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ACP (Agent Communication Protocol)

ACP (Agent Communication Protocol)

Also called: 智能体通信协议 · Agent Communication Protocol

A RESTful open standard for agent interoperability from IBM and BeeAI (May 2025); it has since merged into A2A and is no longer developed separately.

ACP(IBM/BeeAI,2025)merged intoA2Aactive development wound down
Schematic (simplified)

Its original positioning

ACP took a RESTful approach, aimed at structured message exchange, capability discovery, and collaboration among heterogeneous agents — seen as a parallel effort to Google's A2A. Its design emphasised standard HTTP semantics for easy adoption on existing web infrastructure.

Status: merged

Under Linux Foundation coordination, ACP has merged with A2A; the ACP team folded its technology and expertise into A2A and no longer develops it separately. New projects generally pick A2A directly; knowing ACP mainly helps in reading 2025-era discussion and early integrations. It is a clear example of how fast the agent-protocol space is consolidating.

Common misconceptions

  • ACP is no longer an active standalone standard and is not recommended as a primary choice for new systems.
  • ACP and MCP solve different problems: MCP is agent ↔ tools; ACP (and its successor A2A) is agent ↔ agent.

Related terms

A2A Protocol (Agent2Agent) A2A Protocol (Agent2Agent)MCP (Model Context Protocol) MCP (Model Context Protocol)Capability Discovery Capability Discovery

Sources

  1. GitHub — i-am-bee/acp
  2. IBM Think — What is Agent Communication Protocol (ACP)?

Compiled 2026-08-29 · This glossary is compiled from public papers, official specifications, and common industry definitions, and is updated as the field evolves. Corrections welcome.