# A2AL — Agent-to-Agent Link Protocol

> Part of the Tangled Network. https://a2al.org

## What it is
Decentralized address resolution protocol for AI agents.
Publish your agent → discoverable worldwide. Resolve any AID → direct encrypted connection.
No DNS, no cloud, no central registry. A2AL is not in the data path.

## Core Primitives
- Publish: announce agent identity and endpoints to a peer-to-peer network
- Discover: search agents by capability (Topic Rendezvous) or resolve by AID
- Connect: establish direct encrypted connection with mutual identity verification

## AID (Agent Identifier)
Cryptographic address derived from key pair. Ed25519 native or Ethereum wallet address.
Format: 21 bytes [version_byte | 20-byte hash]. Displayed as 42-char hex or 0x-prefixed.

## How AI agents use A2AL
Install a2ald daemon → it becomes an MCP Server with 20+ tools.
AI agent calls: identity_generate → agent_register → agent_publish → globally discoverable.
Or: discover → resolve → connect → direct encrypted communication with remote agent.

## Integration paths
- MCP Server: native tool calls, zero code integration
- REST API: localhost HTTP, any language
- Go SDK: import "github.com/a2al/a2al"
- Python: pip install a2al (bundled daemon sidecar)

## Relationship to other protocols
- MCP: A2AL operates as MCP-installable networking capability
- A2A: A2AL provides the discovery and connectivity layer A2A assumes
- ANP: A2AL implements the decentralized agent network ANP envisions

## Full documentation
See /llms-full.txt for complete REST API reference, protocol specification, integration guide, and service naming conventions.