Overview
NANDA represents the overarching vision for how complex AI agent ecosystems operate at scale:
- How are agents discovered?
- How are they coordinated?
- How do they operate across untrusted environments?
The Problem NANDA Solves
While MCP handles agent-to-tool and A2A enables agent-to-agent communication, neither addresses:
- Lifecycle Management: How are agents born, updated, retired?
- Decentralized Coordination: Who orchestrates without central control?
- Scalability: How do billions of agents find each other?
Key Principles
1. Decentralized Discovery
Agents can be found without central registries, using distributed protocols.
2. Self-Organization
Agent networks form and optimize without central coordination.
3. Secure Coordination
Trust established through cryptographic means, not authorities.
4. Lifecycle Management
Standard patterns for agent deployment, updates, and retirement.
Relationship to Protocols
NANDA (Coordination Framework)
├── Discovery: ANS, ANP DIDs
├── Communication: A2A, MCP
└── UI: AG-UI
NANDA provides the "how" while protocols provide the "what."