AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol)

AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol) is an open protocol for authorizing and executing payments initiated by AI agents. It standardizes how a user grants a payment mandate, how an agent proves that mandate to a merchant or payment service, and how the resulting authorization is carried into a settlement rail without inventing a one-off integration for every agent runtime.

Why it Matters

Without a shared protocol, every agent stack invents its own way to say "this agent may spend up to X for purpose Y." Merchants cannot verify mandates consistently, wallets cannot enforce policy uniformly, and ledgers cannot attribute spend to a stable agent identity. AP2 gives those parties a common shape for mandate, proof, and settlement handoff.

For infrastructure teams, AP2 matters because the mandate and the money movement must stay linked. A ledger that posts agent spend against the wrong principal, or that cannot replay an authorization after a retry, breaks reconciliation. Protocol-shaped mandates pair naturally with idempotent posting keys and per-agent sub-ledgers so each authorized transfer has one durable accounting trail.