BCP

Manifest spec

The full field-by-field reference. A BCP manifest is a JSON-LD document that subclasses schema:Organization. It has exactly five top-level blocks plus an envelope and an optional signature.

Updated today

Envelope

The top-level fields every manifest must have.

At a glance

@context: JSON-LD context array. Always includes https://schema.org and the BCP context URL.
@type: Always ["Organization", "BusinessCard"].
@id: Canonical URL of the manifest itself. Should equal the URL it is served from.
bcp:version: Semver string matching the spec revision. v1 is "1.0.0".
bcp:updated: RFC 3339 timestamp of the manifest's last material change.
bcp:expires: RFC 3339 timestamp after which the manifest must be re-fetched. Optional. Recommended for signed manifests.

envelope.jsonjson

1{

2 "@context": [

3 "https://schema.org",

4 "https://bcp.51ultron.com/schema/v1"

5 ],

6 "@type": ["Organization", "BusinessCard"],

7 "@id": "https://acme.com/.well-known/business.json",

8 "bcp:version": "1.0.0",

9 "bcp:updated": "2026-05-19T14:30:00Z",

10 "bcp:expires": "2026-06-19T14:30:00Z",

12 "identity": { /* … */ },

13 "capabilities": { /* … */ },

14 "commerce": { /* … */ },

15 "policy": { /* … */ },

16 "state": { /* … */ },

17 "signature": { /* … */ }

18}

Identity block

Who the company legally is.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
legalName	string	yes	Registered legal name. Matches the LEI Level-1 record when an LEI is present.
domain	string	yes	Bare host (no protocol). Must match the host the manifest is served from.
lei	string	no	20-character LEI (ISO 17442). When present, the legalName must match GLEIF Level-1.
vleiCredential	string	no	URL to the vLEI credential JSON. Used during signature verification.
jurisdiction	string	yes	ISO 3166-2 code (e.g. `US-DE`, `RO-B`).
legalForm	string	yes	ISO 20275 ELF code or human label (`Corporation`, `SRL`).
incorporationDate	string	no	ISO date.
registeredAddress	object	no	Schema.org PostalAddress.
taxIds	object	no	Map of jurisdiction code to tax id (`{ EIN: '12-3456789' }`).
naics	string[]	no	NAICS industry codes.
isic	string[]	no	ISIC industry codes (international alternative).
sameAs	string[]	no	URLs to the same entity on Wikidata, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, etc.

identity.jsonjson

1{

2 "identity": {

3 "legalName": "Acme Corporation, Inc.",

4 "domain": "acme.com",

5 "lei": "5493000IBP32UQZ0KL24",

6 "vleiCredential": "https://acme.com/.well-known/vlei.json",

7 "jurisdiction": "US-DE",

8 "legalForm": "Corporation",

9 "incorporationDate": "2018-03-12",

10 "registeredAddress": {

11 "@type": "PostalAddress",

12 "streetAddress": "1 Main Street",

13 "addressLocality": "Wilmington",

14 "addressRegion": "DE",

15 "postalCode": "19801",

16 "addressCountry": "US"

17 },

18 "taxIds": { "EIN": "12-3456789" },

19 "naics": ["541511"],

20 "sameAs": [

21 "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12345678",

22 "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/acme",

23 "https://www.linkedin.com/company/acme"

24 ]

25 }

26}

Capabilities block

How an agent reaches the company programmatically. References to other protocols.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
mcpServers	object[]	no	One or more MCP server descriptors. See below.
a2aAgentCards	string[]	no	URLs to A2A agent cards. Usually `https://<host>/.well-known/agent.json`.
nlwebEndpoint	string	no	NLWeb `/ask` URL.
openApi	string	no	OpenAPI 3.x spec URL.
cli	object	no	Optional CLI install descriptor.

mcpServers entries

Field	Type	Required	Notes
url	string	yes	HTTP URL for streamable transport or `stdio://` command.
transport	string	yes	One of `http`, `sse`, `stdio`.
auth	string[]	yes	Supported auth: `oauth2`, `bearer`, `apikey`, `mtls`, `none`.
scopes	string[]	no	Available scopes. Mirrors `policy.allowActions`.
label	string	no	Short human label for the server.

capabilities.jsonjson

1{

2 "capabilities": {

3 "mcpServers": [

4 {

5 "url": "https://api.acme.com/mcp",

6 "transport": "http",

7 "auth": ["oauth2", "bearer"],

8 "scopes": ["catalog.read", "pricing.read", "bookings.write", "leads.create"],

9 "label": "Acme public surface"

10 }

11 ],

12 "a2aAgentCards": [

13 "https://api.acme.com/.well-known/agent.json"

14 ],

15 "nlwebEndpoint": "https://acme.com/api/ask",

16 "openApi": "https://api.acme.com/openapi.json",

17 "cli": {

18 "install": "npm install -g @acme/cli",

19 "command": "acme"

20 }

21 }

22}

Note

The manifest never enumerates individual tools. Listing tools is MCP's job. The manifest only points at the server and declares which scopes the server exposes.

