Learn / Protocols and standards
How to tell which protocol your platform supports
The reliable way to find out which agentic commerce protocols apply to your store is to ask your platform rather than to read the specifications, because support is something the platform implements on your behalf. The more useful question is what the platform requires from you in return, since that resolves to catalogue and policy work you can do immediately.
Ask your platform, not the protocol. Support is something a platform implements on your behalf, so the specifications tell you what is possible while your platform’s documentation tells you what is actually live for your store.
What to ask for
- Which AI or agentic channels the platform currently connects you to.
- Whether those are on by default or require enabling. Shopify’s documentation, for instance, says agentic storefronts are active by default for eligible stores.
- What eligibility requires. Shopify lists published store policies among the requirements.
- Where the purchase completes for each channel, since that decides whether your checkout is in the path.
- What catalogue fields are mandatory rather than recommended.
The fifth is the one that converts a protocol question into a work list.
Why the answer matters less than it seems
The protocols differ in mechanism and agree almost entirely on what they need from a merchant: a price that matches what is paid, availability at variant level, an identifier, and terms stated before checkout.
So a store that is genuinely ready is ready for whichever applies, and a store that is not is unready for all of them. See ACP, UCP, AP2 and MCP explained.
Read documentation rather than announcements
Announcements describe intent and partnerships. Documentation describes what is live and what it requires. The gap between the two is where merchants form expectations that do not match their store.
Then check the layer underneath
Whatever your platform supports, an agent still has to be permitted to reach you. Bot rules and CDN settings sit below all of this and can make the protocol question moot. See web bot auth for store owners.
Questions
Where do I actually look?
Your platform’s own current documentation, and specifically its pages about AI or agentic channels rather than its protocol announcements. Announcements describe intent; documentation describes what is live and what it needs from you.
What if my platform supports several?
That is common and mostly good. It usually means more channels reach you, and the requirements they place on your catalogue overlap heavily, so the work does not multiply.
Does the answer change what I should do?
Less than you would expect. Every one of them wants accurate price, availability, identifiers and terms, so the preparation is nearly identical whichever applies.