TAP · Trusted Agent Protocol
Cryptographic identity for shopping agents.
TAP is Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol. Agents register with Visa, receive cryptographic keys, and sign every purchase request. Merchants and Cloudflare verify against the Visa registry — distinguishing legitimate shopping agents from scrapers and bots.
The four things TAP actually delivers.
- Issues cryptographic keys to registered agents via Visa.
- Requires every purchase to be signed by the agent.
- Lets merchants verify against the Visa registry.
- Cuts the legitimate-agent vs scraper-bot distinction at the edge.
The flow, end to end.
Agent registers
Visa issues a private key bound to the agent.
Agent signs request
Every purchase carries a TAP signature.
Merchant verifies
Cloudflare or merchant checks the registry.
Verified → pay
Trusted agents proceed; bots are blocked.
Like a club bouncer checking your member card. TAP proves the robot is a real, trusted shopper — not someone wearing a fake mustache.
Identity + spend authority
TAP and xpay are complementary: TAP proves an agent is who it claims to be; xpay enforces what that agent is authorised to spend.
Spending controls →What TAP ships, what it does not, and what bridges the gap.
Strong identity primitive, Visa + Cloudflare distribution.
No spend authorization — TAP says "trusted," not "allowed to spend $X."
Once TAP verifies an agent, xpay enforces budget and category controls per agent.
TAP compared.
TAP vs AP2
TAP is identity; AP2 is governance. Both can run on the same agent — TAP signs the request, AP2 governs how it should be processed.