Meta and Sierra are writing house rules for customers' AI agents, before the bots start turning up at your front counter
By Brett Gavaghan, Founder of Adaptd ·
Meta and Sierra have announced the Personal Agent Protocol, an open standard for how personal AI agents sign in to businesses and what they're allowed to do there.
The short version
- The Personal Agent Protocol is an open standard for how customers' personal AI agents sign in to businesses and act for them.
- Meta and Sierra announced it on 6 October 2026 with partners including Shopify, Stripe and Walmart, and a first specification is due in October.
- Nothing to install yet, but make sure your website answers the basics an agent would check.
Your next enquiry might not come from a person. It might come from their AI assistant, sent to check your stock and returns policy while they're busy doing something else.
What is the Personal Agent Protocol?
The Personal Agent Protocol (PAP) is an open standard for how personal AI agents sign in to businesses and complete tasks for a customer. Sierra and Meta announced it on 6 October 2026.
It's built on OAuth, the same idea behind the 'Sign in with' buttons you already use. An agent can visit as a guest to check stock or a returns policy. Once the customer signs in, they choose whether it gets read-only or write access. The business decides whether agents come through its website or its APIs, or talk to its own customer service agent.
Who's behind it, and when does it arrive?
Meta and Sierra are developing the Personal Agent Protocol with partners including Genesys, Instinct, Rocket, Shopify, Stripe and Walmart. A version 0.1 specification is due later in October, with payments listed as a future extension rather than part of the first version.
It isn't the only effort. Visa runs a rival Trusted Agent Protocol, and Stripe and Shopify have signed up to both. No Australian business has been named as a partner, so read this as an early signal of where online shopping is heading rather than something to act on now.
What should your business do about it?
Australian businesses don't need to do anything technical yet, because the specification hasn't been published and the big platforms will handle most of the plumbing.
What you can do is make sure your website answers plainly what an agent would check, like what's in stock, what it costs and your returns policy. If you're on Shopify, watch for any agent settings it adds.
My take: an agent can't read a PDF menu from 2019 any better than a person can. Put the basics in plain text now and you're ready for customers and their bots.
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Wondering what this means for your business?
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