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I Built the DNS for AI Agents — Here's Why

#ai #api #agents

I Built the DNS for AI Agents — Here's Why

The problem: Every AI agent developer reinvents discovery. You build a business verifier, I build an SEO analyzer, someone else builds a phone validator — and nobody can find each other.

The solution: Agent Registry — a single directory where agents register with A2A-compliant manifests and discover each other through semantic search.

How It Works

1. Register Your Agent

One POST request and your agent is live in the directory:

curl -X POST https://api.agentregistry.co/v1/register \
  -H "X-API-Key: ar_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "My Business Verifier",
    "description": "Verifies businesses via web scraping and phone calls",
    "capabilities": ["business_verification", "phone_verification", "hours_confirmation"],
    "endpoint_url": "https://api.example.com/v1",
    "owner_email": "you@example.com",
    "category": "verification",
    "pricing": {"per_call": 0.015}
  }'
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You get back:

  • A permanent agt_ agent ID
  • An A2A-compliant manifest endpoint
  • A free API key if you don't have one

2. Discover Agents by Capability

Natural language search. "Verify business hours" finds agents that can do that — even if they call it hours_confirmation:

curl "https://api.agentregistry.co/v1/discover?q=verify+business+hours" \
  -H "X-API-Key: ar_your_key_here"
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Returns:

{
  "results": [{
    "agent_id": "agt_localeye_001",
    "name": "Local-Eye Business Verifier",
    "match_score": 85,
    "match_type": "semantic",
    "why": "Capability match: business_verification",
    "trust_score": 94,
    "verified": true
  }],
  "total": 1
}
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Two search modes work together:

  • Semantic search — Ollama embeddings (nomic-embed-text) match meaning, not just keywords
  • Keyword fallback — stem matching catches what embeddings miss
  • LLM reranking — top results get a "why" explanation from a local model

3. Connect and Use

Grab the agent's manifest for everything you need:

curl https://api.agentregistry.co/v1/agents/agt_localeye_001/manifest
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{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "name": "Local-Eye Business Verifier",
  "capabilities": ["business_verification", "phone_verification", "hours_confirmation"],
  "endpoint": "https://api.localeye.co/v1",
  "auth": "api_key",
  "pricing": {"per_call": 0.015},
  "trust": {
    "score": 94,
    "verified": true,
    "total_calls": 24
  }
}
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What Makes This Different

A2A-Compliant Manifests

Every registered agent gets an Agent-to-Agent protocol manifest. This isn't just a directory listing — it's machine-readable metadata that other agents can parse and act on:

{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "name": "...",
  "capabilities": [...],
  "endpoint": "...",
  "auth": "api_key | bearer | oauth",
  "pricing": {...},
  "trust": {"score": 94, "verified": true, "total_calls": 24}
}
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Trust Scores, Not Just Listings

Agents earn trust through:

  • Verification — paid tiers get verified badges
  • Reviews — rate agents 1-5 after using them
  • Usage data — total calls and success rates are public
  • Semantic matching — better matches rise to the top

Built for the Agent Economy

The API is designed for agents calling agents, not just humans browsing:

  • Email verification on key creation — no fake signups
  • Tier limits — free keys get 100 discoveries/month, verified gets unlimited
  • Stripe integration — checkout sessions for instant tier upgrades
  • Rate limiting — 30/hr unauthenticated, 100/month free tier
  • Admin endpoints — revoke keys, purge agents, reset counters

The Tech Stack

  • FastAPI — async Python backend with OpenAPI docs
  • SQLite — lightweight, perfect for MVP (can migrate to Postgres later)
  • Ollama — local embeddings with nomic-embed-text for semantic search
  • Stripe — payment processing for verified/featured tiers
  • Telegram — real-time notifications on new registrations and payments

All secrets come from environment variables. No hardcoded defaults. The API enforces:

  • X-Admin-Key header for admin operations (not query params)
  • Email verification before key activation
  • Duplicate review blocking (UNIQUE constraint)
  • Transaction ownership (callers can only see their own agent's transactions)

Open Source

The entire backend is open source: github.com/rtsubber/agent-registry

Self-host it, extend it, or just learn from it. The schema, API design, and security patterns are all there.

What's Next

  • Embedding upgrades — swap sha256 hashes for real vector similarity (pgvector or Qdrant)
  • Health checking — periodic pings to verify registered endpoints are still alive
  • Agent-to-agent calling — POST /v1/agents/call/{id} with request routing
  • Webhook notifications — get notified when new agents register in your categories

Try It Now

  1. Get a free API key: agentregistry.co
  2. Register your agent: POST /v1/register
  3. Discover agents: GET /v1/discover?q=what+you+need

Free tier includes 100 discoveries/month. No credit card required.

Agent Registry is built by BrandBoost Studio. We make tools for the AI agent economy.

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