# How the Personal Agent Protocol Works: OAuth, Access, Routes

> How a Personal Agent Protocol visit works: discovery, guest or signed-in sessions, OAuth read-only or write access, and the three routes a business can offer.

Source: https://pap.md/docs/architecture.html

Last checked against sources: Oct 8, 2026

# How the Personal Agent Protocol works

A PAP visit starts on the company's website. The agent can stay a guest or the customer signs in through OAuth and picks read-only or write. Then the company decides how the agent finishes the job: its website, its APIs or its own agent.

 Spec not published. Sierra and Meta plan to publish v0.1 later in October 2026. This page describes the model in the October 6 announcement. It does not invent endpoints, scope names, or token rules that the spec has not defined.

## One visit

Three parties share the visit: the **customer**, their **personal agent**, and the **company**. The session is built on **OAuth**.

 One visit, four steps, one OAuth session. PNG

### 1. Discover

The agent finds, on the company's website, what the company offers and how to reach it. The announcement does not name a discovery file or URL.

### 2. Start a session

The agent begins a session for the user. It can start as a **guest**. That can be enough to check product availability or ask about a returns policy.

When the task needs the customer's account, the customer signs in on the company's page or uses credentials already set up with the personal agent.

### 3. Choose access

The customer stays in control and decides whether the agent has:

- **Read-only** access
- **Write** access

Limits on specific actions are a later idea, not part of the announced v0.1 model.

### 4. Keep one visit

The OAuth session carries across channels. A question asked before sign-in and an order change made afterward are part of the same visit.

## Three routes

After the session exists, the agent uses whichever route the company believes will offer the best customer experience. The company decides what it makes available.

 Website, APIs or the company’s own agent. The company decides which it offers. PNG

### Website

The agent navigates the company's regular web pages.

### APIs

The agent connects through interfaces built on standards such as **MCP** and**OpenAPI**. Those are the two standards the announcement names.

### Company agent

The agent works through the company's own agent when the task needs conversation. The announcement's example is a warranty claim.

## What each party gets

 Party Decides Gets Customer What access the agent receives A faster way to finish the task Company Parameters and which routes exist Visibility into an agent acting for a customer Agent builder How the agent uses the offered routes One consistent way to connect

## Planned, not in the first cut

Sierra and Meta described these as possible next steps, alongside the v0.1 spec, design workshops, and a reference implementation:

- **More detailed permissions** — customers and companies set limits on specific actions
- **Push notifications** — a company tells the agent when a flight is delayed or an order ships
- **Payment extensions** — the agent completes a purchase without sharing credit card information

## Next

#### Glossary →

Terms used on this site, kept to what the announcement actually says.

#### Partners →

Who's named, by whom, and what they said.

## Sources

- [Introducing Personal Agent Protocol](https://sierra.ai/blog/introducing-personal-agent-protocol) · Sierra (Bret Taylor, Clay Bavor), Oct 6, 2026 · primary source

pap.md is independent and not affiliated with Sierra, Meta or any PAP partner. Facts here come from the sources listed on each page.