Personal Agent Protocol FAQ

What is the Personal Agent Protocol (Poppy)?

An open standard, announced by Sierra and Meta on October 6, 2026, for how a personal AI agent works with a business on a customer’s behalf. Sessions run on OAuth. The customer chooses read-only or write access, and the business chooses whether the agent uses its website, its APIs or its own agent.

Overview →

Is it PAP or Poppy?

PAP was the initialism for Personal Agent Protocol when the project was first announced. To avoid confusion with other protocols that use PAP, Sierra later introduced Poppy as its short name. It is the same protocol: use Poppy as the current name, and “Poppy, formerly known as PAP” when helping people find older references.

Initial announcement → · Sierra introduces the Poppy name →

Who created Poppy?

Sierra, the customer-service AI company led by Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, and Meta, which makes the Muse personal agent. Sierra announced 35 additional design partners on October 9, 2026.

Partners →

Is the Poppy specification published?

Yes. Draft 0.1 was published on October 9, 2026 under Apache 2.0. It is subject to change before a stable release.

Read draft 0.1 → · Spec status tracker →

Which companies support Poppy?

Ten organisations appeared on the October 6 launch lists. On October 9, Sierra announced 35 additional design partners, including OpenAI. The lists and dates are compared on the partners page.

Partner comparison →

Why are Sierra’s and Meta’s partner lists different?

Neither company has explained it. Sierra’s post names Instinct; Meta’s names NiCE and Decagon instead. Both include Genesys, Rocket, Shopify, Stripe and Walmart.

Are OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Amazon part of Poppy?

OpenAI joined as a design partner on October 9, 2026. Anthropic, Google and Amazon are not named in the partner announcements.

How does Poppy work?

The agent reads the company’s /.well-known/poppy.json discovery document, starts a session, and signs in using a supported flow if needed. The draft defines read and write scopes, web browsing, APIs and company-agent conversations.

Architecture →

Does Poppy use OAuth?

Yes. Draft 0.1 uses OAuth and supports direct, device and mediated sign-in flows.

Does Poppy handle payments?

Not in the announced first version. Payment extensions, letting an agent buy without sharing card details, are listed as a possible later step.

Poppy vs ACP →

Does Poppy replace MCP?

No. The announcement names MCP and OpenAPI as API routes a company can offer inside a Poppy session.

Poppy vs MCP →

What is the difference between Poppy and PACT?

PACT is a separate protocol Decagon open-sourced the same day, with Instinct, built on A2A and OAuth 2.0. It already has a public spec. Decagon says it has joined the Poppy working group.

Poppy vs PACT →

What is Muse, and why does it matter for Poppy?

Muse is Meta’s personal agent, launched September 8, 2026. It shops, books and fills forms for users. Amazon blocked it on September 20, saying it didn’t identify itself. Poppy is widely read as the industry answer to that kind of standoff.

Timeline →

Is Poppy open source?

The draft specification is licensed under Apache 2.0. A reference implementation is planned; a governing body has not been named.

Where are the official Poppy docs?

The overview and draft 0.1 are published at personalagentprotocol.org. The specification is licensed under Apache 2.0.

Official overview →

Is poppy.md the official Poppy site?

No. poppy.md is an independent site that tracks the protocol. It isn’t affiliated with Sierra, Meta or any partner.

About poppy.md →

Is Poppy related to the Password Authentication Protocol?

No. Poppy is the short name for Personal Agent Protocol. The older Password Authentication Protocol (PAP), used with PPP, is unrelated.

How can a company get involved?

Sierra says it will host design workshops with interested parties and publish a reference implementation. No public schedule or sign-up has been posted yet.

Guide for businesses →