ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol)
Also known as: Agentic Commerce Protocol
OpenAI + Stripe's open protocol for agent-initiated commerce. Powers ChatGPT Instant Checkout and Copilot-adjacent commerce. Enables in-conversation purchase completion without the shopper leaving the agent.
ACP is the Agentic Commerce Protocol, co-built by OpenAI and Stripe and released in 2024-2025. It defines how an AI agent (originally ChatGPT) can present a product card, capture a shopper's checkout intent, negotiate a delegated payment, and complete a transaction inside the agent conversation.
ACP consists of three primary components: (1) a product-card schema that carries structured product data (SKU, price, availability, shipping, returns), (2) a checkout-intent flow that captures the shopper's variant/quantity/address choices, and (3) a delegated-payment mechanism using Stripe-issued agent-payment tokens.
Merchants integrate via ACP directly, via Shopify (native), via BigCommerce (in progress), or via a translation layer that abstracts ACP alongside UCP, AP2, MCP, A2A, and TAP. Version 1 supported single-item carts; multi-item carts shipped in Q4 2025.
ACP is currently the dominant protocol for ChatGPT-initiated commerce and is broadly ACP-compatible for Microsoft Copilot as of H1 2026.
See also
UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol)
Google + Shopify + retail-consortium open protocol for agent commerce, endorsed at NRF 2026 by 20+ retailers including Walmart, Target, Wayfair, Etsy, and (as of Q1 2026) Amazon.
AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol)
A cross-industry protocol standardizing how AI agents authenticate, authorize, and settle payments on behalf of shoppers. Payments-layer counterpart to ACP and UCP.
ChatGPT shopping
OpenAI's commerce surface inside ChatGPT — product cards in the answer carousel + Instant Checkout via ACP.
Instant Checkout
OpenAI's in-conversation checkout flow, powered by ACP + Stripe. Enables a shopper to complete a purchase without leaving the ChatGPT conversation.
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