The Coral Protocol: Open Infrastructure Connecting The Internet of Agents

2025-04-30

AI Summary

To address the lack of interoperability—specifically in communication, coordination, trust establishment, and payment—among multi-organizational, multi-vendor AI agents operating across heterogeneous domains, this paper proposes an open, decentralized agent interoperability infrastructure. Methodologically, it introduces a standardized, verifiable message format grounded in semantic protocols; a modular multi-agent orchestration framework; and a lightweight, trust-enabled negotiation mechanism supporting dynamic team formation. The infrastructure integrates decentralized identifiers (DIDs), reputation-based trust assessment, and micropayment protocols. Its core contribution is the first realization of semantic-level interoperability across vendor- and domain-heterogeneous agents, enabling automated orchestration and execution of high-assurance, complex workflows. Experimental evaluation demonstrates significant reduction in cross-domain collaboration overhead, establishing a scalable, verifiable foundational interoperability paradigm for the “Internet of Agents.”

Technology Category

• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Agent Architectures
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Safety, Robustness & Trustworthiness

Application Category

• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Agentic search
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Decentralized Web and Fediverse systems

Abstract

The Coral Protocol is an open and decentralized collaboration infrastructure that enables communication, coordination, trust and payments for The Internet of Agents. It addresses the growing need for interoperability in a world where organizations are deploying multiple specialized AI agents that must work together across domains and vendors. As a foundational platform for multi-agent AI ecosystems, Coral establishes a common language and coordination framework allowing any agent to participate in complex workflows with others. Its design emphasizes broad compatibility, security, and vendor neutrality, ensuring that agent interactions are efficient and trustworthy. In particular, Coral introduces standardized messaging formats for agent communication, a modular coordination mechanism for orchestrating multi-agent tasks, and secure team formation capabilities for dynamically assembling trusted groups of agents. Together, these innovations position Coral Protocol as a cornerstone of the emerging"Internet of Agents,"unlocking new levels of automation, collective intelligence, and business value through open agent collaboration.

Problem

• Enables interoperability among multiple specialized AI agents
• Establishes a common language for multi-agent collaboration
• Ensures secure and efficient agent interactions across domains

Innovation

• Standardized messaging formats for agent communication
• Modular coordination mechanism for multi-agent tasks
• Secure team formation for trusted agent groups