Google UCP Adds Cart, Catalog, Identity Linking and Simplified Onboarding for AI Agent Transactions
Enable UCP on your Merchant Center by setting native_commerce attribute, and prepare for cart, catalog, and identity linking features to support multi‑item, loyalty‑aware AI shopping.
Update your Merchant Center product feeds to include native_commerce attribute, plan for UCP integration, and test cart, catalog, and identity linking with your chosen platform partner.
Summary
Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) now supports cart, catalog, and identity linking capabilities, enabling AI agents to add multiple items, query live product details, and carry over loyalty benefits via OAuth 2.0. The cart feature allows a single operation for multi‑item checkout, while the catalog provides real‑time pricing, variants, and stock levels, replacing static product feeds. Identity linking is the only capability in the stable release, distinguishing UCP from OpenAI’s ACP by preserving member pricing and free shipping. Simplified onboarding is available directly in Merchant Center, with the native_commerce attribute triggering a checkout button in AI Mode. Platform partners such as Commerce Inc, Salesforce, and Stripe will implement UCP soon, allowing merchants to serve both ACP and UCP from a single platform. Stripe’s dual‑protocol support positions it as a shared payment layer across competing agentic commerce protocols.
These updates bring UCP to feature parity with ACP, closing the gap in core primitives and making agentic commerce more accessible to retailers without extensive engineering resources.
Key changes
- UCP Cart added: allows AI agents to add multiple items in one operation and build baskets before checkout.
- UCP Catalog added: provides live product details, variants, pricing, stock levels, replacing static feeds.
- Identity Linking added: OAuth 2.0 integration to carry over loyalty benefits during AI transactions.
- Identity Linking is the only capability in stable release; Cart and Catalog are draft specs.
- Simplified onboarding via Merchant Center; native_commerce attribute triggers checkout button in AI Mode.
- Platform partners (Commerce Inc, Salesforce, Stripe) will implement UCP soon, enabling single‑platform support.
- Stripe now supports both ACP and UCP, becoming shared payment layer across protocols.
- UCP now matches ACP in core primitives, closing feature gap.