Know Your Agent (KYA)
Checking which agent is acting, who operates it and whom it acts for, before letting it act.
Know Your Agent is an industry term, not a legal one, for checking which software agent is acting, who operates it and on whose behalf it acts, before letting it read data or make payments. It borrows its name from know-your-customer duties but has no single standard; current building blocks include signed HTTP requests from identified operators, agent descriptions such as agent cards, and scheme programmes that register agents. A know-your-agent check should end in a decision a merchant or bank can log: allow, limit, challenge or refuse.
Agent Minute explains this term on 5 November 2026.
Related terms
Agent cardIn A2A, a published description of an agent's identity, skills, endpoint and authentication requirements.HTTP Message SignaturesAn IETF standard for signing selected parts of an HTTP request or response so the receiver can verify them.Web Bot AuthIETF work on cryptographically authenticating automated clients, including agents, to websites.Trusted Agent ProtocolVisa's specification for signals that let merchants recognise trusted commerce agents and the consumer behind them.PrincipalThe person or organisation on whose behalf an agent acts and whose authority the agent exercises.