What is agent communication protocol (ACP)?

This episode of Techsplainers introduces the Agent Communication Protocol (ACP), an open standard originally developed by IBM's BeeAI that enables AI agents to communicate across different frameworks and organizations. We explain why agent interoperability is a critical challenge in today's AI landscape and how ACP addresses it with four key features: REST-based communication, SDK-optional design, offline discovery capabilities, and async-first approach. Through a real-world example of manufacturing and logistics companies, we demonstrate how ACP eliminates the need for costly custom integrations between agent systems. This standardized protocol represents a fundamental shift from siloed agent systems to interconnected networks of AI collaborators that can discover, understand, and work together regardless of who built them or what technology stack they run on. We also briefly mention that ACP has recently merged with A2A under the Linux Foundation umbrella, with the core concepts remaining relevant during this transition. Find more information at https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/agent-communication-protocol Find more episodes https://www.ibm.biz/techsplainers-podcast Narrated by Cole Stryker