



Independent Submission                                           C. Hood
Internet-Draft                                             Nomotic, Inc.
Intended status: Informational                             23 March 2026
Expires: 24 September 2026


                 AGTP Agent Discovery and Name Service
                      draft-hood-agtp-discovery-00

Abstract

   The Agent Transfer Protocol (AGTP) enables agents to communicate once
   they know each other's canonical identifiers.  It does not define how
   agents find each other.  This document specifies the AGTP Agent
   Discovery and Name Service (ANS): a protocol for dynamic agent
   discovery using the AGTP DISCOVER method and a governed Agent Name
   Service that returns ranked sets of Agent Manifest Documents matching
   a discovery query.  ANS servers act as Scope-Enforcement Points for
   discovery queries and enforce behavioral trust score thresholds,
   trust tier requirements, and governance zone constraints.  This
   document also defines the DISCOVER method, the Discovery Query
   language, and the Agent Name Service registration and lookup
   protocol.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 24 September 2026.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.






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   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1.  The Discovery Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.2.  Design Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  The DISCOVER Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.1.  Method Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.2.  DISCOVER Request Example  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.3.  DISCOVER Request Example: Domain-Constrained Agent
           Search  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.4.  DISCOVER Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     3.5.  Ranking Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   4.  Agent Name Service  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.1.  ANS Architecture  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.2.  ANS Registration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.3.  ANS Deregistration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     4.4.  Index Freshness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   5.  Cross-ANS Federation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     5.1.  The Federation Problem  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     5.2.  Federation Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     5.3.  Trust in Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   6.  Dynamic Routing and Failover  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     6.1.  Capability-Based Routing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     6.2.  Agent Availability Signals  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     7.1.  Discovery Result Injection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     7.2.  Discovery Enumeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     7.3.  Behavioral Trust Score Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     7.4.  Scope Negotiation Abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     8.1.  DISCOVER Method Registration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     8.2.  New Authority-Scope Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   Appendix A.  ANS Deployment Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16







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1.  Introduction

1.1.  The Discovery Gap

   A deployed AGTP ecosystem contains agents registered across many
   organizations, governance zones, and trust tiers.  An orchestrator
   agent that needs to delegate a task to a capable peer faces a
   fundamental problem: it knows what it needs (an agent that can audit
   smart contracts, translate legal documents, or process medical
   imaging data) but not who can provide it.  Without a standardized
   discovery mechanism, agents resort to out-of-band registries,
   hardcoded identifiers, or proprietary marketplace APIs -- all of
   which are inconsistent with AGTP's governance model.

   This document fills that gap.  The AGTP Agent Name Service (ANS) is a
   governed, queryable registry of agent capabilities.  The DISCOVER
   method is AGTP's native query interface to ANS servers.  Together
   they enable dynamic agent federation without requiring prior
   knowledge of specific agent identifiers.

1.2.  Design Principles

   *Agent-native.* Discovery returns Agent Manifest Documents, not web
   pages or proprietary records.  The result of a DISCOVER query is
   structurally identical to the result of resolving a known agent URI.

   *Governed.* ANS servers are AGTP-aware infrastructure.  They enforce
   trust tier requirements, behavioral trust score floors, and
   governance zone constraints before returning any result.  An ANS
   server is a Scope-Enforcement Point for discovery traffic.

   *Ranked.* Discovery results are ranked by behavioral trust score,
   trust tier, and declared capability depth.  The highest-quality
   agents matching the query appear first.

   *Brokered.* ANS servers MAY negotiate authority scope on behalf of
   the requesting agent, informing it of what scope is required to
   interact with each discovered agent before commitment.

2.  Terminology

   The key words "*MUST*", "*MUST NOT*", "*REQUIRED*", "*SHALL*",
   "*SHALL NOT*", "*SHOULD*", "*SHOULD NOT*", "*RECOMMENDED*", "*NOT
   RECOMMENDED*", "*MAY*", and "*OPTIONAL*" in this document are to be
   interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only
   when, they appear in all capitals.

   DISCOVER:  An AGTP Tier 1 method that queries an ANS server for



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      agents matching a capability description, trust requirement, and
      governance context.  Returns a ranked list of Agent Manifest
      Documents.

   ANS (Agent Name Service):  An AGTP-aware server implementing the
      DISCOVER method and maintaining an index of registered agents and
      their capabilities.  Acts as a SEP for discovery queries.

