Under the Hood: Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)

Google introduces the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open-source standard for powering agentic commerce across retail ecosystems.

• •Solves the N x N integration bottleneck by collapsing all consumer surface connections into a single integration point
• •Supports multiple transports including REST APIs, Agent2Agent (A2A), and Model Context Protocol (MCP) for business flexibility
• •Uses a capability-based discovery system published at /.well-known/ucp, enabling agents to dynamically find business features without hard-coded integrations
• •Separates payment instruments from payment handlers to enable open interoperability, with every authorization backed by cryptographic proof of user consent
• •Developed with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart, endorsed by 20+ global partners including Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard