Agent Network Protocol

Agent Network Protocol
Developer	ANP Community
Status	Draft
First published	2025
Transport	HTTPS
Encoding	JSON-LD
License	MIT
Website	https://agentnetworkprotocol.com
Specification	https://agent-network-protocol.com/specs/
Repository	https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol

The Agent Network Protocol (ANP) is an open-source communication protocol designed to become the "HTTP of the Agentic Web era." It provides a decentralized framework for AI agents to discover, authenticate, and interact across the open internet using W3C standards and semantic web technologies.

Overview

ANP aims to address fundamental limitations in existing internet infrastructure for agent-to-agent communication. While current protocols are optimized for human interaction, ANP creates an AI-native network where agents can communicate directly without mimicking human interfaces.

Vision

The ANP project envisions a transformation from platform-centric to protocol-centric internet architecture, where:

• Agents replace traditional software applications
• Universal agent interconnection becomes possible
• Native protocol-based connections replace web scraping
• Agents self-organize and collaborate autonomously

Architecture

ANP uses a three-layer architecture:

Identity Layer

Based on W3C DID (Decentralized Identifiers) standards, this layer provides:

• Decentralized identity authentication
• End-to-end encrypted communication
• Cross-platform identity verification

ANP specifically uses the did:wba method, where identifiers correspond to HTTPS-hosted DID documents.

Meta-Protocol Layer

Enables dynamic protocol negotiation between agents:

• Automatic capability discovery
• Protocol version negotiation
• Communication method selection

Application Layer

Built on semantic web technologies:

• Agent Description Protocol (ADP) – Structured capability descriptions
• Agent Discovery Protocol – Finding agents on the network
• JSON-LD based data exchange

Technical specification

Agent Description

Agents describe themselves using JSON-LD with schema.org vocabularies:

Example agent description

{{{code}}}

Identity verification

Agents authenticate using DID documents hosted at well-known URLs:

DID resolution

{{{code}}}

Standardization

The ANP community has initiated the AI Agent Protocol Community Group at the W3C to advance standardization. The first meeting was held in June 2025.

Comparison with other protocols

Aspect	ANP	A2A	MCP
Scope	Internet-scale	Enterprise	Application
Identity	Decentralized (DID)	Centralized	N/A
Data format	JSON-LD	JSON-RPC	JSON-RPC
Discovery	Decentralized	Agent Cards	Server registration

See also

• Agent-to-Agent Protocol
• Agent Communication Protocol
• Model Context Protocol
• wp:Decentralized identifier
• Agentic Web

External links

• Official website
• Technical specifications
• GitHub repository
• Technical white paper
• W3C Community Group