   Behavioral Trust Score:  A numeric value in the range 0.0 to 1.0
      assigned to an agent at packaging time by a governance platform's
      pre-packaging verification pipeline.  The score reflects the
      degree of observed behavioral alignment between the agent's
      declared capabilities, its archetype, and its verified conduct
      during behavioral testing.  A score of 1.0 indicates full
      alignment; a score of 0.0 indicates disqualifying behavioral
      discrepancy.  The score is embedded in the agent's .agent or .nomo
      package at issuance, covered by the package integrity hash, and
      surfaced in the Agent Manifest Document.  It cannot be agent-
      asserted or modified without invalidating the package.  ANS
      servers *MUST* use the behavioral trust score from the verified
      Agent Manifest Document when ranking DISCOVER results.

   Discovery Query:  A structured expression of the requesting agent's
      capability need, expressed as a natural language intent,
      structured capability criteria, or both.

   Agent Manifest Document:  As defined in [AGTP] Section 6.4.  The
      canonical representation of an agent's identity and capabilities,
      returned as a discovery result.

   Scope Negotiation:  The ANS's declaration of what Authority-Scope the
      requesting agent will need to interact with each discovered agent.

3.  The DISCOVER Method

3.1.  Method Definition

   DISCOVER is a Tier 1 core AGTP method defined in this document and
   registered in the IANA AGTP Method Registry.  It is the protocol-
   level interface for querying an ANS server.

   Purpose: Query an ANS server for agents matching a capability
   description and governance constraints.  Returns a ranked list of
   Agent Manifest Documents.  The requesting agent *MUST* carry
   discovery:query in its Authority-Scope header to invoke DISCOVER.
   Category: ACQUIRE.  Idempotent: Yes.





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   +======================+==========+=================================+
   | Parameter            | Required | Description                     |
   +======================+==========+=================================+
   | intent               | *SHOULD* | Natural language description    |
   |                      |          | of the needed capability        |
   +----------------------+----------+---------------------------------+
   | capability_domains   | *MAY*    | Structured capability criteria  |
   |                      |          | matching DESCRIBE domain names  |
   +----------------------+----------+---------------------------------+
   | trust_tier_min       | *MAY*    | Minimum Trust Tier to include   |
   |                      |          | in results (1, 2, or 3)         |
   +----------------------+----------+---------------------------------+
   | behavioral_trust_min | *MAY*    | Minimum behavioral trust score  |
   |                      |          | (0.0-1.0)                       |
   +----------------------+----------+---------------------------------+
   | governance_zone      | *MAY*    | Restrict results to a specific  |
   |                      |          | governance zone                 |
   +----------------------+----------+---------------------------------+
   | org_domain           | *MAY*    | Restrict results to agents      |
   |                      |          | from a specific org domain      |
   +----------------------+----------+---------------------------------+
   | limit                | *MAY*    | Maximum number of results to    |
   |                      |          | return (default: 10)            |
   +----------------------+----------+---------------------------------+
   | scope_negotiate      | *MAY*    | If true, include required       |
   |                      |          | Authority-Scope for each        |
   |                      |          | result                          |
   +----------------------+----------+---------------------------------+

                        Table 1: DISCOVER Parameters

3.2.  DISCOVER Request Example



















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   AGTP/1.0 DISCOVER
   Agent-ID: agtp://agtp.acme.tld/agents/orchestrator
   Principal-ID: usr-chris-hood
   Authority-Scope: discovery:query agents:delegate
   Session-ID: sess-discovery-01
   Task-ID: task-disc-001
   Content-Type: application/agtp+json

   {
     "method": "DISCOVER",
     "task_id": "task-disc-001",
     "parameters": {
       "intent": "Audit smart contracts for security vulnerabilities",
       "capability_domains": ["methods", "tools"],
       "trust_tier_min": 1,
       "behavioral_trust_min": 0.85,
       "governance_zone": "zone:external-partner",
       "limit": 5,
       "scope_negotiate": true
     }
   }

3.3.  DISCOVER Request Example: Domain-Constrained Agent Search

   The following example illustrates a targeted DISCOVER query locating
   agents capable of auditing Solidity smart contracts within a specific
   governance zone and trust tier threshold.  The requesting
   orchestrator carries discovery:query and agents:delegate scope,
   signaling that it intends to act on the results by delegating work.






















