Agent Commerce
AP2
Google's open protocol for agent-mediated payments, announced September 2025 with launch partners including Mastercard, PayPal, Coinbase and American Express. It enforces authorisation, authenticity and accountability through three digitally signed mandates carried as W3C Verifiable Credentials: an Intent Mandate for the user goal, a Cart Mandate for the transaction, and a Payment Mandate authorising the transfer. Payment-agnostic across cards, bank transfer and stablecoins.
Why it matters
The mandate structure is the part that matters to a merchant: it produces a cryptographically verifiable record of what the user authorised versus what the agent actually selected. That is the evidence trail a disputed agent purchase turns on.
In practice
Sits between the agent frameworks and the payment networks, so it is normally your processor's integration rather than yours. Worth knowing which mandates your provider captures and retains.
Related terms