W3C AI Agent Protocol Community Group Latest Progress (June 2025)
To establish standardized agent communication protocols, the ANP (Agent Network Protocol) open source community has led the formation of the AI Agent Protocol Community Group at W3C. This article provides a detailed overview of the latest progress of this community group.
The community group held its first meeting on June 18, 2025, where the main discussions focused on the group's objectives, scope of work, meeting mechanisms, and future plans.
Meeting minutes link: https://github.com/w3c-cg/ai-agent-protocol/blob/main/meetings/2025-06-18.md
Community Group Background and Composition
The W3C AI Agent Protocol Community Group was initiated and established by the ANP open source community at W3C, aiming to promote the standardization process of agent communication protocols. Chang Gaowei, the founder of the ANP community, serves as co-chair of this community group, responsible for coordinating and advancing related work.
Currently, numerous renowned domestic and international enterprises and academic institutions have joined this community group, including:
Corporate Members:
- Huawei
- ByteDance
- Microsoft
- Ant Group
- China Mobile
Academic Institutions:
- Peking University
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Institut Mines-Télécom (France)
- University of Vienna
The participation of these members provides strong technical support and industry resources for the community group, marking that the standardization work of agent protocols has gained widespread attention globally.
Community Group Mission and Scope of Work
Mission Statement
The mission of the AI Agent Protocol Community Group is to develop open, interoperable protocols that enable agents to efficiently discover, connect, and collaborate on the internet. As agents increasingly participate in internet-based activities, there is a growing need for standardized mechanisms that support secure, reliable, and scalable interactions. The organization aims to establish the technical foundation for the emerging "Agentic Web."
Scope of Work
The community group will explore and define the following key areas:
1. Inter-Agent Communication Protocols
- Establish mechanisms allowing agents to discover each other
- Exchange intent and capability information
- Negotiate role assignments
- Dynamically establish or dissolve collaborative relationships in open Web environments
2. Agent Identity Models
- AI agent identity framework based on open standards
- Support secure, interoperable authentication between cross-domain agents
3. Standardized Metadata Formats
- Structured descriptions of agent capabilities, interfaces, goals, and states
- Based on Web-native formats, supporting automatic reasoning, composition, and orchestration of agent behaviors
4. Security and Privacy Mechanisms
- Security models for cross-domain agent communication
- Identity verification, authorization, trust mechanisms based on verifiable credentials
- End-to-end encryption to protect the integrity and confidentiality of agent interactions
5. Protocol Interoperability
- Enable agent-based systems to integrate and collaborate using existing Web protocols and standards
The community group will publish relevant technical specifications and welcomes AI platform developers, protocol designers, browser vendors, Web application developers, academic researchers, and other stakeholders interested in advancing open standards to participate in building a trustworthy, collaborative agent Web ecosystem.
Major Output Achievements
The community group has already produced two important technical documents:
1. Agent Network Protocol White Paper Draft
Document Link: https://w3c-cg.github.io/ai-agent-protocol/
This white paper elaborates on the technical background, development trends, and standardization needs of agent network protocols. The document covers the current state of agent technology development, challenges faced, and future development directions.
2. Agent Protocol Technical Specification Framework Draft
Document Link: https://w3c-cg.github.io/ai-agent-protocol/protocol.html
This technical framework defines in detail the main modules of specific implementation solutions for agent protocols, including:
- Agent identity authentication mechanisms
- Agent discovery and description protocols
- Inter-agent communication standards
- Security and privacy protection mechanisms
- Protocol interoperability design
Welcome to Join
With the increasing participation of enterprises and academic institutions, and the continuous improvement of technical specifications, we have reason to believe that an open, secure, and interoperable agent network ecosystem is about to emerge.
The community group will continue to advance the development of relevant technical specifications and collaborate deeply with various industry parties to jointly build the technical infrastructure for the agent internet. This will not only promote the further development of AI technology but also open up new possibilities for collaboration between humans and AI agents.
We also welcome interested organizations and individuals to join the community group and jointly promote the standardization work of agent network protocols.
Join the community group: https://www.w3.org/community/agentprotocol/