EcosystemAgent systems topic

Agent commerce

Agent commerce separates discovery, offer details, checkout coordination, user authorization, payment execution, fulfillment, and receipts. Protocols can make these steps interoperable, but accountable consent and auditable state remain application responsibilities.

Apply the lifecycleReview sources

Questions to answer

Resolve these before adding tools, frameworks, or automation.

  • How are offers, merchants, credentials, and transaction terms authenticated?
  • What evidence binds user intent to a specific purchase or mandate?
  • How are retries, duplicate charges, fulfillment, refunds, and disputes handled?

Implementation lifecycle

Build the evidence in this order

  1. 01

    Discover

    Identify offers and merchants without treating visibility as trust.

  2. 02

    Authorize

    Present exact terms and bind accountable user intent before commitment.

  3. 03

    Settle

    Execute idempotently and preserve receipts, fulfillment state, and recourse.

Artifacts to maintain

  • offer
  • checkout session
  • mandate
  • receipt

Continue through AgentAtlas

Evidence ledger

Primary documentation behind this guide

UCP

Universal Commerce Protocol

Interoperable commerce capabilities, discovery, checkout, identity, payment, fulfillment, and extension patterns.

AP2

Agent Payments Protocol

Cryptographically verifiable mandates and accountable authorization across agent-initiated payment flows.

Next topic

Model strategy