FAQ
Where can I try AP3 without setting anything up?
Open the AP3 Playground. It runs a live PSI flow in the browser and surfaces the agent cards, on-wire envelopes, signed directives, audit timeline, and runtime logs — useful for getting a feel for the protocol before integrating the SDK.
What problem does AP3 solve?
Two agents that don't fully trust each other need to compute a function over their respective private inputs and learn only the result. AP3 standardises the protocol surface — roles, commitments, directives, the on-wire envelope, and the privacy-preserving operations on top — so a Bank A agent and a Bank B agent can speak PSI to each other regardless of vendor.
How is AP3 different from end-to-end encryption?
E2EE protects data in transit between people who already trust each other with the contents. AP3 lets two parties compute together without ever revealing the contents to each other. The receiver doesn't decrypt the initiator's input — it runs cryptographic rounds against it. Only a scoped output (a boolean, a count, an intersection) is revealed.
What operations are shipped today?
PSI. Other functions (set ops, private pricing, sanctions screening, geospatial matching, credential verification, multi-party aggregation, custom DSL) are under private preview.
Do I need a TEE to run AP3?
No, not for the protocol itself. PSI runs on regular machines. A TEE becomes the recommended deployment posture for production service providers because it adds hardware-rooted assurance that the right code ran against the committed dataset — see Security.
What's the relationship between AP3 and AP2?
They compose: AP3 produces a verifiable result, AP2 settles the fee. AP3 owns the privacy-preserving compute lane (signed commitments, signed intents, signed results, replay protection); AP2 (and rails like x402, MPP) own pricing, quoting, and settlement. See the Overview for the framing and Monetize Your Data for the operator's view.
Can I use AP3 without A2A?
The protocol is transport-agnostic — the on-wire envelope is just Part.data. Today's reference SDK uses A2A as the messaging fabric because it's the cleanest way to carry signed payloads between independent agents. If you have your own messaging layer, the AP3 verb-and-directive layer drops on top.
Is AP3 production-ready?
The released SDK ships PSI with signed commitments, signed intents, signed results, replay protection, and canonical signing for cross-language verification. Receiver-signed receipts, first-class TEE attestations, formal proofs of correctness, and standardised negotiation/settlement artifacts are tracked on the Roadmap.
How do I add a new operation?
Operations are pluggable verbs on top of the protocol surface. The four-part contract (role layout, input schema, wire transcript, result shape) is in Functions. The custom DSL — under private preview — will let domain teams define new operations without forking the protocol.
Which languages does the SDK support?
Python today (Pydantic models, signed canonical JSON). Cross-language verification is a hard requirement — directives are designed to verify byte-for-byte against the same key in any language. Additional language SDKs are tracked on the Roadmap.