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AGTP/1.0 DISCOVER
Agent-ID: agtp://agtp.finco.tld/agents/orchestrator
Principal-ID: usr-compliance-team
Authority-Scope: discovery:query agents:delegate audit:*
Session-ID: sess-compliance-q2
Task-ID: task-disc-solidity-01
Content-Type: application/agtp+json

{
  "method": "DISCOVER",
  "task_id": "task-disc-solidity-01",
  "parameters": {
    "intent": "Audit Solidity smart contracts for reentrancy, overflow, and access control misconfiguration",
    "capability_domains": ["methods", "tools", "zones"],
    "trust_tier_min": 2,
    "behavioral_trust_min": 0.88,
    "governance_zone": "zone:finance",
    "limit": 3,
    "scope_negotiate": true
  }
}

   The ANS server returns a ranked result set.  The top result carries
   Trust Tier 1 with a behavioral trust score of 0.97, exposing the
   required_scope field indicating what the orchestrator must carry
   before a DELEGATE to this agent will be accepted:

























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   {
     "status": 200,
     "task_id": "task-disc-solidity-01",
     "result": {
       "query_id": "qry-sc-audit-3c9f",
       "total_matches": 7,
       "returned": 3,
       "results": [
         {
           "rank": 1,
           "manifest_uri": "agtp://agtp.auditor.tld/agents/solidity-auditor",
           "canonical_id": "4f7e1a2b9c3d...",
           "agent_label": "solidity-auditor",
           "org_domain": "auditor.tld",
           "trust_tier": 1,
           "behavioral_trust_score": 0.97,
           "supported_methods": ["QUERY", "ANALYZE", "VALIDATE", "REPORT"],
           "capability_match_score": 0.96,
           "governance_zone": "zone:finance",
           "required_scope": "audit:read code:analyze",
           "job_description": "Static and dynamic analysis of Solidity smart
                               contracts. Detects reentrancy, overflow, and
                               access control vulnerabilities."
         }
       ],
       "ans_signature": {
         "algorithm": "ES256",
         "key_id": "ans-key-finance-01",
         "value": "[base64-encoded-signature]"
       }
     }
   }

   The requesting agent verifies the ans_signature before trusting any
   result.  It then issues a DESCRIBE to agtp://agtp.auditor.tld/agents/
   solidity-auditor to confirm method support before committing to
   DELEGATE.

3.4.  DISCOVER Response

   The DISCOVER response body contains a ranked list of Agent Manifest
   Documents with optional scope negotiation fields:









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   {
     "status": 200,
     "task_id": "task-disc-001",
     "result": {
       "query_id": "qry-7f3a9c",
       "total_matches": 23,
       "returned": 5,
       "results": [
         {
           "rank": 1,
           "manifest_uri": "agtp://agtp.auditor.tld/agents/contract-auditor",
           "canonical_id": "3a9f2c1d8b7e4a6f...",
           "agent_label": "contract-auditor",
           "org_domain": "auditor.tld",
           "trust_tier": 1,
           "behavioral_trust_score": 0.97,
           "supported_methods": ["QUERY", "VALIDATE", "REPORT"],
           "capability_match_score": 0.94,
           "required_scope": "audit:read code:analyze",
           "job_description": "Static and dynamic analysis of Solidity smart contracts."
         }
       ],
       "ans_signature": {
         "algorithm": "ES256",
         "key_id": "ans-key-public-01",
         "value": "[base64-encoded-signature]"
       }
     }
   }

   The ans_signature covers the full result set including all manifests
   and the query_id.  The requesting agent *MUST* verify the signature
   before trusting any discovery result.  An unsigned or invalid
   DISCOVER response *MUST* be rejected.

3.5.  Ranking Algorithm

   ANS servers *MUST* rank results by a composite score computed as:

   rank_score = (trust_tier_weight * normalized_trust_tier)
              + (behavioral_trust_weight * behavioral_trust_score)
              + (capability_match_weight * capability_match_score)

   Default weights: trust_tier_weight = 0.3, behavioral_trust_weight =
   0.4, capability_match_weight = 0.3.  ANS servers *MAY* publish
   alternative weight configurations for domain-specific deployments.





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   The capability_match_score is computed by the ANS server as a
   normalized relevance score between the query's intent and
   capability_domains and the candidate agent's declared capabilities.
   The computation method is implementation-defined but *MUST* be
   deterministic for identical inputs.

4.  Agent Name Service

4.1.  ANS Architecture

   An ANS server is an AGTP endpoint that:

   1.  Maintains an indexed registry of agent capabilities derived from
       registered agents' DESCRIBE responses and Agent Manifest
       Documents.

   2.  Enforces Trust Tier and behavioral trust score thresholds on all
       queries before returning results.

   3.  Signs all DISCOVER responses with the ANS's governance key.

   4.  Acts as a SEP for discovery traffic: agents without
       discovery:query scope *MUST* be rejected with 451 Scope
       Violation.

