232: The Agentic Web Is Still A Single-Player Game
Slobodan "Sani" Manic
Website Optimisation Consultant, No Hacks Founder & Keynote Speaker
CXL-certified conversion specialist and WordPress Core Contributor helping companies optimise websites for both humans and AI agents.
A2A is the standard for AI agents at different companies to find each other and talk, and 172 companies have put their name to it. I took the web address the project lists next to each name and asked 135 of them the question the standard is built around: do you publish an agent card? Two well-known paths, 270 requests. Four answered. One served it at the path the specification registers. Fourteen returned HTTP 200 and twelve of those were the homepage answering to any address. The reason is not technical. MCP needs one person to say yes, so it works the afternoon you wire it up. A2A needs two organisations, so you can implement it perfectly and get nothing until somebody you do not control has done the same work. Not having an agent card is not a failure, and the thing worth watching is your own logs rather than the partner list.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Go and read your own logs before you read anyone's partner list. The day a request arrives that was clearly sent by another company's system rather than by a person is the day this changed for you, and nothing else will tell you.
- When you check whether a website serves an agent card, open the body. Twelve of the fourteen HTTP 200s found here were a homepage answering to any address asked for.
- Before adopting any agent protocol, ask whether it pays off alone. If it needs a counterparty, budget for the wait: you can implement it perfectly and get nothing until somebody you do not control does the same work.
- Do not add an agent card because a list says you should. If no agent runs on your server there is nothing for the card to describe, and nothing scores you on its absence.
- Answer clearly and quickly, and be honest about what you do not have. Most websites say yes to everything, which is the same as saying nothing.
SHOW NOTES
One Hundred And Seventy-Two Names, One Card
A2A is the standard for AI agents at different companies to find each other and talk. A hundred and seventy-two companies have put their name to it. The project lists a web address next to each one.
So I took those addresses and asked 135 of them the question the standard is built around: do you have an agent card? That is the file an agent publishes to say who it is and what it can do. Both well-known paths, 270 requests.
Four answered. One served it at the path the specification actually registers.
What A 200 Is Worth
Fourteen of those addresses returned HTTP 200 at the path. Twelve of them were the homepage, answering to any address you ask for. A status code is not a finding. Open the body.
The Reason Is Not Technical
MCP needs one person to say yes. You wire it up on a Tuesday afternoon and it works on Tuesday afternoon, because the only party involved is you.
A2A needs two organisations. You can implement it perfectly and get nothing back until somebody you do not control has done the same work. That is not a flaw in the standard. It is what a protocol with a counterparty costs, and it is why the partner list is long and the card count is one.
Not Having One Is Fine
There is no test here, nothing scores you on it, and if no agent runs on your server there is nothing to publish. An empty field is not a failing grade.
Watch Your Own Logs, Not The Logos
The visitor arriving at your server today is one person's assistant. It fetches one thing, cannot ask a follow-up, and has no patience for a slow page. That is a smaller job than the one being described to you, and a different one.
The day something arrives that was clearly sent by another company's system rather than by a person is the day this changed. That day shows up in your logs, not on a partner page.
QUESTIONS ANSWERED
What is an A2A agent card?
An agent card is the file an agent publishes to describe who it is and what it can do, so another company's agent can discover it. The A2A specification registers it at a well-known path on the server's domain. Of 135 A2A partner websites checked in September 2026, one served a card at that registered path.
How many A2A partners actually publish an agent card?
Four of the 135 checked served a card at either of the two well-known paths, and 131 served nothing. Only one used the path the current specification registers, the others used the path from an earlier version of the spec.
Why does MCP spread faster than A2A?
MCP needs one person to agree. You wire it up and it works the same afternoon, because the only party involved is you. A2A needs two organisations, so a perfect implementation returns nothing until a counterparty you do not control has done the same work.
Does my website need an agent card?
No. Nothing scores a website on having one, there is no test to fail, and if no agent runs on your server there is nothing for a card to describe. An empty field here is not a failing grade.
Why is an HTTP 200 not proof an agent card exists?
Many servers answer 200 to any address you request and return the homepage. Fourteen of the checked addresses returned 200 at the agent-card path and twelve of those were the homepage. The status code tells you the server replied, not what it replied with.
What should a website owner watch instead of the A2A partner list?
Your own server logs. The partner list records who signed an announcement. The logs record what actually arrived. The day a request shows up that was clearly sent by another company's system rather than by a person is the day this changed for you.
SOURCES
- A2A specification, section 8.2 discovery where the agent-card path is registered
- A2A partners list the 172 names, and the addresses this episode checked
- IANA well-known URI registry agent-card.json, permanent, Linux Foundation, 2025-08-01
- Model Context Protocol specification
- Announcing A2A, Google, April 2025 "more than 50 technology partners" at launch
CHAPTERS
- 00:00AWS, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP, and four answers
- 00:54What I was actually sold, and what I went looking for
- 01:31What counts as another party, and what does not
- 03:08Single-player, and why the reason is not technical
- 04:07MCP, November 2024: one person has to agree
- 06:56A2A, April 2025: two organisations have to agree
- 11:04What the agent card is, and why not having one is fine
- 12:56Who is actually at your server
- 15:35Forget the logos, watch your own logs
- 16:24After the episode: the race to the bottom
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