Protocol profile
Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)
In short
A mandate-based protocol in which signed verifiable credentials record what the user authorised, giving issuers, merchants and networks an audit trail for human-present and human-not-present agent payments. For AP2, merchant of record is merchant and dispute rules are evidence only. Announced but not yet live: Adyen, PayPal, Worldpay, and 7 more.
Fact sheet
- Type
- Protocol
- Operator
- FIDO Alliance (donated by Google, April 2026)
- Homepage
- ap2-protocol.org
- Governance
- FIDO Alliance Payments TWG and Agentic Authentication TWG
- Matrix reach
- 0 live, 1 pilot, 10 announced, 0 not supported, 16 with no statement found
Readiness for merchants
Seven rows, each read from a primary source on 4 Nov 2026. The method page defines every row.
| Rubric row | Reading | Evidence | Source and read date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specification public | Yes | Specification, SDK and samples are public on GitHub under Apache 2.0. | github.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Reference implementation | Samples | The repository contains Python, Go and Android sample scenarios, not a production service. | github.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Live surfaces | None confirmed | Google has announced AP2 for Gemini Spark; no surface states AP2 is live for merchants. | blog.google, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Processor support | Announced | PayPal, Adyen, Worldpay, Coinbase and others were named collaborators at launch; no processor documents a production AP2 path. | cloud.google.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Merchant of record | Merchant | The merchant receives the Checkout Mandate and completes the sale; AP2 does not make the agent the seller. | ap2-protocol.org, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Dispute rules | Evidence only | Mandates create an audit trail for disputes; liability is left to network rules. | ap2-protocol.org, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Cost | No protocol fee | Open specification; no fee is published. | ap2-protocol.org, 4 Nov 2026 |
The row in full: every column
| Column | Status | Note | Source and read date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | docs.stripe.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Adyen | announced | Named among AP2 collaborators in Google's AP2 launch post | cloud.google.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| PayPal | announced | Named among AP2 collaborators in Google's AP2 launch post | cloud.google.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Checkout.com | pilot | Agentic page lists AP2 for proof of intent; access via waitlist | checkout.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Braintree | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | developer.paypal.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Worldpay | announced | Named among AP2 collaborators in Google's AP2 launch post | cloud.google.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Coinbase | announced | Coinbase launched an x402 extension for AP2 (A2A x402); demo was proof of concept | coinbase.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Crossmint | announced | Named among AP2 collaborators in Google's AP2 launch post | cloud.google.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Skyfire | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | docs.skyfire.xyz, 4 Nov 2026 |
| PayOS | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | payos.ai, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Shopify | announced | Shopify says UCP supports AP2 alongside REST, MCP and A2A; no Shopify AP2 mandate flow documented | shopify.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| BigCommerce | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | bigcommerce.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Salesforce CC | announced | Named AP2 collaborator with a launch quote; no Agentforce Commerce AP2 feature documented | cloud.google.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Adobe Commerce | announced | Adobe cites an earlier announcement of AP2 support; no shipped AP2 feature documented | business.adobe.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| commercetools | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | docs.commercetools.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| WooCommerce | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | woocommerce.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Amazon | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | aboutamazon.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Walmart | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | corporate.walmart.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Target | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | corporate.target.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Etsy | announced | Named among AP2 collaborators at launch; no Etsy AP2 flow published | cloud.google.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Wayfair | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | aboutwayfair.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| ChatGPT | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | chatgpt.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Google AI Mode | announced | Google said at I/O it will bring AP2 to Google products in coming months, starting with Gemini Spark. | blog.google, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Perplexity | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | perplexity.ai, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Amazon Rufus | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | aboutamazon.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Meta Muse | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | about.fb.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| Copilot | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | about.ads.microsoft.com, 4 Nov 2026 |
| 1 live or pilot of 27 |
What AP2 does not do
- Does not carry the payment itself: it wraps cards, x402 or other rails.
- Does not assign chargeback liability; it supplies evidence.
- Has no confirmed live consumer surface as of 4 Nov 2026.
Sourced facts
- Google announced AP2 on 16 Sep 2025 with more than 60 collaborating organisations, as an extension usable with A2A and MCP. cloud.google.com, read 4 Nov 2026.
- The AP2 GitHub repository published v0.1.0 on 16 Sep 2025 and v0.2.0 on 28 Apr 2026. github.com, read 4 Nov 2026.
- The FIDO Alliance formed an Agentic Authentication Technical Working Group and a Payments Technical Working Group on 28 Apr 2026, building on Google's AP2 and Mastercard's Verifiable Intent contributions. fidoalliance.org, read 4 Nov 2026.
- The FIDO Payments Technical Working Group is chaired by Mastercard and Visa; the Agentic Authentication group is chaired by CVS Health, Google and OpenAI. fidoalliance.org, read 4 Nov 2026.
- FIDO published "Google donates Agent Payments Protocol to FIDO Alliance" on 29 Apr 2026, noting AP2 v0.2 added Human Not Present payments on pre-authorised instructions. fidoalliance.org, read 4 Nov 2026.
- The current AP2 site defines a Checkout Mandate (items and purchase details, shared with the merchant) and a Payment Mandate (authorisation against an instrument, shared with credential provider, network and processor), each with open and closed stages. ap2-protocol.org, read 4 Nov 2026.
- The v0.1 launch described Intent, Cart and Payment mandates; the v0.2 site uses Checkout and Payment mandates, so older guides use different names. cloud.google.com, read 4 Nov 2026.
- AP2 says it provides "a non-repudiable, cryptographic audit trail for every transaction, aiding in dispute resolution" but does not assign liability. ap2-protocol.org, read 4 Nov 2026.
- The initial version supports pull payments such as cards; real-time bank push payments (UPI, PIX) are roadmap items; x402 samples exist through the A2A x402 extension. ap2-protocol.org, read 4 Nov 2026.
- Google said at I/O 2026 it will bring AP2 to Google products, starting with Gemini Spark. blog.google, read 4 Nov 2026.Vendor claim
In the vendors section
- UnionPay International, card network profile
- Google Pay, wallet profile
- Google (AI Mode and Gemini checkout), agent surface profile
- FIDO Alliance, rules or identity programme profile
Compare and alternatives
Sources
- AP2 protocol site, read 4 Nov 2026
- cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol, read 4 Nov 2026
- AP2 releases, read 4 Nov 2026
- FIDO Alliance to develop standards for trusted AI agent interactions, read 4 Nov 2026
- Google donates AP2 to FIDO Alliance, read 4 Nov 2026
- Introducing the Universal Cart, read 4 Nov 2026
- AP2 repository, read 4 Nov 2026
- checkout.com/agentic-commerce, read 4 Nov 2026
- coinbase.com/developer-platform/discover/launches/google_x402, read 4 Nov 2026
- shopify.com/news/ai-commerce-at-scale, read 4 Nov 2026
- business.adobe.com/blog/adobe-commerce-commits-to-agentic-commerce-standards, read 4 Nov 2026
Last reviewed