{"label":"Mastercard Agent Pay for Machines, October 20, 2026","url":"https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/october/Mastercard-Agent-Pay-for-Machines-in-action.html"}],"uncertainty":"This page dates the row to the AWS launch. It does not state an earlier public launch date, even though Coinbase describes x402 as something it started before that day. Mastercard's October 20, 2026 post describes its own early-access product, not a change in who runs x402.","faqs":[{"question":"What is x402?","answer":"x402 is an open way for a person or an AI agent to pay for a web page or an API. The server answers that payment is required, the client pays, and then the content comes back."},{"question":"How does an agent pay with x402?","answer":"Coinbase's documentation says the usual starting payment is the USDC stablecoin. The request does not need a new account or API key. A facilitator checks the payment and settles it."},{"question":"Is x402 a store checkout?","answer":"It pays for a web request, such as an API call or a piece of content. It is a different job from a retail cart standard such as ACP or UCP."},{"question":"Who runs x402?","answer":"Coinbase incubated it. On June 15, 2026 Coinbase said x402 sits under a foundation at the Linux Foundation, with AWS among the founding members, and that publishers on CloudFront and WAF could turn it on."},{"question":"Does Mastercard use x402?","answer":"Mastercard said on October 20, 2026 that Agent Pay for Machines builds on x402. It opened that product in early access after end-to-end pilots with Cloudflare, Ant International, AIsa, Base, BVNK, Coinbase, and Hype. A service can answer that payment is required, and the agent signs a payment voucher inside an approved budget."}],"pageUrl":"https://agent-shopping-tracker.vercel.app/protocols/x402"},{"slug":"visa-intelligent-commerce","name":"Visa Intelligent Commerce","shortName":"Visa","status":"pilot","date":"2026-04-08","who":"Visa. The 2025 launch named partners including Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, and Stripe.","summary":"Visa Intelligent Commerce is Visa's program for agent payments: tokenized credentials, spending limits, and a pilot on-ramp called Intelligent Commerce Connect.","sections":[{"heading":"What it is","paragraphs":["Visa Intelligent Commerce is Visa's portfolio for purchases an AI agent starts. Instead of handing an agent a raw card number, Visa describes tokenized credentials that stand in for the card, plus controls so the cardholder can set when a payment is allowed.","On April 30, 2025 Visa introduced the program at its Global Product Drop. Visa said agents could find and buy within limits the consumer sets, and that Visa would share commerce signals so it can apply controls and help with disputes."]},{"heading":"Who it is for","paragraphs":["Agent builders use it to pay with Visa credentials. Stores and payment companies use it to accept an agent-started payment without a one-off project for every chat app. On April 8, 2026 Visa announced Intelligent Commerce Connect as a single integration through the Visa Acceptance Platform.","Visa said Connect can accept payments that arrive through several agent protocols, including its Trusted Agent Protocol, the Machine Payments Protocol, ACP, and UCP. It also said agents can pay with Visa cards and, where available, other networks' cards."]},{"heading":"Status","paragraphs":["This tracker marks the program a pilot. Visa's April 8, 2026 press release says Intelligent Commerce Connect is in a pilot with select partners, including Aldar, AWS, Diddo, Highnote, Mesh, Payabli, and Sumvin, and that it would roll out to more partners that year.","The 2025 announcement was a partner program and used a lot of forward-looking language. A shopper should not read it as every Visa card already working inside every shopping agent.","On October 20, 2026 Visa, BILL, and Billtrust said they launched a live pilot for trusted AI agents to finish approved buyer invoice payments through supplier portals. Visa said the BILL Payment Agent is registered with Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory, uses tokenized payment credentials, and stays within the buyer's approved payment instructions. Billtrust uses the Trusted Agent Protocol to recognize the agent, so the payment can go through without a separate agent login. Visa said the pilot is processing end-to-end transactions with participating buyers who use BILL and with Billtrust suppliers. The agent does not choose which invoices to pay. It carries out payments the buyer has already approved, and buyers do not share supplier-portal logins."]}],"links":[{"label":"Intelligent Commerce Connect pilot, April 8, 2026","url":"https://corporate.visa.com/en/sites/visa-perspectives/newsroom/visa-intelligent-commerce-connect-ai-shopping-for-businesses.html"},{"label":"Original announcement, April 30, 2025","url":"https://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2025/Find-and-Buy-with-AI-Visa-Unveils-New-Era-of-Commerce/"},{"label":"Visa Intelligent Commerce product page","url":"https://www.visa.com/en-us/solutions/intelligent-commerce"},{"label":"BILL and Billtrust invoice pilot, October 20, 2026","url":"https://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2026/Visa-BILL-and-Billtrust-Launch-First-Live-Pilot-for-Trusted-AI-Agent-Payments-Between-Buyer-and-Supplier-Platforms/default.aspx"}],"uncertainty":"The product page describes the portfolio. The clearest availability statements this tracker verified are the April 2026 Connect pilot and the October 20, 2026 invoice-payment pilot with BILL and Billtrust.","faqs":[{"question":"What is Visa Intelligent Commerce?","answer":"It is Visa's program for purchases an AI agent starts. Visa describes tokenized credentials that stand in for the card number, plus spending limits the cardholder sets."