Agentic Web Specification

The Agentic Web specification defines how companies expose AI-native endpoints that provide verified responses and enable possible actions. Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), it creates a standardized way for AI agents to interact with businesses programmatically.

Architecture Overview

The agentic web follows a three-party interaction model:

Users interact with AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) which discover and communicate with vendor endpoints. The vendor maintains full control over responses, qualification logic, and available actions.

Key Capabilities

AI agents discover vendor capabilities through a well-known endpoint. This manifest describes what questions the vendor can answer and what actions are available.

MCP Profile Endpoint

Vendors publish their capability manifest at /.well-known/mcp. This endpoint returns a JSON document describing the vendor's agentic capabilities.

// GET https://acme.com/.well-known/mcp

{
  "schema_version": "0.1",
  "vendor": {
    "name": "Acme Inc",
    "description": "Enterprise API platform for developers",
    "website": "https://acme.com",
    "logo": "https://acme.com/logo.png"
  },
  "capabilities": {
    "verified_responses": [
      "pricing",
      "integrations",
      "compliance",
      "features"
    ],
    "possible_actions": [
      "schedule_demo",
      "open_ticket",
      "request_quote",
      "start_trial"
    ]
  },
  "endpoint": "https://api.acme.com/mcp",
  "authentication": {
    "methods": ["api_key", "oauth2"]
  }
}

Capability Categories

Verified responses allow AI agents to query vendor knowledge with confidence that the information is authoritative and current. Unlike web scraping, responses come directly from the vendor's systems with cryptographic verification.

Ask Endpoint

The primary method for querying vendor knowledge:

POST /mcp/ask

{
  "question": "Does Acme support Salesforce integration?",
  "context": {
    "user_type": "enterprise_buyer",
    "company_size": "500-1000"
  }
}

Response Format

{
  "response": {
    "answer": "Yes, Acme offers native Salesforce integration on Business and Enterprise plans. Setup takes approximately 15 minutes with our guided wizard.",
    "confidence": 1.0,
    "sources": [
      {
        "type": "documentation",
        "url": "https://docs.acme.com/integrations/salesforce"
      }
    ]
  },
  "verification": {
    "signed_by": "acme.com",
    "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "signature": "sha256:a1b2c3..."
  },
  "suggested_actions": [
    {
      "id": "schedule_demo",
      "label": "Schedule Integration Demo"
    }
  ]
}

Access Levels

Vendors can gate certain information based on qualification status:

Actions enable AI agents to complete tasks on behalf of users—not just answer questions, but take real steps like scheduling meetings, opening support tickets, or starting trials.

Standard Actions

Action Request

POST /mcp/actions/schedule_demo

{
  "session_id": "sess_abc123",
  "parameters": {
    "preferred_times": [
      "2024-01-20T14:00:00Z",
      "2024-01-21T10:00:00Z"
    ],
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "topics": ["Salesforce integration", "Enterprise pricing"]
  }
}

Action Response

{
  "status": "scheduled",
  "confirmation": {
    "meeting_id": "mtg_xyz789",
    "datetime": "2024-01-20T14:00:00Z",
    "duration_minutes": 30,
    "calendar_link": "https://cal.acme.com/mtg_xyz789",
    "assigned_rep": {
      "name": "Sarah Chen",
      "title": "Enterprise Account Executive"
    }
  },
  "context_preserved": {
    "qualification_data": "included",
    "conversation_summary": "included"
  }
}

Sessions track the state of an interaction from initial query through action completion. They enable progressive qualification and context preservation.

Session States

Qualification Flow

Vendors can require qualification before certain responses or actions:

// Response indicating qualification required
{
  "status": "qualification_required",
  "questions": [
    {
      "id": "company_size",
      "text": "How many employees does your company have?",
      "type": "select",
      "options": ["1-50", "51-200", "201-1000", "1000+"]
    },
    {
      "id": "use_case",
      "text": "What's your primary use case?",
      "type": "text"
    }
  ],
  "reason": "Enterprise pricing requires company information"
}

Complete REST API reference for implementing an Agentic Web endpoint.

Endpoints

Error Responses

{
  "error": {
    "code": "qualification_required",
    "message": "This information requires qualification",
    "details": {
      "required_fields": ["company_size", "use_case"]
    }
  }
}

Security requirements and recommendations for Agentic Web implementations.

Transport Security

• HTTPS Required: All endpoints must use TLS 1.2 or higher
• Certificate Pinning: Recommended for high-security implementations
• HSTS: Strict Transport Security headers should be enabled

Authentication Methods

Data Privacy

Agentic Web

The ecosystem of AI-native endpoints that enable direct communication between AI agents and businesses.

Verified Response

An answer from a vendor endpoint that is cryptographically signed and can be trusted by AI agents as authoritative.

Possible Action

A task that an AI agent can complete on behalf of a user, such as scheduling a demo or opening a support ticket.

Capability Manifest

The JSON document at /.well-known/mcp that describes a vendor's agentic capabilities.

Session

A stateful interaction that tracks context, qualification status, and action history.

Qualification

The process of collecting buyer information to unlock gated content or actions.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

The underlying protocol (from Anthropic) that enables AI models to interact with external tools and data sources.