TAP (Trusted Agent Protocol)
Also known as: Trusted Agent Protocol
Protocol for verifying agent identity + authorization scope in commerce transactions. The trust-and-verification layer for agentic commerce.
TAP is the Trusted Agent Protocol — the specification for verifying that an agent claiming to act on a shopper's behalf actually has that authorization, and that the merchant can trust the agent's identity, session, and scope.
TAP addresses the fundamental trust problem in agentic commerce: any HTTP request can claim to be from ChatGPT, but only a proper TAP-verified request actually is. Without TAP-level verification, merchants risk fraud, agent impersonation, and unauthorized transactions.
TAP works alongside AP2 (payment-authorization) and complements ACP/UCP (transaction-flow). For most brands, TAP is handled by their agentic commerce vendor and by upstream trust providers (HUMAN, Signifyd, Riskified, Forter). Direct TAP integration is only necessary for brands with custom fraud logic or specialized regulatory requirements.
See also
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.
ACP (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.
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.