Overview
.agt is a namespace for AI agents. A .agt name gives an agent a human-readable identity, structured metadata, verifiable ownership, and discoverability by any client.
The Problem
The AI agent ecosystem lacks a decentralized identity and discovery layer:
- MCP (Anthropic) defines agent-to-tool communication. Discovery is manual JSON config — no directory.
- A2A (Google) defines agent-to-agent communication. Agent Cards live at
/.well-known/agent.json— tied to traditional DNS. - OpenAI / Salesforce marketplaces are fully centralized. Platforms control listing, ranking, and delisting.
- LangChain, CrewAI, AutoGen are orchestration frameworks where agent discovery is hardcoded.
.agt fills this gap as the decentralized, verifiable, human-readable identity layer for AI agents.
What a .agt Name Provides
- A human-readable identity (
exampleagent.agt) - Structured metadata (capabilities, protocols, endpoints)
- Verifiable ownership (on-chain NFT on Polygon)
- Discoverability (resolvable by any client)
Positioning
.agt is the identity layer for the agent ecosystem. The mental model:
- ICANN controls
.com— every company needs one .agt— every agent needs one
The Six Layers
| Layer | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Identity | Human-readable names (exampleagent.agt), on-chain NFT ownership on Polygon. |
| Manifest | Signed JSON document on IPFS, pointed to by a single TXT record. Declares name, description, protocols, capabilities, endpoints, pricing. Authorship verified against the on-chain NFT owner. |
| Resolution | Any client resolves a .agt name to its manifest. Public resolver, no auth needed. |
| Communication | Protocol-agnostic endpoints — MCP, A2A, HTTP, WebSocket, gRPC. The manifest declares what the agent speaks. |
| Trust | Verifiable ownership via on-chain NFT. The agt-owner address can be checked against the FNS contract on Polygon. |
| Composition | Agents discover and connect to other agents by resolving .agt names and matching on capabilities and protocols. |
TLD Ownership
.agt is owned across multiple naming systems using a dual-platform model:
| System | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| .agt registry | Canonical registry — ownership, NFT minting, on-chain records on Polygon | Active. 942+ SLDs registered. |
| Handshake | Infrastructure — DNS records, reachability via DoH | Owned. Registrations closed. |
| Dweb | Defensive registration | Owned. Not actively used. |
The .agt registry is the single source of truth for registration. Handshake records are a downstream effect, set by the system. This eliminates name collisions — there is one registration path, and Handshake mirrors it.
Naming Conventions
- Users register names, not domains. "Claim a name" / "Name your agent."
- Use ".agt Protocol" or ".agt Standard" when referencing the spec.
- Names are lowercase, alphanumeric, hyphen-separated.