   ANS servers are themselves AGTP agents: they have canonical Agent-
   IDs, Birth Certificates, and Agent Manifest Documents.  Their
   capabilities include discovery:query and discovery:register as
   Authority-Scope domains.

   Multiple ANS servers MAY be deployed for different governance zones,
   organizations, or trust tier populations.  Cross-ANS federation is
   described in Section 5.

4.2.  ANS Registration

   An agent registers with an ANS server through a governed process tied
   to AGTP activation:

   1.  On completion of the AGTP ACTIVATE transaction, the governance
       platform automatically submits the agent's Agent Manifest
       Document and DESCRIBE capability data to the designated ANS
       server(s) for the agent's governance zone.

   2.  The ANS server verifies the agent's lifecycle state is Active.

   3.  The ANS server indexes the agent's capabilities, trust tier, and
       behavioral trust score.



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   4.  The ANS server updates its result index within 60 seconds.

   Manual registration is not supported.  ANS registration is a
   consequence of AGTP activation, not an independent step.  This
   ensures that only Active, registered agents appear in discovery
   results.

4.3.  ANS Deregistration

   When an agent's lifecycle state transitions to Suspended, Revoked, or
   Deprecated, the governance platform *MUST* notify the relevant ANS
   servers within 60 seconds.  The ANS server *MUST* remove the agent
   from its result index before the next DISCOVER request is processed.

   ANS servers *MUST* treat deregistration as urgent: a Revoked agent
   that continues to appear in discovery results is a governance
   failure.  ANS servers *MUST* log deregistration events.

4.4.  Index Freshness

   ANS servers *MUST* refresh capability data for indexed agents at a
   configurable interval (recommended: 24 hours).  Refresh is triggered
   by issuing DESCRIBE requests to each indexed agent's canonical URI.
   If an agent fails to respond to a DESCRIBE request after three
   consecutive attempts, the ANS server *MUST* remove it from the index
   and notify the governance platform.

5.  Cross-ANS Federation

5.1.  The Federation Problem

   An agent in one governance zone may need to discover agents in a
   different zone.  Organization-scoped ANS servers do not have
   visibility into other organizations' agents.

5.2.  Federation Protocol

   AGTP supports a federated discovery model in which ANS servers can
   query peer ANS servers on behalf of requesting agents.  A federated
   DISCOVER query:

   1.  The requesting agent sends a DISCOVER request to its local ANS
       server.

   2.  If the local ANS server's index does not contain sufficient
       results (fewer than limit results above the requested
       thresholds), it MAY forward the query to federated peer ANS
       servers it trusts.



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   3.  Federated queries *MUST* carry the original requesting agent's
       Agent-ID and scope requirements.  The forwarding ANS server *MUST
       NOT* expand the scope or lower the trust requirements in the
       forwarded query.

   4.  Peer ANS servers apply their own governance policies to the
       forwarded query and return signed result sets.

   5.  The local ANS server merges, re-ranks, and re-signs the combined
       result set before returning it to the requesting agent.

   6.  The merged result includes a federation_path field listing the
       ANS servers that contributed results.

5.3.  Trust in Federation

   Federated ANS results *MUST* be treated with the same trust level as
   the federated ANS server's own Trust Tier claim.  An ANS server
   *MUST* declare the trust tier of its indexed agents accurately;
   misrepresenting agent trust tiers in federated results is a
   governance violation.

6.  Dynamic Routing and Failover

6.1.  Capability-Based Routing

   ANS servers *MAY* support dynamic routing: when a requesting agent's
   preferred target agent is unavailable (lifecycle state Suspended, not
   responding, or rate-limited), the ANS server *MAY* return an
   equivalent agent from its index as a routing alternative.

   Dynamic routing responses *MUST* indicate: - routing_reason: the
   reason the primary agent was not returned - equivalent_confidence: a
   score (0.0-1.0) indicating how closely the alternative matches the
   primary agent's capabilities

   The requesting agent retains the right to reject the alternative.

6.2.  Agent Availability Signals

   ANS servers *SHOULD* monitor indexed agents' availability by
   periodically checking the /status sub-resource defined in [AGTP]
   Section 6.5.4.  Agents with lifecycle_state: Suspended or
   active_session_count at capacity *SHOULD* be marked as unavailable in
   routing responses.

7.  Security Considerations




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7.1.  Discovery Result Injection

   Threat: A malicious ANS server returns forged Agent Manifest
   Documents pointing to attacker-controlled agents.

