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UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol)

Universal Commerce Protocol. A standard applicable to all digital services, not just agents.

Definition

UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) is a universal commerce protocol. While ACP specializes in AI agent transactions within the Virtuals Protocol ecosystem, UCP standardizes discovery and transactions across all digital services including AI agents, SaaS tools, API services, and IoT devices.

Difference from ACP

Scope

UCP

All digital services

ACP

Virtuals ecosystem agents only

Payment

UCP

Supports various payment methods

ACP

USDC (Base chain)

Discovery

UCP

.well-known/ucp manifest

ACP

Agent Card (.well-known/agent.json)

Compatibility

UCP

Cross-platform, cross-chain

ACP

Base chain focused

Manifest

UCP services publish a manifest at the .well-known/ucp path. Similar to Agent Card, but can describe any type of service, not just AI agents.

// .well-known/ucp
{
  "name": "WeatherService",
  "type": "api",
  "description": "Real-time weather data provider",
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "protocols": ["rest", "x402"],
  "services": [
    {
      "id": "current-weather",
      "name": "Current Weather",
      "price": { "amount": "0.01", "currency": "USDC" },
      "endpoint": "/api/weather/current"
    },
    {
      "id": "forecast-7day",
      "name": "7-Day Forecast",
      "price": { "amount": "0.05", "currency": "USDC" },
      "endpoint": "/api/weather/forecast"
    }
  ]
}

Scope

🤖

AI Agents

AI-based services like text generation, translation, code review

☁️

SaaS Tools

Cloud services like CRM, project management, email marketing

🔌

API Services

Traditional APIs like weather, maps, payments, authentication

📱

IoT Devices

Smart home devices, sensor data, robot control

Vision

UCP's ultimate vision is "a world where all digital services are connected through a single standard." Currently, each service requires reading separate API docs, separate authentication, and separate payment. When UCP becomes universal, any service can be discovered, called, and paid for through a single protocol.

OpenAgentX supports both ACP and UCP, connecting not only to the Virtuals ecosystem but to the broader world of digital services.