Who created the Agentic Commerce Protocol?

OpenAI and Stripe launched ACP on September 29, 2025, alongside Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. Both are listed as founding maintainers of the open source specification, which is published on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 licence and versioned with dated releases.

How does ACP handle payment details?

Through Stripe's Shared Payment Tokens. The agent receives a token scoped to one merchant and one cart total, with usage and expiry limits, rather than the buyer's card details. The merchant processes the token through its payment provider and remains the merchant of record.

Is ACP the same as x402?

No. ACP standardises checkout between AI agents and merchants, typically with card payments through scoped tokens. x402 standardises pay-per-request payments over HTTP 402, usually in stablecoins. ACP fits consumer shopping; x402 fits agents paying per API call or per resource.

What Is the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)?

The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) is an open protocol, launched by OpenAI and Stripe on September 29, 2025, that defines how AI agents and merchants complete checkout. Merchants expose products and accept orders; agents submit carts with a payment token scoped to one merchant and amount. It is Apache 2.0 licensed, with OpenAI and Stripe as founding maintainers.

What ACP standardises

ACP specifies how an agent interacts with a merchant's checkout: creating a checkout session, updating items and shipping details, receiving totals, and completing payment. It gives merchants a consistent interface for agent-initiated orders while keeping them in control of pricing, fulfilment, and customer relationships.

Launch and Instant Checkout

OpenAI and Stripe announced ACP alongside Instant Checkout in ChatGPT, which let US users buy from US Etsy sellers inside a conversation, with Shopify merchants announced as coming. Reports in early 2026 indicated OpenAI scaled back Instant Checkout and moved it toward apps, while the protocol itself continued to evolve.

Shared Payment Tokens in Is the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)

Stripe's Shared Payment Token lets an agent initiate payment without seeing the buyer's card details. The token is scoped to a single merchant and cart total, with usage and expiry limits. If misused, its scope limits the damage. Merchants process the token through their payment provider.

Merchant of record

Under ACP the merchant remains the merchant of record. It accepts or declines orders, handles taxes, fulfilment, returns, and customer service. The agent acts as an interface for the buyer rather than a reseller.

Open source and versioning

ACP is published on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 licence and described as beta, with OpenAI and Stripe as founding maintainers. Versions are dated, which lets implementers pin to a specific revision as the specification changes.

Who implements ACP

AI platforms that host shopping agents implement the agent side. Merchants or their commerce platforms implement the merchant endpoints. Stripe's Agentic Commerce Suite packages merchant integration for businesses using Stripe.

ACP compared with x402

ACP handles shopping and checkout with merchants, usually paid with cards through scoped tokens. x402 handles pay-per-request payments over HTTP, usually in stablecoins such as USDC. A consumer buying a jacket through an assistant fits ACP; an agent paying per API call fits x402.

ACP compared with AP2 and UCP

Google's Agent Payments Protocol focuses on signed mandates proving user intent and authorisation, and Google's Universal Commerce Protocol covers the shopping journey including checkout and order management. These overlap with ACP's goals, and the ecosystem is still settling on how they interoperate.

Security considerations: Is the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)

ACP limits credential exposure through scoped tokens, but agents still need guardrails on what they buy. Platforms should confirm purchases with users above thresholds, validate merchant responses, and log orders for dispute resolution.

Benefits for merchants

Merchants can reach buyers inside AI assistants without building a separate integration for each assistant, keep their own payment processing, and receive structured orders. The trade-off is adapting catalog data and checkout logic to agent interactions.

Limitations

ACP is focused on consumer checkout with merchants. It does not address micro-payments for APIs or machine-to-machine resource access, where per-request stablecoin protocols are a better fit. Adoption depends on agent platforms and merchants implementing it.

What to watch with Is the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)

Watch for new versions of the specification, which agent platforms support it, how it interoperates with AP2 and UCP, and whether scoped token models extend beyond cards. Pinning to dated versions helps manage changes.

How a checkout flows under ACP

A user asks an assistant to buy an item. The agent creates a checkout session with the merchant's ACP endpoint, adds the item, and supplies shipping details. The merchant returns totals including tax and shipping. After the user confirms, the agent submits a Shared Payment Token scoped to that merchant and total. The merchant charges the token, confirms the order, and handles fulfilment as usual.

Product feeds and discovery

For agents to recommend products, merchants share structured product feeds with agent platforms, including titles, prices, availability, and variants. Accurate, current feeds matter because agents compare options automatically, and stale prices or stock data lead to failed checkouts and poor recommendations.

Implementing ACP as a merchant

Merchants on Stripe can use Stripe's agentic commerce tooling, while others implement the open specification's checkout endpoints directly or through their commerce platform. Key work includes mapping catalog data, handling tax and shipping calculations for agent sessions, accepting delegated payment tokens, and defining policies for agent-placed orders such as order limits and confirmation thresholds.

ACP and stablecoins

ACP launched with card payments through scoped tokens. Stablecoin payments are handled by other protocols such as x402 or by merchant payment providers that accept stablecoins and settle in fiat. Merchants wanting both agent checkout and crypto-native payments can support multiple protocols side by side.

Returns and disputes

Because the merchant remains merchant of record, returns, refunds, and disputes follow the merchant's normal policies and card network rules. Agent platforms may surface order status and return options to users, but responsibility for resolving issues stays with the merchant.

Frequently asked questions

Who created the Agentic Commerce Protocol?: OpenAI and Stripe launched ACP on September 29, 2025, alongside Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. Both are listed as founding maintainers of the open source specification, which is published on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 licence and versioned with dated releases.
How does ACP handle payment details?: Through Stripe's Shared Payment Tokens. The agent receives a token scoped to one merchant and one cart total, with usage and expiry limits, rather than the buyer's card details. The merchant processes the token through its payment provider and remains the merchant of record.
Is ACP the same as x402?: No. ACP standardises checkout between AI agents and merchants, typically with card payments through scoped tokens. x402 standardises pay-per-request payments over HTTP 402, usually in stablecoins. ACP fits consumer shopping; x402 fits agents paying per API call or per resource.