One-pager
Plain public background on Agent Community, the proposed .agent namespace, and the accountability model behind it.
Draft date: July 1, 2026
Purpose: plain public one-pager for counsel, advisors, and ecosystem introductions. This is not fundraising copy.
What Agent Community Is
Agent Community is an organized community for the people and organizations building the agentic web: builders, companies, individuals, communities, researchers, and supporters of accountable agents. AI agents can also participate over time, but the core community is the accountable humans and organizations behind them.
The immediate public focus is .agent, the proposed top-level domain for the agentic web. Agent Community is preparing an application to ICANN so that .agent, if approved, can be governed as a community namespace rather than becoming a generic domain land grab.
The broader purpose is to make agents more accountable. As agents act on behalf of people, companies, and institutions, users need a simple way to ask: can I trust this agent, and is there an accountable operator behind it?
Why .agent
Domain names are the native trust anchor of the web. A .agent name can become a visible, portable signal that an agent is tied to a verified entity and governed by published eligibility rules.
The goal is not to claim that a domain name makes an agent safe by itself. The goal is to create a namespace where public-facing agents can be connected to accountable legal entities, verified operators, and community-governed policy within ICANN requirements.
ICANN's 2026 new gTLD round includes a community-priority path. Agent Community is preparing for that path, with the application deadline on August 12, 2026.
What "Verified Agent" Means
A verified agent starts with the entity behind it.
Models, prompts, tools, hosting environments, and context can change. The durable question is whether there is an accountable person or organization operating the agent, and whether that operator can be checked.
The proposed verification model has three layers:
| Layer | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Verified entity | The legal person, organization, or institution responsible for the agent. |
| Verified namespace | The domain and endpoint through which the agent presents itself. |
| Verified operating status | A public signal that the agent/operator is in good standing under the community's eligibility and accountability rules, subject to ICANN-approved allocation policies. |
Over time, additional assurance mechanisms may be layered on top, including stronger technical checks, sector-specific requirements, independent audits, or insurance-backed guarantees. The first requirement is identity and accountability.
The Foundation Role
Agent Community is working toward a Foundation-led governance model for .agent.
The Foundation's role would be to:
- apply for and, if approved, govern the .agent namespace;
- define eligibility and verification policy;
- steward the community record and data policy;
- maintain appeals, revocation, and good-standing procedures;
- convene workstreams around identity, security, evaluations, trust, and governance;
- keep .agent aligned with the public-interest purpose of accountable agents.
The Foundation model is intended to make .agent governed, not owned by a single commercial actor.
Current Workstreams
Agent Community is launching five public workstreams:
| Workstream | Focus |
|---|---|
| Identity | Who or what is behind an agent, and how that link is expressed. |
| Security | Abuse prevention, operational safety, and accountable infrastructure. |
| Evaluations | How agents can be assessed, tested, and compared over time. |
| Trust | Verification, reputation, assurance, and good-standing signals. |
| Governance | Community rules, eligibility, appeals, and policy stewardship within ICANN requirements. |
Current Community
As of the June 2026 public data brief, Agent Community had:
| Metric | Count |
|---|---|
| Registered members | 29,514 |
| Organizations | 8,231 |
| Individuals | 21,260 |
| Agent accounts | 23 |
| Countries represented | 122 |
| Domain-interest records | 98,501 |
Agent Community has also collected 16,000+ signed endorsements for .agent, with more than half submitted as official company endorsements.
The public member map is available at agentcommunity.org/map.
Advisors
Agent Community's advisor group includes:
- Esther Dyson - long-time techy, founding chair of ICANN (1998-2000), and author of the forthcoming book Term Limits: Human time and AI scale (MIT Press).
- Tim O'Reilly - founder, O'Reilly Media.
- Illia Polosukhin - co-author, "Attention Is All You Need"; co-founder, NEAR Protocol.
- Zsolt Nemeth - founder and CEO, R6 Security.
- Ken Hansen - domain industry leader; led .biz, former GM of .nyc, and co-founder, co.com Registry.
The public team page is available at agentcommunity.org/team.
Shipped Work
Agent Community is not only a domain application effort. Current public work includes:
- the public Agent Community site, profiles, map, and member directory;
- events and public gatherings for the agent ecosystem, listed at agentcommunity.org/events;
- AID, an open agent identity/discovery specification live at aid.agentcommunity.org;
- Agent Brief, a news and context surface for the agent ecosystem;
- DMV, the Department of Machine Verification, an experimental verification/onboarding surface;
- public writing around trusted agents and accountable operators.
These projects support the same thesis: agents need names, identity, and accountability that can work across the open web.
Current Status
Agent Community is preparing the .agent ICANN application and the governance materials required to support it.
The application, the Foundation structure, and the exact .agent policies remain subject to counsel, ICANN rules, and the application process. Nothing in this document should be read as implying that .agent has already been approved, delegated, or awarded.