# Universal Commerce Protocol (/.well-known/ucp)

DevFeed: [Universal Commerce Protocol (/.well-known/ucp)](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/universal-commerce-protocol-well-known-ucp-105518.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://specification.website/spec/agent-readiness/universal-commerce-protocol/>)

Author: Joost de Valk

Published: 2026-10-28T00:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [The Website Specification](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-website-specification.md>)

Topics: [Protocol (disambiguation)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/protocol.md>), [AI Bots](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-bots.md>), [Shopify](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/shopify.md>), [Integration testing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/integration-testing.md>), [OAuth 2.0](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/oauth2.md>)

Tags: [agent-readiness](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agent-readiness.md>), [agentic](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agentic.md>), [agentic-commerce](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agentic-commerce.md>), [agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agents.md>), [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [ai-agent](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-agent.md>), [ai-agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-agents.md>), [ai-shopping](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-shopping.md>), [auth](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/auth.md>), [business](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/business.md>), [cache](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cache.md>), [capabilities](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/capabilities.md>), [checkout](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/checkout.md>), [commerce](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/commerce.md>), [optional](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/optional.md>), [products](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/products.md>), [profile](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/profile.md>), [protocol](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/protocol.md>), [store](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/store.md>), [ucp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ucp.md>), [universal-commerce-protocol](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/universal-commerce-protocol.md>), [well-known](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/well-known.md>)

## AI overview

UCP is a transaction contract for AI agents: a business publishes a JSON capability profile at `/.well-known/ucp`, allowing agents and stores to negotiate supported checkout services, capabilities, versions, and payment handlers. The profile contains no product, price, or stock data, so it does not make products discoverable; discovery still relies on structured data and merchant feeds. Implementation guidance includes checking whether a commerce platform already serves the profile, returning it directly over HTTPS with no redirect and cacheable headers, declaring only working endpoints and capabilities, and verifying calling platforms. The excerpt recommends end-to-end checkout testing and bounded caching and rate limits for discovery. UCP keeps the business as merchant of record and supports handing shoppers back through `continue_url` when an agent cannot complete checkout.

## Source excerpt

A store that wants AI agents to check out on a shopper's behalf publishes a Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) business profile at `/.well-known/ucp`. The profile does not list products; it says which commerce capabilities the store supports, which protocol versions it speaks, and where the transactional endpoints live.