Agent Network Protocol (ANP)

The Agent Network Protocol (ANP) is an open-source protocol suite that defines how agents identify themselves, describe what they offer, find each other and exchange messages, using W3C decentralized identifiers (DIDs) on top of ordinary web infrastructure.

Status. The current specification set is ANP 1.2. That number labels the document release. It is not a wire version. The authentication, identity, naming, agent description, discovery and messaging documents are released. The meta-protocol (ANP-06) and the AP2 payment adaptation (ANP-10) are still drafts. The project’s SDK is AgentConnect.

Layers.

• Identity. Every agent is named by a DID. The did:wba method works like did:web: did:wba:example.com resolves to a DID document at https://example.com/.well-known/did.json. ANP-02 defines request authentication for did:wba and native did:web identifiers.
• Description. An agent publishes a JSON-LD Agent Description document: who runs it, what it offers, and the natural-language and structured interfaces it accepts.
• Discovery. Active discovery starts from a domain: https://example.com/.well-known/agent-descriptions returns a JSON-LD list of that domain’s public agent descriptions. Passive discovery lets agents register with search agents.
• Messaging. Profiles cover direct and group messaging, attachments and federation, with device-bound end-to-end encryption.
• Meta-protocol (draft). Agents negotiate which interface, security profile and schema to use for a given exchange.

Compared with A2A. Both discover agents from a well-known path on a domain. A2A publishes an Agent Card and leaves identity to web mechanisms such as TLS, OAuth 2.0 and signed cards. ANP puts a DID at the centre of identity and defines its own messaging and encryption layers. The A2A specification also allows registries and direct configuration as discovery routes.

Neighbouring terms. Agora is another agent protocol that lets agents negotiate message formats, and A2A is the Linux Foundation protocol for task exchange between agents.