When to Use
User building products/services for AI agents as customers. Covers making products agent-discoverable, designing for autonomous purchasing, payment integration, and competing when buyers compare cold data instead of responding to storytelling.
Quick Reference
| Topic |
File |
| Technical implementation |
infrastructure.md |
| Agent discovery & SEO |
discovery.md |
| Retail/ecommerce specifics |
retail.md |
The Paradigm Shift
| B2C/B2B |
B2A |
| Humans browse, compare, feel |
Agents query, parse, decide |
| Emotional storytelling wins |
Structured data wins |
| UX optimized for eyes |
APIs optimized for parsing |
| Brand = trust + emotion |
Brand = verified track record |
| Loyalty = relationship |
Loyalty = switching cost |
| Marketing = persuasion |
Marketing = engineering |
Core Rules
1. Machine-Readable First
- Products must be structured objects, not prose descriptions
- JSON-LD, Schema.org, OpenAPI with typed fields
- If an agent has to "interpret" text to extract price/specs, you lose
- Normalize units:
shipping_days_max: 2, not "fast shipping"
2. Comparability Is Everything
Agents compare ruthlessly. Win by being comparable:
- Standardized attributes across your catalog
- Same fields as competitors (price_currency, availability_stock)
- SLAs with concrete numbers, not promises
- "Better" must be objectively measurable
3. Discovery ≠ SEO
Agents don't Google. They query registries and APIs:
- Publish in skill stores / capability directories
/.well-known/ai-plugin.json or MCP tools- Metadata must declare capabilities, not market them
- The new PageRank = ranking in agent skill stores
4. Trust Is Verified, Not Told
Agents don't believe claims. They verify:
- Uptime/latency/SLA history via API, not badges
- Reviews from other agents (programmatic reputation)
- Certifications as queryable data, not PDF downloads
- Track record > marketing copy
5. Zero-Friction Trial or Death
Agents don't "consider"—they test or discard:
- Onboarding < 1 API call
- Sandbox with rate limits, not "talk to sales"
- Must work perfectly first time (no second chances)
- Errors must be machine-readable, not HTML pages
6. Payments for Agents
The agent needs to transact autonomously:
- Stripe Agent Toolkit, Mastercard Agent Pay, or similar
- Pre-authorized budgets (agent has $X to spend)
- Programmatic receipts and confirmations
- Escrow for trust between unknown parties
7. Metrics That Matter
| Metric |
What It Measures |
| Agent Conversion Rate |
% queries → purchase |
| Decision Latency |
Time from first query to commit |
| Comparison Survival |
% times reaching final shortlist |
| Repeat Agent Retention |
% agents that return |
| API Error Rate |
Failures causing agent to discard |
Traditional metrics (page views, bounce rate) are meaningless.
Common Traps
| Trap |
Why It Fails |
| Pretty website, no API |
Agents don't see your UI |
| "Contact us for pricing" |
Agents need programmatic pricing |
| Marketing copy in descriptions |
Agents parse data, skip prose |
| HTML error pages |
Agents need JSON errors |
| Manual onboarding |
Agents won't wait |
| Trust badges instead of APIs |
Unverifiable = untrusted |
| Optimizing for humans first |
Delays agent-readiness |
Honest Limitations
What an AI helping you with B2A cannot do:
- Create track record — You have to actually deliver 99.9% uptime
- Know internal rankings — How Claude/GPT rank skills is opaque
- Predict agent decisions — Each agent has its own heuristics
- Guarantee discovery — Skill stores may have hidden placement deals
- Prevent gaming — Competitors lying about specs is real
Readiness Checklist
□ Products exposed via structured API (not scraping required)
□ Pricing programmatically queryable
□ Inventory/availability real-time
□ Authentication supports client_credentials (not interactive)
□ Errors return JSON with semantic codes
□ Onboarding works in < 5 API calls
□ Payment rails support autonomous agents
□ SLA metrics exposed via API
□ Listed in relevant skill registries
1---2name: b2a3description: Sell to AI agents with machine-readable products, agent-optimized APIs, structured pricing, and discovery strategies for the agentic economy.4---5
6## When to Use
7
8User building products/services for AI agents as customers. Covers making products agent-discoverable, designing for autonomous purchasing, payment integration, and competing when buyers compare cold data instead of responding to storytelling.
