What is AP2? How AI agents use it to pay
PilotKey date
AP2 is a way to prove that a person allowed an agent to pay, and to keep a record of what was approved.
Who backs it
Google announced it with more than 60 payments and technology companies. On April 28, 2026 Google donated the protocol to the FIDO Alliance.
What it is
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.
Who it is for
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.
Status
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.
Note on this pageSome documents title the spec Agentic Payment Protocol and others Agent Payments Protocol. Both refer to AP2.
Sources
Which players support it
A player is listed only when its tracker row names AP2. Everyone else is not yet confirmed.
Tracker row: Google Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)
Recent related news
- Synchrony tests financing details inside AI shopping · October 15, 2026
- Google gives Agent Payments Protocol to the FIDO Alliance · April 28, 2026
- Klarna backs the Universal Commerce Protocol · February 2, 2026
Questions people ask
What is AP2? How AI agents use it to pay
AP2 is a way to prove that a person allowed an agent to pay, and to keep a record of what was approved.
What is Google's Agent Payments Protocol?
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.
What is a mandate in AP2?
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.
Is AP2 a finished standard?
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.
Who is behind AP2?
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.