Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)
The Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open commerce standard, co-developed by Google and Shopify with retail partners, that standardizes the full shopping journey for AI agents — discovery, consideration, checkout, and post-purchase.
UCP was announced at NRF 2026 with backing from a coalition of retailers and payment partners, including Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart. It powers shopping inside Google's AI Mode in Search and the Gemini apps. Unlike ACP, which bundles checkout and payment, UCP separates them and composes with dedicated protocols for payment, tool access, and agent-to-agent delegation.
UCP is published as an open standard on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license. The merchant remains the merchant of record. With ACP and UCP both moving real transaction volume, most brands will maintain product data and integrations for both.
FAQ
Who developed the Universal Commerce Protocol?
Google co-developed UCP with Shopify and retail partners including Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart.
Where does UCP operate?
UCP powers shopping inside Google AI Mode in Search and the Gemini apps.
Related: Agentic Commerce Protocol | Agent Payments Protocol | Model Context Protocol | Agentic Checkout
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