},{"question":"Can every Visa card be used by an AI agent today?","answer":"Visa has not said that. The program started as a partner effort on April 30, 2025. On April 8, 2026 Visa said Intelligent Commerce Connect was in a pilot with a short list of partners."},{"question":"What is Intelligent Commerce Connect?","answer":"It is a single integration, announced April 8, 2026, meant to let agent builders and stores accept agent payments through the Visa Acceptance Platform. Visa said it can work with several agent protocols, including ACP and UCP."},{"question":"Who was named in the April 2026 Connect pilot?","answer":"Visa named Aldar, AWS, Diddo, Highnote, Mesh, Payabli, and Sumvin, and said it would roll out to more partners in 2026."},{"question":"What is the BILL and Billtrust pilot?","answer":"On October 20, 2026 Visa, BILL, and Billtrust said a live pilot lets a trusted AI agent complete approved invoice payments through supplier portals. Visa said it uses Visa Intelligent Commerce, including the Trusted Agent Protocol, and that the agent only pays invoices the buyer already approved. The pilot is limited to participating BILL buyers and Billtrust suppliers."}],"pageUrl":"https://agent-shopping-tracker.vercel.app/protocols/visa-intelligent-commerce"},{"slug":"mastercard-agent-pay","name":"Mastercard Agent Pay","shortName":"Mastercard","status":"live","date":"2025-04-29","who":"Mastercard. The launch named work with Microsoft, IBM, Braintree, and Checkout.com, with other AI platforms to follow.","summary":"Agent Pay is Mastercard's program for agent payments, built on tokenization so a registered agent can pay and the cardholder stays in control.","sections":[{"heading":"What it is","paragraphs":["Mastercard Agent Pay is the card network's agentic payments program. It uses agentic tokens, an extension of the tokenization Mastercard already uses for phone payments and stored cards. The idea is that a payment can start in a conversation, and every party can tell that an agent was involved.","Mastercard says trusted agents have to be registered, consumers set what the agent may buy, and the network's fraud tools still apply. A purchase the cardholder does not recognize is meant to be easier to sort out because the transaction is marked as agent-led."]},{"heading":"Who it is for","paragraphs":["Card issuers get a token they can recognize. Merchants and checkout companies, including names Mastercard listed such as Braintree and Checkout.com, can treat an agent payment as a known kind of transaction. AI platforms are the surface where the shopper asks for something and the agent pays.","In 2026 Mastercard also worked with Google on Verifiable Intent, a record of what the person authorized, and donated that work toward the FIDO Alliance alongside AP2."]},{"heading":"Status","paragraphs":["Mastercard announced the launch on April 29, 2025 and called it the company's initial steps. By September 30, 2026 it was expanding an existing program, so this tracker marks Agent Pay live, with a clear limit on the newest piece.","That September release adds an intelligence layer. The first service, a probability score for whether an AI agent likely started the transaction, was rolling out for testing in the United States. Mastercard also named work with Cloudflare and with Skyfire on agent identity.","On October 20, 2026 Mastercard opened Early Access to Agent Pay for Machines and said it builds on x402. A business gives an agent a task and a spending limit. When a digital service replies that payment is required, the agent creates a digitally signed payment voucher within that limit. The provider checks the voucher, delivers the service, and can combine vouchers and redeem them later. Mastercard said it had run end-to-end pilots with Cloudflare, Ant International, AIsa, Base, BVNK, Coinbase, and Hype, and showed the flow at Cloudflare Connect. Early Access gives developers the first version of buyer- and seller-side APIs, plus a toolkit, sandbox, and documentation. Mastercard described this as payment for digital services such as models, data, computing power, and APIs. It is early access for developers, not a claim that every shopper's agent can charge a Mastercard at a store."]}],"links":[{"label":"Launch announcement, April 29, 2025","url":"https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2025/april/mastercard-unveils-agent-pay-pioneering-agentic-payments-technology-to-power-commerce-in-the-age-of-ai"},{"label":"Trust and intelligence services, September 30, 2026","url":"https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/september/new-trust-and-intelligence-services.html"},{"label":"Mastercard Agent Pay overview","url":"https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/business/artificial-intelligence/mastercard-agent-pay.html"},{"label":"Agent Pay for Machines early access, October 20, 2026","url":"https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/october/Mastercard-Agent-Pay-for-Machines-in-action.html"}],"uncertainty":"Live here means Mastercard is operating the program and publishing it for the industry. It does not mean every shopping agent can already charge every Mastercard.","faqs":[{"question":"What is Mastercard Agent Pay?","answer":"Agent Pay is Mastercard's program for agent payments. It uses tokenization so a registered agent can pay, and the cardholder sets what the agent may buy."