The Agentic Commerce Protocol supplies structured primitives for an agent-led purchase journey. Instead of manipulating a merchant website visually, an agent can exchange explicit commerce data for product selection, cart state and checkout operations.
ACP is one part of a broader agentic commerce stack. Tool protocols expose capabilities, agent communication protocols coordinate participants and payment authorization remains governed by separate controls. Retailers should test protocol compatibility as implementations evolve.
ELI5
The Agentic Commerce Protocol provides structured shopping operations that AI agents and merchants can understand. It lets them exchange explicit product, cart and checkout information instead of making the agent click through a website like a person.
For example, a shopping agent could add an exact product to a cart and receive the current price and checkout state in a standard format. Other controls still have to prove what the user approved and whether the agent is allowed to make the payment.
What does ACP stand for in agentic commerce?
ACP stands for Agentic Commerce Protocol.
Why use a commerce protocol instead of browser automation?
A protocol exposes structured operations and state, which is usually faster, more reliable and easier to validate than driving a visual checkout with simulated clicks.
