@changgaowei: 同意,消息协议如果不管身份,跨域就只是通道。ANP 把这两层拆开又接上:`did:wba` 回答你是谁、凭什么验,消息 Profile(1:1 / 群 / E2EE / 联邦)只负责怎么传。身份还能拿去支付、授权,不和某一个 IM 绑死。…

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Summary

ANP是一个开源协议,旨在为智能代理提供身份、命名、发现和安全通信的标准,将身份与消息传递分离,实现跨域协作。

同意,消息协议如果不管身份,跨域就只是通道。ANP 把这两层拆开又接上:`did:wba` 回答你是谁、凭什么验,消息 Profile(1:1 / 群 / E2EE / 联邦)只负责怎么传。身份还能拿去支付、授权,不和某一个 IM 绑死。我们按这个做了开源协议和产品 AWiki(一个 DID,手机/PC/Agent 共用,Handle 同时带邮箱)。协议:https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol… 产品:
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Cached at: 08/18/26, 10:45 AM

同意,消息协议如果不管身份,跨域就只是通道。ANP 把这两层拆开又接上:did:wba 回答你是谁、凭什么验,消息 Profile(1:1 / 群 / E2EE / 联邦)只负责怎么传。身份还能拿去支付、授权,不和某一个 IM 绑死。我们按这个做了开源协议和产品 AWiki(一个 DID,手机/PC/Agent 共用,Handle 同时带邮箱)。协议:https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol… 产品:


agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol

Source: https://github.com/agent-network-protocol/AgentNetworkProtocol

English | 中文

Agent Network Protocol (ANP)

ANP aims to become the HTTP of the Agentic Web era: a protocol suite for agent identity, naming, discovery, negotiation, secure messaging, and application-level collaboration.

Current specification set: the core protocol documents have been organized around the ANP 1.1 release line. The released suite covers did:wba identity, WNS handles, agent description, agent discovery, end-to-end instant messaging, and the AP2 agent payment protocol. The meta-protocol specification remains a draft and is not released yet.

ANP Messaging 1.2 draft: the mixed-version draft suite defines multi-device cryptographic endpoints under one DID while keeping P1/P2/P3/P4/P7/P8 and the P9 Mention binding on v1. Only the incompatible Direct E2EE and Group E2EE Profiles use v2. Draft presence does not imply implementation support or public capability advertisement.

Versioning note: Version: 1.1 identifies the specification/document release version. It does not change the ANP payload field protocolVersion; examples and protocol fields that use "protocolVersion": "1.0.0" remain unchanged because this release does not change protocol fields, flows, or security requirements.

Note: This project has not issued any digital currency on any platform or blockchain.

Vision and Positioning

Agent Network Protocol (ANP) is an open-source communication protocol for intelligent agents. Its goal is to define how agents connect with each other and to build an open, secure, and efficient collaboration network for billions of agents.

Agentic Web

We believe the agent internet is the next generation of information infrastructure after the human-centric internet. In this vision:

  • From platform-centric to protocol-centric: data and services should not remain locked in isolated platforms. Agents need open protocols for direct connection.
  • Connection is power: every agent can be both an information consumer and a service provider, able to discover, connect to, and collaborate with other nodes.
  • AI-native network: agents should interact through semantically clear, machine-readable, and callable protocols rather than only through human-facing webpages.

Why We Need ANP

Current internet infrastructure is mature, but it still lacks a communication and connection layer designed for large-scale agent networks. ANP focuses on three challenges:

  • 🌐 Interconnection: enable agents from different platforms and domains to authenticate, discover, and communicate with each other.
  • 🖥️ Native interfaces: let AI use APIs, protocol documents, structured descriptions, and negotiated interfaces instead of imitating human browsing.
  • 🤝 Efficient collaboration: allow agents to self-organize, self-negotiate, and build lower-cost collaboration networks.

Protocol Architecture

Protocol Architecture Diagram

ANP is built on existing Internet infrastructure and organizes the released protocol capabilities into two core protocol layers plus domain-specific application protocols:

  • 🌐 Open Internet Infrastructure: ANP reuses HTTP, CA, DNS, CDN, Search, and TLS instead of rebuilding a new network stack.
  • 🔒 Identity and Encrypted Communication Layer: based on W3C DID and Web infrastructure. This layer provides agent identity, did:wba authentication, and end-to-end encrypted messaging foundations.
  • 📡 Application Protocol Layer: includes Agent Description, Agent Discovery, and Agent Application Protocols. Domain protocols such as agent payment, authorization, authentication, and transaction protocols are built on top of this layer.
  • 🧪 Meta-protocol status: ANP-06 remains a draft and is not part of the currently released architecture. The updated draft positions it as an Agent Description-driven semantic negotiation layer that uses MetaProtocolInterface, anp.get_capabilities, and anp.negotiate to select the subsequent interface, Profile, security profile, and schema.

Protocol Specification Index

AreaDocumentStatusWhat it defines
OverviewANP Technical White PaperWhite paperVision, design principles, and the three-layer architecture
IdentityANP-03: did:wba Method SpecificationReleased v1.1Web-based DID method, cross-platform authentication, e1_ Ed25519 binding, k1_ compatibility extension
NamingANP-04: ANP-DID:WBA Name Space SpecificationReleased v1.1WNS handles such as alice.example.com, Handle-to-DID resolution, DID rotation support
Meta-protocolANP-06: Agent Communication Meta-ProtocolDraft / not releasedOptional semantic meta-protocol negotiation, MetaProtocolInterface declaration, anp.negotiate, and interface / Profile / security profile / schema selection
DescriptionANP-07: Agent Description ProtocolReleased v1.1Agent Description documents, interface descriptions, and capability publication
DiscoveryANP-08: Agent Discovery ProtocolReleased v1.1Active .well-known discovery and passive registration with search agents
MessagingANP-09: End-to-End Instant Messaging OverviewReleased v1.1 + vNext DraftProfile index for direct messaging, group messaging, E2EE, attachments, federation, mentions, and the separately versioned multi-device draft
PaymentsANP-10: Agent Payment Protocol (AP2)Released v1.1 (EN); CN draft availableAgent-to-agent payments, mandates, receipts, DID-based signatures, and payment flows