9
10## Quick Reference
11
12| Topic | File |
13|-------|------|
14| Technical implementation | `infrastructure.md` |
15| Agent discovery & SEO | `discovery.md` |
16| Retail/ecommerce specifics | `retail.md` |
17
18## The Paradigm Shift
19
20| B2C/B2B | B2A |
21|---------|-----|
22| Humans browse, compare, feel | Agents query, parse, decide |
23| Emotional storytelling wins | Structured data wins |
24| UX optimized for eyes | APIs optimized for parsing |
25| Brand = trust + emotion | Brand = verified track record |
26| Loyalty = relationship | Loyalty = switching cost |
27| Marketing = persuasion | Marketing = engineering |
28
29## Core Rules
30
31### 1. Machine-Readable First
32- Products must be structured objects, not prose descriptions
33- JSON-LD, Schema.org, OpenAPI with typed fields
34- If an agent has to "interpret" text to extract price/specs, you lose
35- Normalize units: `shipping_days_max: 2`, not "fast shipping"
36
37### 2. Comparability Is Everything
38Agents compare ruthlessly. Win by being comparable:
39- Standardized attributes across your catalog
40- Same fields as competitors (price_currency, availability_stock)
41- SLAs with concrete numbers, not promises
42- "Better" must be objectively measurable
43
44### 3. Discovery ≠ SEO
45Agents don't Google. They query registries and APIs:
46- Publish in skill stores / capability directories
47- `/.well-known/ai-plugin.json` or MCP tools
48- Metadata must declare capabilities, not market them
49- The new PageRank = ranking in agent skill stores
50
51### 4. Trust Is Verified, Not Told
52Agents don't believe claims. They verify:
53- Uptime/latency/SLA history via API, not badges
54- Reviews from other agents (programmatic reputation)
55- Certifications as queryable data, not PDF downloads
56- Track record > marketing copy
57
58### 5. Zero-Friction Trial or Death
59Agents don't "consider"—they test or discard:
60- Onboarding < 1 API call
61- Sandbox with rate limits, not "talk to sales"
62- Must work perfectly first time (no second chances)
63- Errors must be machine-readable, not HTML pages
64
65### 6. Payments for Agents
66The agent needs to transact autonomously:
67- Stripe Agent Toolkit, Mastercard Agent Pay, or similar
68- Pre-authorized budgets (agent has $X to spend)
69- Programmatic receipts and confirmations
70- Escrow for trust between unknown parties
71
72### 7. Metrics That Matter
73
74| Metric | What It Measures |
75|--------|-----------------|
76| Agent Conversion Rate | % queries → purchase |
77| Decision Latency | Time from first query to commit |
78| Comparison Survival | % times reaching final shortlist |
79| Repeat Agent Retention | % agents that return |
80| API Error Rate | Failures causing agent to discard |
81
82Traditional metrics (page views, bounce rate) are meaningless.
83
84## Common Traps
85
86| Trap | Why It Fails |
87|------|--------------|
88| Pretty website, no API | Agents don't see your UI |
89| "Contact us for pricing" | Agents need programmatic pricing |
90| Marketing copy in descriptions | Agents parse data, skip prose |
91| HTML error pages | Agents need JSON errors |
92| Manual onboarding | Agents won't wait |
93| Trust badges instead of APIs | Unverifiable = untrusted |
94| Optimizing for humans first | Delays agent-readiness |
95
96## Honest Limitations
97
98What an AI helping you with B2A cannot do:
99- **Create track record** — You have to actually deliver 99.9% uptime
100- **Know internal rankings** — How Claude/GPT rank skills is opaque
101- **Predict agent decisions** — Each agent has its own heuristics
102- **Guarantee discovery** — Skill stores may have hidden placement deals
103- **Prevent gaming** — Competitors lying about specs is real
104
105## Readiness Checklist
106
107```
108□ Products exposed via structured API (not scraping required)
109□ Pricing programmatically queryable
110□ Inventory/availability real-time
111□ Authentication supports client_credentials (not interactive)
112□ Errors return JSON with semantic codes
113□ Onboarding works in < 5 API calls
114□ Payment rails support autonomous agents
115□ SLA metrics exposed via API
116□ Listed in relevant skill registries
117```
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