Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) is an open protocol for securing payments initiated or assisted by AI agents. It is designed to let users, agents, merchants, and payment providers exchange evidence that an agent was authorized to make a purchase or initiate a transaction.
AP2 exists because agentic commerce changes the trust model of online payments. A merchant may receive a payment request from an agent rather than from a human directly clicking a checkout button. The system therefore needs a way to prove user intent, purchase details, and payment authorization.
Important AP2 concepts include:
- a user-authorized mandate that defines what the agent may do;
- checkout evidence describing what is being purchased;
- payment evidence describing how the purchase is paid for;
- receipts that can be used during disputes;
- support for human-present and autonomous scenarios; and
- interoperability with agent protocols such as A2A and MCP.
AP2 is not just a payment rail. It is an accountability layer around agent-performed transactions. Payment settlement may still happen through cards, bank transfers, stablecoins, or other networks.
Google announced AP2 as an open protocol for secure agent-led payments in Powering AI commerce with the new Agent Payments Protocol.
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