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Conformance

This section defines the requirements for conformant UCAP servers and agents.

Server Conformance

MUST (Required)

A conformant UCAP server MUST:

  1. Implement the Content Access capability (dev.ucap.content.access)
  2. Verify OpenBotAuth signatures on all requests
  3. Return proper 402 Payment Required responses with offers for paywalled content
  4. Support the well-known discovery endpoint (/.well-known/ucap.json)

A conformant UCAP server SHOULD:

  1. Implement Catalog Search (dev.ucap.content.catalog.search)
  2. Implement Catalog Lookup (dev.ucap.content.catalog.lookup)
  3. Implement Subscription Management (dev.ucap.content.subscription)
  4. Provide MCP tools for AI agent integration
  5. Follow UCP error handling conventions (200 with messages, not 404) for catalog operations

MAY (Optional)

A conformant UCAP server MAY:

  1. Implement Identity Linking (dev.ucap.content.identity)
  2. Support USDC cryptocurrency payments
  3. Maintain a global publisher registry
  4. Support content access by original URL

Agent Conformance

MUST (Required)

A conformant UCAP agent MUST:

  1. Sign all requests with OpenBotAuth
  2. Handle 402 Payment Required responses gracefully
  3. Present checkout URLs to humans (not auto-purchase) for Stripe payments
  4. Respect UCAP-Purpose semantics

A conformant UCAP agent SHOULD:

  1. Include the UCAP-Purpose header on content access requests
  2. Provide context with search requests for improved relevance
  3. Check messages arrays for errors on 200 responses
  4. Respect attribution requirements when displaying content

MAY (Optional)

A conformant UCAP agent MAY:

  1. Execute USDC payments autonomously when authorized
  2. Use the intent field in context to improve search relevance
  3. Cache catalog responses for improved performance
  4. Support multiple transport bindings (REST, MCP)

Conformance Levels

Level Requirements
Basic Content Access + OpenBotAuth verification
Standard Basic + Catalog Search + Catalog Lookup
Full Standard + Subscription + Identity Linking + MCP