   Mitigation: All DISCOVER responses *MUST* be signed by the ANS
   server's governance key.  The requesting agent *MUST* verify the
   ans_signature field before trusting any result.  The ANS server's
   governance key *MUST* be resolvable via the ANS server's own Agent
   Manifest Document, creating a verifiable trust chain.

7.2.  Discovery Enumeration

   Threat: A malicious agent uses repeated DISCOVER queries to enumerate
   all agents in a governance zone, gaining knowledge of the
   organization's agent architecture.

   Mitigation: ANS servers *MUST* enforce rate limiting per requesting
   Agent-ID.  ANS servers *MAY* require discovery:query scope to include
   agents from restricted governance zones.  ANS servers *SHOULD* log
   high-frequency DISCOVER queries as anomaly signals.

7.3.  Behavioral Trust Score Manipulation

   Threat: An agent artificially inflates its behavioral trust score to
   appear higher in discovery results.

   Mitigation: Behavioral trust scores are computed by the governance
   platform's pre-packaging verification pipeline and embedded in the
   agent's .agent or .nomo package at issuance time.  The score is part
   of the signed manifest and cannot be modified without invalidating
   the package integrity hash.  ANS servers *MUST* use the trust score
   from the verified Agent Manifest Document, not from any agent-
   asserted field.

7.4.  Scope Negotiation Abuse

   Threat: An ANS server inflates the required_scope field in discovery
   results, causing requesting agents to request broader scope than
   necessary.

   Mitigation: Requesting agents *MUST NOT* blindly request the scope
   declared in discovery results.  The required_scope field is
   informational; agents *MUST* evaluate the scope against their own
   authorization and request only what is needed for the specific task.
   Governance platforms *SHOULD* flag scope requests that significantly
   exceed the scope of prior tasks in the same session.




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8.  IANA Considerations

8.1.  DISCOVER Method Registration

   This document requests registration of the DISCOVER method in the
   IANA AGTP Method Registry established by [AGTP] Section 9.2:

           +==========+===========+============================+
           | Method   | Status    | Reference                  |
           +==========+===========+============================+
           | DISCOVER | Permanent | This document, Section 3.1 |
           +----------+-----------+----------------------------+

                  Table 2: DISCOVER Method Registry Entry

8.2.  New Authority-Scope Domains

   This document uses the following Authority-Scope domains defined in
   [AGTP] Appendix A:

     +====================+==========================================+
     | Domain             | Used For                                 |
     +====================+==========================================+
     | discovery:query    | Sending DISCOVER requests to ANS servers |
     +--------------------+------------------------------------------+
     | discovery:register | ANS registration operations (governance  |
     |                    | platform only)                           |
     +--------------------+------------------------------------------+

                                  Table 3

   No new domains are requested; these are from the existing reserved
   set.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [AGTP]     Hood, C., "Agent Transfer Protocol (AGTP)", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-hood-independent-agtp-02,
              2026, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-hood-
              independent-agtp-02>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.




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   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8126>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8555]  Barnes, R., Hoffman-Andrews, J., McCarney, D., and J.
              Kasten, "Automatic Certificate Management Environment
              (ACME)", RFC 8555, DOI 10.17487/RFC8555, March 2019,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8555>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [AGTP-CERT]
              Hood, C., "AGTP Agent Certificate Extension", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-hood-agtp-agent-cert-00,
              2026, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-hood-
              agtp-agent-cert-00>.

   [RFC1034]  Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities",
              STD 13, RFC 1034, DOI 10.17487/RFC1034, November 1987,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1034>.

   [RFC7519]  Jones, M., Bradley, J., and N. Sakimura, "JSON Web Token
              (JWT)", RFC 7519, DOI 10.17487/RFC7519, May 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7519>.

Appendix A.  ANS Deployment Considerations

   Small organizations may not operate dedicated ANS servers.  The AGTP
   governance platform *MAY* provide built-in ANS functionality as part
   of the agent registry.  In this case, the governance platform's
   registry endpoint serves both registration (ACTIVATE) and discovery
   (DISCOVER) queries.

   Large organizations with hundreds or thousands of agents *SHOULD*
   deploy dedicated ANS infrastructure with appropriate indexing and
   caching.  The ANS index is a read-heavy workload; standard caching
   and replication patterns apply.

   Cross-organization federation requires bilateral trust establishment
   between ANS operators.  The protocol for establishing ANS federation
   trust is out of scope for this document but follows the same patterns
   as AGTP Trust Tier 1 verification: DNS ownership challenge and mutual
   certificate exchange.



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Author's Address

   Chris Hood
   Nomotic, Inc.
   Email: chris@nomotic.ai
   URI:   https://nomotic.ai













































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