Commerce block

How an agent transacts. Optional. Non-commercial entities omit this block.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
catalog	string	no	UCP-compatible catalog endpoint.
pricing	string	no	Human-readable pricing page URL.
currencies	string[]	no	ISO 4217 currency codes.
termsOfSale	string	no	URL to terms of sale or T&C.
returnPolicy	string	no	URL to return / refund policy.
supportedJurisdictions	string[]	no	ISO 3166-1 country codes the company sells to.
paymentRails	object[]	no	One entry per supported payment protocol.

paymentRails entries

Field	Type	Required	Notes
protocol	string	yes	One of `AP2`, `ACP`, `UCP`, `x402`.
endpoint	string	yes	HTTPS endpoint.
instruments	string[]	yes	Accepted instruments: `card`, `ach`, `wire`, `sepa`, `stablecoin:USDC`, etc.

commerce.jsonjson

1{

2 "commerce": {

3 "catalog": "https://api.acme.com/catalog",

4 "pricing": "https://acme.com/pricing",

5 "currencies": ["USD", "EUR"],

6 "termsOfSale": "https://acme.com/terms",

7 "returnPolicy": "https://acme.com/returns",

8 "supportedJurisdictions": ["US", "EU", "UK", "CA"],

9 "paymentRails": [

10 {

11 "protocol": "AP2",

12 "endpoint": "https://api.acme.com/ap2",

13 "instruments": ["card", "ach"]

14 },

15 {

16 "protocol": "x402",

17 "endpoint": "https://api.acme.com/x402",

18 "instruments": ["stablecoin:USDC"]

19 }

20 ]

21 }

22}

Policy block

What agents are allowed to do. Honoured on a trust basis. Treat as advisory unless backed by auth.

Field	Type	Default	Notes
allowTraining	boolean	false	Whether content from the company's surfaces may be used to train models.
allowRAG	boolean	true	Whether content may be embedded into RAG indices at inference time.
allowActions	string[]	[]	Whitelist of action scopes agents may invoke without prior contract.
denyActions	string[]	[]	Explicit deny list. Overrides allowActions on conflict.
rateLimit	object	{}	Per-class rate limit (`anonymous`, `authenticated`, `verified`).
robotsTxt	string	-	Cross-reference to the canonical robots.txt URL.
llmsTxt	string	-	Cross-reference to the canonical llms.txt URL.
licenseUrl	string	-	AI-usage license terms URL.
agentAllowlist	object[]	[]	Per-agent grants (named agent name → permitted scopes).

policy.jsonjson

1{

2 "policy": {

3 "allowTraining": false,

4 "allowRAG": true,

5 "allowActions": [

6 "catalog.read",

7 "pricing.read",

8 "bookings.create",

9 "leads.create"

10 ],

11 "denyActions": [

12 "leads.delete",

13 "billing.modify"

14 ],

15 "rateLimit": {

16 "anonymous": "10/hour",

17 "authenticated": "1000/hour",

18 "verified": "10000/hour"

19 },

20 "robotsTxt": "https://acme.com/robots.txt",

21 "llmsTxt": "https://acme.com/llms.txt",

22 "licenseUrl": "https://acme.com/ai-license"

23 }

24}

Warning

Policy is signaling, not enforcement. A server that exposes actions in policy.allowActions must still enforce auth, rate limits, and abuse protection at the MCP layer. Reading the manifest does not grant any access.

