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docs: state that adopting service discoverability opts an app in to ICP MCP #372

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docs: state that adopting service discoverability opts an app in to I…
claude Aug 28, 2026
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docs: name manifest publication as the opt-in trigger
claude Aug 28, 2026
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docs: name ICP MCP in the description and add the privacy policy
claude Aug 28, 2026
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docs: take the reviewer's edited description; name the agent in the i…
claude Aug 28, 2026
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8 changes: 6 additions & 2 deletions docs/guides/frontends/service-discoverability.md
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---
title: "Service discoverability"
description: "What a canister app exposes so an AI agent can discover its canisters, interfaces, behavior, data, and identity from just its URL"
description: "What an app exposes so ICP MCP can discover its canisters, interfaces, behavior, data, and identity from just its URL."
sidebar:
order: 3
---

When an AI agent is handed only your app's URL (for example, `https://yourapp.com`), it should be able to work out the rest on its own: which canisters your app comprises, what each one does, how to call them, how to query their data, and how to act as the signed-in user. No human supplying canister IDs, no bespoke integration.
When an agent working through ICP MCP is handed only your app's URL (for example, `https://yourapp.com`), it should be able to work out the rest on its own: which canisters your app comprises, what each one does, how to call them, how to query their data, and how to act as the signed-in user. No human supplying canister IDs, no bespoke integration.

This guide describes what a canister app exposes to make that possible, ordered by priority.

:::caution[Adopting this protocol opts your app in]
By implementing this service discoverability protocol for your app, you agree that your app should be discovered by [ICP MCP](https://internetcomputer.org/icp-mcp/), that you accept its [terms of service](https://internetcomputer.org/icp-mcp/terms/), and that you comply with its [privacy policy](https://internetcomputer.org/icp-mcp/privacy-policy/). Publishing the Layer 1 manifest at `/.well-known/ic-architecture` is the act that opts your app in: the layers are otherwise independently adoptable, and the rest of them describe how an agent works with an app once it has been discovered.
:::

## The five layers

An agent handed only your app's URL should be able to do five things, unattended:
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