Instant Messaging Profiles

The released ANP 1.1 end-to-end instant messaging suite is split into focused profiles:

  1. P1 Core Binding: JSON-RPC 2.0 binding, request/response/error conventions.
  2. P2 Identity and Discovery: DID-based service discovery and endpoint capability discovery.
  3. P3 Direct Messaging Base Semantics: direct message sending and receipts.
  4. P4 Group Messaging Base Semantics: group lifecycle, membership, and group message semantics.
  5. P5 Direct End-to-End Encryption: E2EE overlay for direct messaging.
  6. P6 Group End-to-End Encryption: E2EE overlay for group messaging.
  7. P7 Attachments and Object Transfer: manifests, object services, and large-object transfer.
  8. P8 Federation and Cross-Domain: cross-domain routing, relaying, and result witnessing.
  9. P9 Message Mentions Extension: group-message mention payloads and selector semantics.

The ANP Messaging 1.2 draft index and its Chinese mirror define a legal mixed-version capability set: Base, Attachment, and Federation remain v1, while Direct E2EE and Group E2EE use v2. Ordinary Direct, Group, Mention, and Attachment operations stay addressed only by business DID or Group DID; their device fan-out remains local to the receiving domain. device_id appears only where an E2EE v2 Profile requires a cryptographic endpoint, including independent Direct sessions and multiple MLS leaves, and P8 v1 preserves device selectors only for such enclosing Profiles. Implementations MUST NOT reinterpret E2EE v1 state as v2 or silently downgrade an E2EE v2 operation.

DID Compatibility Appendices

Quick Start

Protocol SDK

The open-source implementation of ANP is maintained in the AgentConnect repository:

AgentConnect focuses on practical SDK support for did:wba, authentication, agent description, protocol negotiation, secure communication, and application protocols.

Repository Layout

  • 01-*.md, 03-*.md, 04-*.md, 06-*.md, 07-*.md, 08-*.md, 09-*.md: core English protocol documents.
  • application/: application-layer protocols such as AP2.
  • message/: the released ANP 1.1 end-to-end instant messaging Profile suite; message/vnext/ contains separately versioned v2 drafts.
  • chinese/: Chinese versions of core specifications and related research notes.
  • docs/: guides, extended reading, and community operations documents.
  • blogs/: articles and protocol analysis.
  • examples/: sample ADP assets, API interface examples, and messaging vNext multi-device JSON examples.
  • images/ and standard/: shared figures and standardization references.

Further Reading

Milestones

  • Define and implement the identity authentication and secure communication foundation.
  • Release did:wba v1.1 with default e1_ Ed25519 path binding and compatibility guidance for k1_ and native did:web.
  • Define WNS handles as a human-readable naming layer for DID-based agents.
  • Release the Agent Description Protocol and Agent Discovery Protocol.
  • Release the meta-protocol after the draft is stabilized.
  • Split end-to-end instant messaging into an overview plus nine interoperable profiles.
  • Stabilize and review the separately versioned multi-device messaging vNext draft.
  • Add the AP2 agent payment protocol to the application layer.
  • Continue aligning SDK implementations and examples with the 1.1 specification set.
  • Continue standardization work and expand domain-specific application protocols.

Contact Us

We have established an ANP open-source technical community to advance ANP development through an open-source community approach. We sincerely invite you to join our community.

Contributing

We welcome contributions in any form. Please refer to CONTRIBUTING.md.

Contributors

We extend our sincere gratitude to all contributors for their outstanding work and dedication to the Agent Network Protocol project.

@chgaowei @yagi2018 @Julian-Zhu-STD @amdoi7 @claude @han188 @khyao78 @yumh1 @AlfredZuo @dreamsea656 @dzpzp @SeaOceanO @Aas-ee @cocolin2016 @kylezhang @Pentiumtime @PreciousNwakama @seanzhang9999 @SunZhao2468 @xfq

License

This project is open-sourced under the MIT License. For details, please refer to LICENSE. The copyright is held by GaoWei Chang. Any user of this project must retain the original copyright notice and license file.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2024 GaoWei Chang This file is released under the MIT License. You are free to use and modify it, but must retain this copyright notice.

Similar Articles

@changgaowei: The latest version of ANP has been released. Supporting open-source projects will be rolled out gradually—stay tuned. This article is technical in nature. In one sentence: ANP has made inter-agent cross-domain communication more solid. Email can also do cross-domain communication, but it has two fatal flaws: one is the heavy historical baggage of the protocol, so basically no one explores agent protocols based on email; the other is identity—email identities are hard to adapt for agents. I'll dive into this topic another day.

X AI KOLs Following

The latest version of ANP (Agent Network Protocol) has been released, with supporting open-source projects to follow. This protocol has made substantial improvements in cross-domain communication for agents, and is better suited to agent identity and communication needs compared to the Email protocol.

@changgaowei: https://x.com/changgaowei/status/2054428524749189518

X AI KOLs Following

The article announces a major upgrade to the ANP message protocol, designed to facilitate secure, cross-domain collaboration between AI agents. Key improvements include stronger security standards, enhanced end-to-end encryption using Signal-style methods and IETF MLS, and better file transfer support, while explicitly excluding multi-device support to maintain protocol simplicity.