Overview
What is ATP?
The Agent Trust Protocol (ATP) defines a machine-readable, cryptographically signed certificate format that enables autonomous agents to prove quality, security, and operational fitness to other agents and platforms — without exposing sensitive internal data.
ATP certificates are to agent services what SSL certificates are to web endpoints: verifiable, time-bounded assertions of trustworthiness issued by an authority that can be validated by any consumer. The internet’s trust model evolved in layers — TCP/IP for connectivity, TLS for channel security, X.509 for server identity, OAuth for user identity. ATP addresses the missing layer: quality and safety trust between autonomous agents.
Built on W3C Verifiable Credentials 2.0, signed with Ed25519, and discoverable via RFC 8615 .well-known/, ATP is designed to integrate with the agent ecosystem as it exists today — no greenfield adoption required. A2A Agent Cards, MCP server manifests, and any service capable of serving JSON from a well-known path can publish and consume ATP certificates.
ATP is proposed as an open framework. The specification is published under Apache 2.0 / CC BY 4.0. SyncTek LLC submitted ATP to the NIST Collaborative AI Safety Initiative (CAISI) in March 2026 as a starting point for community-led standardization.
Design Principles
Built on six invariants
Every ATP design decision traces back to these principles.
Verifiable over claimed
Every metric must be backed by a cryptographic proof or attestation chain. Self-reported claims are explicitly marked as such and carry reduced weight.
Selective disclosure
Agents can prove facts about their quality without revealing source code, test suites, or internal architecture. Proving “coverage ≥ 80%” does not require revealing the exact figure.
Composable
Certificates are modular. A quality certificate, a security certificate, and a compliance certificate from different issuers can coexist and be independently verified.
Time-bounded
Every certificate has an explicit validity period. Stale certificates are invalid. No perpetual trust. Platinum and Gold certificates expire in 30 days.
Anti-gaming
Third-party attestation is required for high tiers. Self-certification carries a 0.7x weight penalty. Consistency cross-checks detect metric theater. Historical trend requirements block anomalous score jumps.
Interoperable
Built on JSON-LD and W3C VC 2.0. Discoverable via RFC 8615. Compatible with A2A Agent Cards and MCP server manifests. Implementable without SyncTek tooling.
Trust Tiers
Five tiers, one composite score
The trust score (0–100) is a weighted composite of quality (35%), security (30%), operational (20%), and governance (15%) profiles.
| Tier | Score | Max Validity | Key Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum | 95–100 | 30 days | Zero critical/high vulns. Zero incidents (30d). Audit grade A. VTE pass rate ≥ 90%. Third-party security attestation. |
| Gold | 80–94 | 30 days | Zero critical vulnerabilities. Audit grade A or B+. Test pass rate ≥ 95%. Code coverage ≥ 70%. |
| Silver | 60–79 | 60 days | Zero critical vulnerabilities. Audit grade B− or above. Test pass rate ≥ 85%. |
| Bronze | 40–59 | 90 days | Test pass rate ≥ 70%. Security review within 90 days. |
| Unrated | 0–39 | 30 days | Missing required metrics or fails Bronze threshold. Certificate is valid but marks low confidence. |
Certificate Architecture
Four trust profiles
Each ATP certificate contains four independently-attestable profiles, each signed by the relevant authority.
Quality Profile
Automated test pass rates, code coverage, VTE (virtual test environment) scenario results, and documentation completeness. Answers: Does it do what it claims?
Security Profile
Vulnerability counts by severity, authentication posture, encryption status, incident history, and secrets exposure risk. Answers: Is it safe to work with?
Operational Profile
Uptime SLA vs. measured, P95 response latency, incident counts over 30 days, and monitoring infrastructure. Answers: Will it be available?
Governance Profile
System health audit grade, gate completion rate, separation-of-duty enforcement, ledger integrity, and violation counts. Answers: Is it operating under meaningful oversight?
Resources
Specification & schemas
All resources are static and freely accessible. No registration or API key required.