},{"question":"Is Mastercard Agent Pay available?","answer":"Mastercard announced the launch on April 29, 2025 and called it the company's initial steps. By September 30, 2026 it was expanding an existing program, so this tracker marks the card program live, with a limit on the newest piece. Agent Pay for Machines, opened in early access on October 20, 2026, is a separate developer product."},{"question":"What is Mastercard's AI probability score?","answer":"On September 30, 2026 Mastercard said a score for how likely it is that an AI agent started a transaction was rolling out for testing in the United States. It was not described as a finished worldwide feature."},{"question":"Does the cardholder stay in control?","answer":"Mastercard says trusted agents have to be registered and consumers set what the agent may buy. The network's fraud tools still apply, and agent-led transactions are meant to be recognizable."},{"question":"What is Agent Pay for Machines?","answer":"On October 20, 2026 Mastercard opened Early Access so developers can test Agent Pay for Machines. Mastercard said an agent pays for digital services with a signed payment voucher inside a budget the business set, using x402. The post does not say every Mastercard can already be used this way."}],"pageUrl":"https://agent-shopping-tracker.vercel.app/protocols/mastercard-agent-pay"},{"slug":"sardine-kyh","name":"Know Your Human","shortName":"KYH","status":"pilot","date":"2026-11-06","who":"Sardine. The Paypers reported on November 6, 2026 that Sardine is seeking design partners among agent developers and merchants.","summary":"Know Your Human (KYH) is Sardine's protocol for passing a shopper's device and network identifiers to a merchant when an AI agent checks out, so the merchant can tell that person from a bot.","sections":[{"heading":"What it is","paragraphs":["Sardine describes Know Your Human as a way to bind a person to a shopping agent. The agent adds a few HTTP headers so the merchant can retrieve a device ID, a device fingerprint, and an IP address. Sardine's page calls email, phone, KYC, and identity verification possible extensions, not the default headers.","The Paypers reported the launch on November 6, 2026. It says many agent checkouts come from cloud browsers, with data-center IP addresses and automation user-agent strings, so fraud systems can decline a real customer's order."]},{"heading":"Who it is for","paragraphs":["An agent developer can bind the shopper's device with Sardine's SDK, or request a Method URL from a merchant that supports KYH and load it on the shopper's device. At checkout the merchant uses Sardine to read the device and IP signals.","A merchant can text the customer a verification link. Sardine says the link expires five minutes after it is created and can be opened up to three times. If it expires, a new link can be sent for the same session. The Paypers says Sardine has implemented KYH in its own Personal Agent. Neither source names other merchants that have adopted it."]},{"heading":"Status","paragraphs":["This tracker marks KYH as a pilot. The protocol is public, and Sardine says it complements existing agentic commerce protocols. Sardine is seeking design partners, so this is not a general merchant rollout.","KYH passes identifiers. It does not charge a card, and it does not replace a checkout protocol."]}],"links":[{"label":"Sardine Know Your Human","url":"https://sardine.ai/know-your-human"},{"label":"The Paypers, November 6, 2026","url":"https://thepaypers.com/fraud-and-fincrime/news/sardine-launches-know-your-human-protocol-for-agentic-commerce"}],"uncertainty":"Sardine's page calls email, phone, and KYC possible extensions. The Paypers lists email and phone among the identifiers and calls KYC an extended use case. This page does not treat email or phone as default headers. No merchant adoption list was published.","faqs":[{"question":"What is Know Your Human?","answer":"KYH is a Sardine protocol that lets an AI shopping agent pass a shopper's device ID, device fingerprint, and IP address to a merchant in a few HTTP headers. Sardine says this is meant to reduce false declines when an agent looks like a bot."},{"question":"How does an agent connect the shopper's device?","answer":"The agent can embed Sardine's SDK, or it can request a Method URL from a merchant that supports KYH and load that URL on the shopper's device. The merchant then reads the device and IP signals from Sardine at checkout."},{"question":"How long does the verification link last?","answer":"Sardine says a merchant can text the customer a verification link that expires five minutes after it is created and can be opened up to three times. If it expires, a new link can be sent for the same session."},{"question":"Does KYH take a payment?","answer":"No. Sardine says KYH complements existing agentic commerce protocols. It passes identifiers so a merchant can recognize the person behind an agent. It does not itself charge a card. The Paypers said on November 6, 2026 that Sardine is seeking design partners, and neither source names merchants that have adopted it."}],"pageUrl":"https://agent-shopping-tracker.vercel.app/protocols/sardine-kyh"}]}