---
title: "Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP): definition | KYA glossary"
url: https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/agentic-commerce-protocol
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-12
license: © Innopulse Consulting GmbH
---

# Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)

The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) is an open specification by OpenAI and Stripe that describes checkout between an AI agent and an online shop.

ACP was published in September 2025. It defines how an agent, on a customer's behalf, creates a checkout with a merchant, agrees on cart, delivery and price, and hands over payment without the customer visiting the merchant's site. The merchant remains the seller and keeps the relationship with the customer; payment details are handed over as a limited token.

ACP governs the flow of the purchase. How it is proven that the customer wanted exactly this purchase within these limits is a separate question, answered by approaches such as Verifiable Intent or a mandate.

## Example

A customer asks her assistant for a specific coffee machine. The assistant creates a checkout with the merchant via ACP, confirms model, price and delivery address and hands over a payment token valid only for this merchant and amount. The merchant accepts the order and ships it.

## How it differs

ACP describes checkout; Verifiable Intent and AP2 the customer's signed intent; Web Bot Auth and the Trusted Agent Protocol the agent's identity. A complete agent purchase often touches several of these levels.

## In practice

- As a merchant, check before accepting whether amount and items fit the limits the customer has set.
- Keep checkout data and evidence together, so disputes can be resolved.
- Use limited payment tokens that apply only to the specific merchant and amount.

## Role in KYA

KYA does not verify ACP flows itself. It verifies the evidence that can accompany such a purchase: intent following Verifiable Intent, signed requests following RFC 9421 and mandates with limits.

Related check: [Scope of the action](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/method/checks) (`intent_scope`). Is the action within the mandate's action type, amount limit, currency and counterparty?

[Verify now: open a matching example](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/verify?beispiel=verifiable-intent)

## Frequently asked questions

### Who is behind ACP?

OpenAI and Stripe published the Agentic Commerce Protocol as an open specification in September 2025.

### What exactly does ACP govern?

The flow of a purchase between agent and merchant: create a checkout, agree on cart and delivery, confirm the price and hand over payment as a limited token.

### Does ACP replace Verifiable Intent or AP2?

No. ACP describes checkout. Verifiable Intent and AP2 prove the customer's intent with its limits. The approaches can be used together.

### Does KYA verify ACP?

KYA does not verify ACP flows. It verifies evidence accompanying an agent purchase, such as Verifiable Intent, signed requests and mandates.

## Sources

- [Agentic Commerce Protocol](https://www.agenticcommerce.dev/)

## Related terms

- [Agentic commerce](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/agentic-commerce)
- [Network tokenization](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/network-tokenization)
- [Verifiable Intent](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/verifiable-intent)
- [Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/ap2)

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Quelle: https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/agentic-commerce-protocol · KYA – Know Your Agent