## Agentic Commerce Protocol

ACP is an open standard for programmatic commerce flows between buyers, AI agents, and businesses.

### Highlights

- **Open source:** Apache 2.0 licensed and community-designed. Implement the spec to transact with any compatible AI agent or payment processor.
- **Built for businesses:** Stay the merchant of record with full control over what you sell, how it appears, and how orders are fulfilled.
- **Supports complex flows:** Configure checkouts for physical and digital goods, subscriptions, and asynchronous purchases.
- **Works everywhere:** Publish your checkout configuration via REST or MCP without changing your backend stack.
- **Secure by design:** Pass payment credentials safely between buyers and agents while keeping raw details hidden and PCI compliant.

### How It Works

1. Expose REST endpoints including: `POST /checkout_sessions` (create cart), `POST /checkout_sessions/{id}` (apply updates), `GET /checkout_sessions/{id}` (retrieve state), `POST /checkout_sessions/{id}/complete` (finalize payment), and `POST /checkout_sessions/{id}/cancel`.
2. Return authoritative cart state on every response (line items, totals, messages, fulfillment options) so agents can render UI without guessing.
3. When completing, accept a payment token in `payment_data` and process with your compatible PSP, create the order in your system, and echo the completed status and order permalink.

### Value by Role

- **Businesses:** Reach high-intent customers through AI experiences while using your current commerce systems.
- **AI agents:** Embed commerce without becoming the merchant of record.
- **Payment providers:** Grow volume by tokenizing and processing agent-initiated transactions.

### Get Started

- View the spec: https://github.com/agentic-commerce-protocol/agentic-commerce-protocol
- Integrate with Stripe: https://docs.stripe.com/agentic-commerce
- Apply to participate in Instant Checkout in ChatGPT: http://chatgpt.com/merchants

### FAQ

- **Who can use ACP?** Any business or AI platform can adopt the spec to let buyers transact within AI interfaces.
- **Which agents are supported?** Any agent can call an ACP-enabled checkout. OpenAI is first with Instant Checkout in ChatGPT, and merchants decide which agents to accept.
- **Will my products appear automatically?** No. Each AI platform manages onboarding. Apply for Instant Checkout in ChatGPT at http://chatgpt.com/merchants.
- **Can I keep my payment processor?** Yes. ACP works with any compatible PSP. Stripe supports ACP today via its Shared Payment Token.
- **How do AI platforms discover ACP merchants?** Discovery tooling is in progress. AI platforms can reach out to acp@stripe.com to collaborate.

### About
Developed by Stripe and OpenAI to define a common language for open, secure AI commerce. ACP coordinates checkout experiences and securely shares payment credentials between agents and businesses. We welcome feedback at acp@stripe.com.