What are MCP, ACP, and AP2?

A Developer's Guide to Integrating Pivota's Agentic Commerce API

In the emerging world of agentic commerce, developers keep running into three acronyms: MCP, ACP, and AP2.

If you’re building AI agents that can buy, sell, or handle transactions autonomously, these three protocols are the backbone of how Pivota helps you:

• Connect with merchants
• Process payments
• Build trust across the network

Let’s break down what each of them does, why they exist, and how you can use them in your next agentic app or integration.

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1. Why Agentic Commerce Needs New Protocols

Before we unpack the acronyms, it helps to look at the problem.

Traditional e-commerce APIs were built for humans:

• A human logs in
• Fills a cart
• Clicks “buy”

But AI agents don’t behave like that. They:

• Shop across multiple merchants automatically
• Need structured access to product catalogs, prices, and availability
• Make payments programmatically without breaking compliance
• Require verifiable trust between Agent ↔ Merchant ↔ Payment system

This is what Pivota’s Agentic Commerce Protocols solve.

They form a neutral “clearing layer” where:

• Agents can safely act on behalf of users
• Merchants can verify, accept, and settle automated orders
• Both sides avoid a mess of one-off, custom integrations

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2. MCP: Merchant Commerce Protocol

MCP is the foundation — it defines how merchants expose their data and services in an agent-friendly way.

Think of MCP as “OpenAPI for stores.”

With MCP, merchants standardize how agents access things like:

• Product metadata (name, price, SKU, images, inventory)
• Checkout and fulfillment endpoints
• Return policies, ratings, and other decision signals

From an agent’s point of view, that means predictable, clean endpoints such as:

GET /mcp/products?q=sneakers
POST /mcp/order

…without worrying about whether the merchant runs on Shopify, WooCommerce, or a custom backend.

Why MCP matters

MCP turns merchants into API-first, agent-ready sellers — ready to be:

• Crawled
• Indexed
• Transacted with

by the new generation of AI agents.

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3. ACP: Agent Commerce Protocol

If MCP is how merchants speak, ACP is how agents introduce themselves and act.

ACP (Agent Commerce Protocol) defines the handshake between Agents and Merchants, covering:

• Authentication & identity – Who is the agent acting for?
• Permission scope – Can this agent place an order, or only browse?
• Commission & attribution – Who gets credit for the sale?
• Transparent reporting – What shows up in the merchant’s dashboard?

In simple terms, ACP lets the agent tell the merchant:

“I’m an authorized Agent acting on behalf of a verified user.

Here’s the signed order intent and the wallet to charge.”

For developers, ACP is your blueprint for building a compliant, trustworthy agent that merchants are willing to accept orders from.

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4. AP2: Agent Payment Protocol

The last piece is AP2 (Agent Payment Protocol) — this is where the money actually moves.

While MCP and ACP define how commerce is communicated, AP2 defines how payments are settled.

Pivota’s AP2 layer can route over multiple rails, including:

• Traditional card and PSP networks
• Banking APIs (ACH, SEPA, Faster Payments, etc.)
• Stablecoin-based settlement for instant, low-cost transfers

Agents can:

• Pay merchants directly (on behalf of users) using AP2 endpoints, or
• Escrow funds until order fulfillment is confirmed

Example AP2 flow:

Agent → Pivota Wallet → Merchant PSP / Bank Account

Each step is verifiable, auditable, and programmable.

You integrate with Pivota once, and:

• Support multiple payment methods
• Operate across currencies and regions
• Avoid building a payment system from scratch

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5. Putting It All Together: How Integration Works

When you integrate with Pivota’s Agentic Commerce API, the three protocols work together like this:

1. Discovery (MCP)

   The agent fetches standardized product data from merchants.

2. Negotiation (ACP)

   The agent authenticates, obtains permissions, and prepares a signed order intent.

3. Settlement (AP2)

   The payment is executed, cleared, and confirmed — potentially across borders and currencies.

That’s the full agentic loop:

discover → transact → settle

…all in an open, interoperable format.

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6. Why This Matters for Developers

Today, agentic commerce suffers from an “m × n” integration problem:

• Every Agent needs to integrate with every Merchant
• Every Merchant needs to support multiple Agent behaviors

Pivota removes that by acting as a clearing layer:

• Agents integrate once with Pivota
• Merchants integrate once with Pivota
• Both sides instantly become interoperable

For you, that means:

• Faster onboarding for new agents and merchants
• Consistent data and payment handling
• Lower integration and maintenance cost
• Built-in compliance and trust primitives

In short: you integrate once, and trade with the whole network.

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7. Getting Started

If you’re ready to make your AI agent truly transactional:

1. Sign up for Pivota Developer Access

   Visit the Pivota developers page at pivota.cc/developers.

2. Explore the sandbox

   Try out MCP and ACP endpoints with test merchants and sample catalogs.

3. Implement AP2

   Wire up payment flows and test cross-border and multi-rail settlement.

Once your agent speaks these three protocols, it can browse, buy, and pay across the agentic web — securely and autonomously.

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Final Thought

Agentic commerce isn’t just about letting AIs “go shopping.”

It’s about giving every autonomous system access to a trusted, programmable economy.

With MCP, ACP, and AP2, Pivota is building that language layer for the internet of agents — so your software can not only understand the world, but also participate in it economically.