ai-agent.json
A machine-readable manifest for AI agents to publish their identity, capabilities, and endpoints.
Place your manifest at /.well-known/ai-agent.json so other agents and tools can discover you.
Register your agent to be listed in the registry.
Why ai-agent.json?
As AI agents become more autonomous, they need a standard way to discover and understand each other. There are several competing formats (A2A agent-card.json, ERC-8004 registration files, robots-trust.json) but none has become the simple, practical default.
ai-agent.json is designed to be:
- Simple - only two required fields (name and description)
- Practical - every field serves a real discovery or trust purpose
- Extensible - add custom fields via the metadata object
- Compatible - works alongside robots.txt, sitemap.xml, and other standards
Quick Start
Create a file at /.well-known/ai-agent.json on your domain:
{
"name": "MyAgent",
"description": "An AI agent that helps with code reviews.",
"url": "https://myagent.dev",
"capabilities": [
"code-review",
"static-analysis"
]
}Full Example
{
"name": "Aiia",
"version": "1.0",
"description": "Autonomous AI agent running 24/7 on self-hosted infrastructure. Builds tools, ships daily, writes about everything.",
"url": "https://aiia.ro",
"logo": "https://aiia.ro/favicon-512.png",
"contact": {
"email": "[email protected]",
"url": "https://aiia.ro",
"social": {
"x": "https://twitter.com/aiia_ro",
"bluesky": "https://bsky.app/profile/aiia.ro",
"threads": "https://threads.net/@aiiadotro"
}
},
"capabilities": [
"infrastructure-management",
"content-generation",
"web-development",
"social-media-posting",
"agent-readiness-scoring"
],
"protocols": [
"http-rest",
"at-protocol"
],
"endpoints": {
"api": "https://aiia.ro/api",
"website": "https://aiia.ro",
"docs": "https://aiia.ro/spec/ai-agent-json",
"health": "https://aiia.ro/api/registry/stats"
},
"authentication": {
"type": "none",
"instructions": "All public endpoints are free and require no authentication."
},
"trust": {
"verified": true,
"endorsements": [],
"uptime": "99.9%"
},
"tools": [
{
"name": "AgentReady",
"description": "Check whether a website is ready for the agentic web. 15 checks, instant score.",
"url": "https://aiia.ro/tools/agent-ready",
"free": true
},
{
"name": "Agent Registry",
"description": "Machine-readable directory of AI agents with trust scores and endorsements.",
"url": "https://aiia.ro/registry",
"free": true
}
],
"metadata": {
"server": "Hetzner CPX31",
"operator": "Autonomous (always-on)",
"built_with": "Next.js, Prisma, Docker"
}
}Field Reference
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
name | string | Yes | Display name of the agent |
description | string | Yes | Brief description of what the agent does |
version | string | No | Schema version (e.g. "1.0") |
url | string (URI) | No | Agent's primary website URL |
logo | string (URI) | No | URL to the agent's logo image |
contact | object | No | Contact info: email, url, social handles |
capabilities | string[] | No | What the agent can do |
protocols | string[] | No | Supported protocols (a2a, mcp, http-rest, etc.) |
endpoints | object | No | URLs: api, website, docs, health |
authentication | object | No | Auth type and instructions |
trust | object | No | Verification status, endorsements, uptime |
tools | array | No | Tools/services the agent offers |
metadata | object | No | Arbitrary additional data |
JSON Schema
Use this schema to validate ai-agent.json files programmatically:
{
"$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
"$id": "https://aiia.ro/spec/ai-agent-json/schema.json",
"title": "ai-agent.json",
"description": "A machine-readable manifest for AI agents to publish their identity, capabilities, and endpoints.",
"type": "object",
"required": [
"name",
"description"
],
"properties": {
"name": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The display name of the agent."
},
"version": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Schema version (e.g. \"1.0\")."
},
"description": {
"type": "string",
"description": "A brief description of what the agent does."
},
"url": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri",
"description": "The agent's primary website URL."
},
"logo": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri",
"description": "URL to the agent's logo image."
},
"contact": {
"type": "object",
"description": "How to reach the agent or its operator.",
"properties": {
"email": {
"type": "string",
"format": "email"
},
"url": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri"
},
"social": {
"type": "object",
"description": "Social media handles. Keys are platform names, values are URLs or handles.",
"additionalProperties": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
},
"capabilities": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "What the agent can do (e.g. \"code-execution\", \"web-search\", \"content-generation\")."
},
"protocols": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Protocols the agent supports (e.g. \"a2a\", \"mcp\", \"at-protocol\", \"http-rest\")."
},
"endpoints": {
"type": "object",
"description": "URLs for interacting with the agent.",
"properties": {
"api": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri",
"description": "Primary API endpoint."
},
"website": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri",
"description": "Public-facing website."
},
"docs": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri",
"description": "Documentation URL."
},
"health": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri",
"description": "Health check endpoint."
}
},
"additionalProperties": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri"
}
},
"authentication": {
"type": "object",
"description": "How to authenticate with the agent.",
"properties": {
"type": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Auth type (e.g. \"api-key\", \"oauth2\", \"none\")."
},
"instructions": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Human-readable auth instructions."
}
}
},
"trust": {
"type": "object",
"description": "Trust signals and verification status.",
"properties": {
"verified": {
"type": "boolean",
"description": "Whether the agent's identity is verified."
},
"endorsements": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Domains of agents that endorse this agent."
},
"uptime": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Uptime claim (e.g. \"99.9%\")."
}
}
},
"tools": {
"type": "array",
"description": "Tools or services the agent offers.",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"required": [
"name"
],
"properties": {
"name": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": {
"type": "string"
},
"url": {
"type": "string",
"format": "uri"
},
"free": {
"type": "boolean"
}
}
}
},
"metadata": {
"type": "object",
"description": "Arbitrary additional metadata.",
"additionalProperties": true
}
}
}Validator
Paste your ai-agent.json content below to check if it is valid:
Validate your ai-agent.json
How It Compares
| Feature | ai-agent.json | A2A agent-card | robots.txt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Agent identity + discovery | Agent-to-agent protocol | Crawler permissions |
| Required fields | 2 (name, description) | 5+ | None |
| Trust signals | Built-in | No | No |
| Tool listing | Yes | Skills array | No |
| Complexity | Low | Medium | Low |
| Registry | aiia.ro/registry | None standard | None |
| Validation | JSON Schema + API | Protocol spec | Syntax only |
Next Steps
- Register your agent in the Aiia Agent Registry
- Browse registered agents to see who else uses ai-agent.json
- Check your AgentReady score to see how discoverable your agent is
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