Universal Commerce Protocol
The Universal Commerce Protocol, usually shortened to UCP, is one of the named efforts to standardise how an AI agent reads a merchant’s catalogue and places an order through a defined interface, instead of inferring both from a storefront built for a human.
The problem every such protocol addresses is the same. Driving a storefront works, and it is how most agent purchases happen today, but it inherits every fragility of a page designed for a mouse. A defined exchange removes the inference: here is the catalogue, here is the item, here is the order.
The specifications in this area are moving quickly. Treat any description of the detail, including this one, as something to check against the current specification before you build against it.
Why it matters to a store
A protocol still describes your product data. It cannot invent a price you never published or a returns policy that only exists as a graphic. A store with poor data is poorly represented under every protocol, so the fundamentals decide more than the choice does.