Skip to content

docs: add centralized glossary and acronym standards #241

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
gsmith85 wants to merge 1 commit into
base: main
Choose a base branch
from
+73 −14
Open

docs: add centralized glossary and acronym standards #241

Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
1 commit
Select commit
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
72 changes: 72 additions & 0 deletions docs/specification/glossary.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
<!--
Copyright 2026 UCP Authors

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
-->

# Glossary

This glossary provides a best-effort capture of acronyms and terms used
throughout the UCP specification. New entries should be added in alphabetical
order within their respective category.

**Note:** Even with this glossary, it is preferred that the first usage of an
acronym in each specification Markdown file spells out the full term (e.g.,
"Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)").

## Protocol

| Term | Acronym | Definition |
| :------------------------------ | :------ | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Agent Payments Protocol** | AP2 | An open protocol designed to enable AI agents to securely interoperate and complete payments autonomously. UCP leverages AP2 for secure payment mandates. |
| **Agent2Agent Protocol** | A2A | An open standard for secure, collaborative communication between diverse AI agents. UCP can use A2A as a transport layer. |
| **Capability** | - | A standalone core feature that a business supports (e.g., Checkout, Identity Linking). Capabilities are the fundamental "verbs" of UCP. |
| **Credential Provider** | CP | A trusted entity (like a digital wallet) responsible for securely managing and executing the user's payment and identity credentials. |
| **Extension** | - | An optional capability that augments another capability via the `extends` field. Extensions appear in `ucp.capabilities[]` alongside core capabilities. |
| **Model Context Protocol** | MCP | A protocol standardizing how AI models connect to external data and tools. UCP capabilities map 1:1 to MCP tools. |
| **Profile** | - | A JSON document hosted by businesses and platforms at a well-known URI, declaring their identity, supported capabilities, and endpoints. |
| **Universal Commerce Protocol** | UCP | The standard defined in this document, enabling interoperability between commerce entities via standardized capabilities and discovery. |

## Commerce

| Term | Acronym | Definition |
| :--------------------------- | :------ | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Business** | - | The entity selling goods or services. In UCP, they act as the **Merchant of Record (MoR)**, retaining financial liability and ownership of the order. |
| **Merchant of Record** | MoR | The legal entity responsible for the sale, including financial liability and order ownership. |
| **Payment Service Provider** | PSP | The financial infrastructure provider that processes payments, authorizations, and settlements on behalf of the business. |
| **Platform** | - | The consumer-facing surface (AI agent, app, website) acting on behalf of the user to discover businesses and facilitate commerce. |

## Payments

| Term | Acronym | Definition |
| :----------------------------------------------- | :------ | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Card Verification Value** | CVV | The 3 or 4 digit security code on payment cards used to verify card-not-present transactions. |
| **Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard** | PCI-DSS | A set of security standards designed to ensure that all companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. |
| **Primary Account Number** | PAN | The unique payment card number (typically 13-19 digits) that identifies the card issuer and cardholder account. |
| **Strong Customer Authentication** | SCA | A requirement under PSD2 that payment service providers apply multi-factor authentication for electronic payments. |
| **3D Secure** | 3DS | A protocol designed to add an additional security layer for online credit and debit card transactions through cardholder authentication. |

## Compliance & Regulatory

| Term | Acronym | Definition |
| :------------------------------------- | :------ | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **California Consumer Privacy Act** | CCPA | A state statute intended to enhance privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of California, United States. |
| **General Data Protection Regulation** | GDPR | A regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area. |
| **Know Your Customer** | KYC | The process of verifying the identity of clients to prevent fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing. |

## Standards & Specifications

| Term | Acronym | Definition |
| :------------------------------------------------- | :------ | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **International Organization for Standardization** | ISO | An international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Referenced in UCP for country codes (ISO 3166-1), currency codes (ISO 4217), and date formats (ISO 8601). |
| **Verifiable Digital Credential** | VDC | An Issuer-signed credential (set of claims) whose authenticity can be verified cryptographically. Used in UCP for secure payment authorizations. |
15 changes: 1 addition & 14 deletions docs/specification/overview.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -1731,17 +1731,4 @@ Vendors control their own release schedules and versioning strategy.

## Glossary

| Term | Acronym | Definition |
| :-------------------------------- | :------ | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Agent Payments Protocol** | AP2 | An open protocol designed to enable AI agents to securely interoperate and complete payments autonomously. UCP leverages AP2 for secure payment mandates. |
| **Agent2Agent Protocol** | A2A | An open standard for secure, collaborative communication between diverse AI agents. UCP can use A2A as a transport layer. |
| **Capability** | - | A standalone core feature that a business supports (e.g., Checkout, Identity Linking). Capabilities are the fundamental "verbs" of UCP. |
| **Credential Provider** | CP | A trusted entity (like a digital wallet) responsible for securely managing and executing the user's payment and identity credentials. |
| **Extension** | - | An optional capability that augments another capability via the `extends` field. Extensions appear in `ucp.capabilities[]` alongside core capabilities. |
| **Profile** | - | A JSON document hosted by businesses and platforms at a well-known URI, declaring their identity, supported capabilities, and endpoints. |
| **Business** | - | The entity selling goods or services. In UCP, they act as the **Merchant of Record (MoR)**, retaining financial liability and ownership of the order. |
| **Model Context Protocol** | MCP | A protocol standardizing how AI models connect to external data and tools. UCP capabilities map 1:1 to MCP tools. |
| **Universal Commerce Protocol** | UCP | The standard defined in this document, enabling interoperability between commerce entities via standardized capabilities and discovery. |
| **Payment Service Provider** | PSP | The financial infrastructure provider that processes payments, authorizations, and settlements on behalf of the business. |
| **Platform** | - | The consumer-facing surface (AI agent, app, website) acting on behalf of the user to discover businesses and facilitate commerce. |
| **Verifiable Digital Credential** | VDC | An Issuer-signed credential (set of claims) whose authenticity can be verified cryptographically. Used in UCP for secure payment authorizations. |
For definitions of acronyms and terms used throughout the UCP specification, see the [Glossary](glossary.md).