State block

Operational state. Expected to change often.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
status	string	yes	One of `operational`, `degraded`, `maintenance`, `retired`.
incidentWebhook	string	no	HTTPS endpoint to subscribe to incident updates.
statusPage	string	no	Public status page URL.
sla	object	no	Targets: `uptime`, `responseTime`.
supportContact	object	yes	Email plus hours plus timezone. Required so an agent can escalate.

state.jsonjson

1{

2 "state": {

3 "status": "operational",

4 "statusPage": "https://status.acme.com",

5 "incidentWebhook": "https://acme.com/api/incidents/subscribe",

6 "sla": {

7 "uptime": "99.9",

8 "responseTime": "PT24H"

9 },

10 "supportContact": {

11 "email": "support@acme.com",

12 "hours": "Mo-Fr 09:00-18:00",

13 "timezone": "America/New_York"

14 }

15 }

16}

Signature block

Detached JWS over the canonicalised manifest body. Strongly recommended.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
alg	string	yes	JOSE algorithm. `ES256` for vLEI-bound credentials.
kid	string	yes	Key id. Format: `vlei:<LEI>:ofcr:<role>:<period>` for vLEI.
value	string	yes	Base64url-encoded JWS detached signature.
signedAt	string	yes	RFC 3339 timestamp the signature was produced.
x5u	string	no	URL to a certificate chain when not using vLEI.

signature.jsonjson

1{

2 "signature": {

3 "alg": "ES256",

4 "kid": "vlei:5493000IBP32UQZ0KL24:ofcr:CEO:2026-Q2",

5 "signedAt": "2026-05-19T14:30:00Z",

6 "value": "eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6InZsZWk..."

7 }

8}

Note

Canonicalisation algorithm: JSON Canonicalization Scheme (JCS, RFC 8785) over the manifest body with thesignature block removed. Seethe signing page for the full algorithm.

Minimal manifest

The smallest manifest a v1 consumer must accept.

minimal-business.jsonjson

1{

2 "@context": [

3 "https://schema.org",

4 "https://bcp.51ultron.com/schema/v1"

5 ],

6 "@type": ["Organization", "BusinessCard"],

7 "@id": "https://tiny.dev/.well-known/business.json",

8 "bcp:version": "1.0.0",

9 "bcp:updated": "2026-05-19T10:00:00Z",

11 "identity": {

12 "legalName": "Tiny Software SRL",

13 "domain": "tiny.dev",

14 "jurisdiction": "RO-B",

15 "legalForm": "SRL"

16 },

18 "capabilities": {

19 "mcpServers": [

20 {

21 "url": "https://api.tiny.dev/mcp",

22 "transport": "http",

23 "auth": ["oauth2"]

24 }

25 ]

26 },

28 "policy": {

29 "allowTraining": false,

30 "allowRAG": true,

31 "allowActions": ["catalog.read"]

32 },

34 "state": {

35 "status": "operational",

36 "supportContact": {

37 "email": "hi@tiny.dev",

38 "hours": "Mo-Fr 10:00-18:00",

39 "timezone": "Europe/Bucharest"

40 }

41 }

42}

Tip

This is the floor. No LEI, no signature, no commerce block. Consumers must accept this and treat it as advisory. Adding the signature block upgrades the manifest from advisory to authoritative.

Conformance levels

A grading system for manifests.

Level	Requirements	Use case
L0 - Advisory	Valid JSON-LD. Identity + capabilities + state blocks. No signature, no LEI.	Solo developers, side projects, pre-registration entities. Read-only operations only.
L1 - Identified	L0 plus an LEI in identity.legalName matches GLEIF Level-1.	Registered companies. Can be cited in agent decisions. Still no cryptographic proof.
L2 - Signed	L1 plus a signature block. Algorithm ES256 or RS256. Public key reachable.	Companies that want their manifest to be authoritative for agent actions.
L3 - vLEI	L2 plus the signing key is a vLEI role credential issued by an accredited QVI.	Regulated industries, M&A counterparties, banking. Cryptographic chain to GLEIF root.

Note

The level a manifest reaches is up to the publisher. Consumers declare in their policy what minimum level they will act on (e.g. "L2 required for write actions, L0 acceptable for read-only queries").

Reserved fields

Top-level field names that are reserved for future versions.

Consumers must ignore top-level fields they do not recognise. The following names are reserved by the spec and will be assigned semantics in future versions. Implementations should not use them for vendor extensions.

Field	Reserved for
people	Officers and authorised agent signing keys (v1.1)
financial	Revenue attestation endpoint, audited financials (v2)
acquisition	M&A-specific 'Acquisition Card' sub-spec (v2)
autonomous	Agent-formed entity declaration (v2)
bcp:extensions	Vendor extensions namespace. Reserved but unallocated.

Tip

Vendor-specific fields must use a custom prefix (ultron: for ours) and live underbcp:extensions when v1.1 ships.