AI engineering glossary · Agents tools MCP
What is A2A (agent-to-agent protocol)?
Agent-to-agent protocol (also called A2A): An open specification that lets separate agents, possibly built by different vendors, discover each other's abilities and exchange tasks and results over a common format. It targets agent-to-agent cooperation, whereas MCP targets agent-to-tool connections.
Agent-to-agent protocol: an example
A travel agent from one company asks a hotel-booking agent from another to hold a room, using the shared protocol.
Related terms
- Model Context Protocol
- Multi-agent system
- Agent communication
- Agent card
More Agents tools MCP terms
- Agentic workflow
- AI agent
- Approval gate
- AutoGen
- Autonomous agent
- Best-of-N sampling
- Browser agent
- Code agent
Where you learn it
Agent-to-agent protocol is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.