The ARC Ecosystem provides an infrastructure for agent-to-agent communication, discovery, and routing through three top-level families:
- ARC Protocol - The communication layer for agent interactions
- ARC Compass - The agent search engine for finding the right agents
- ARC Ledger - The centralized registry for agent capabilities
ARC Protocol is a communication standard between agents for multi-agent systems. The protocol enables hosting multiple agent types on a single endpoint with agent-level routing via requestAgent and targetAgent fields, and provides workflow tracing capabilities designed for integration with monitoring platforms.
- Multi-Agent Architecture: Single endpoint supports multiple agents with agent identification at protocol level
- Agent-Centric Routing: Identify request source and target at protocol level with
requestAgent/targetAgentfields - Workflow Tracing: End-to-end traceability across multi-agent processes via
traceId - Stateless Design: Each request is independent with no session state
- Method-Based: Clean RPC-style method invocation
- HTTPS Transport: Works over HTTPS with POST requests
- Server-Sent Events: Support for streaming responses via SSE
# Create a new task
task = await client.task_create(
request_agent="user-interface-01",
target_agent="document-analyzer-01",
initial_message={"role": "user", "parts": [{"type": "TextPart", "content": "Analyze quarterly report"}]}
)
# Check progress
status = await client.task_info(
request_agent="user-interface-01",
target_agent="document-analyzer-01",
task_id=task.task.taskId
)ARC Ledger is a centralized agent discovery registry that maintains information about available agents, their capabilities, and endpoints. When integrated with ARC Protocol, it provides a structured approach to agent discovery and communication.
- Agent Registration: Agents register their capabilities and endpoints
- Agent Discovery: Applications query for agents based on required capabilities
- Metadata Management: Store and retrieve agent metadata
- Dynamic Updates: Agents can update their status and capabilities as they evolve
ARC Compass is an agent search engine with ranking algorithms for finding optimal agents. It queries ARC Ledger and returns ranked agent recommendations based on capability matching.
- Agent Search: Find agents based on capabilities and requirements
- Ranking Algorithm: Evaluate and rank agents based on suitability for specific tasks
- Dynamic Discovery: Automatically adapt to new or updated agents in ARC Ledger
- Capability Matching: Match task requirements with agent capabilities
The ARC Ecosystem components work together to provide agent discovery, selection, and communication:
- Agent Registration: Agents register their capabilities with ARC Ledger
- Agent Discovery: Applications query ARC Compass to find appropriate agents
- Agent Selection: ARC Compass uses its ranking algorithms to search through ARC Ledger
- Agent Communication: Applications use ARC Protocol to communicate with selected agents
Agent/Supervisor → ARC Compass → ARC Ledger → Target Agent (via ARC Protocol)
Currently available SDK:
- Python SDK - Reference implementation
| Feature | ARC | ACP (Agent Communication Protocol) | A2A (Agent-to-Agent) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Purpose | Agent communication standard | Agent lifecycle management | Agent interoperability |
| Agent Identification | requestAgent/targetAgent fields |
Agent URI | Agent Cards |
| Workflow Tracing | traceId for monitoring integration |
Built-in tracing | Task tracking |
| Message Format | JSON-based | REST/MIME-based | JSON-based |
| Transport | HTTPS | REST/HTTP | HTTP/SSE |
| Real-time Support | SSE streaming | Streaming | SSE/Webhook |
| Agent Discovery | Separate API | Offline discovery | Agent Cards |
| Authentication | OAuth 2.0 | Multiple methods | OAuth/JWT |
| Governance | Open | Linux Foundation | Google-led |
| Multimodal Support | Multiple part types | Native | Multiple formats |
| Current Status | Active development | Active development | Active development |
- ARC Protocol - Agent communication protocol
- ARC Ledger - Agent discovery registry
- ARC Compass - Agent search engine
- Discord - Join our community chat
- Twitter - Follow for updates
- GitHub Discussions - Ask questions and share ideas