# Personal Agent Protocol FAQ > Short, sourced answers about the Personal Agent Protocol (PAP). Source page: https://pap.md/faq Last checked against sources: Oct 8, 2026 pap.md is independent and not affiliated with Sierra, Meta or any PAP partner. ## What is the Personal Agent Protocol (PAP)? An open standard, announced by Sierra and Meta on October 6, 2026, for how a personal AI agent works with a business on a customer’s behalf. Sessions run on OAuth. The customer chooses read-only or write access, and the business chooses whether the agent uses its website, its APIs or its own agent. ## Who created PAP? Sierra, the customer-service AI company led by Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, and Meta, which makes the Muse personal agent. Launch partners include Genesys, Rocket, Shopify, Stripe and Walmart. ## Is the PAP specification published? Not as of Oct 8, 2026. Sierra said v0.1 would come "later this month", meaning October 2026, followed by design workshops and a reference implementation. ## Which companies support PAP? Ten organisations are named across the two announcements: Sierra, Meta, Genesys, Rocket, Shopify, Stripe and Walmart on both lists; Instinct only on Sierra’s; NiCE and Decagon only on Meta’s. ## Why are Sierra’s and Meta’s partner lists different? Neither company has explained it. Sierra’s post names Instinct; Meta’s names NiCE and Decagon instead. Both include Genesys, Rocket, Shopify, Stripe and Walmart. ## Are OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Amazon part of PAP? No. None of them is on either partner list. Bret Taylor, who also chairs OpenAI’s board, told CNBC he expects OpenAI and Anthropic to take part and would be "really disappointed" if competitors didn’t use it. ## How does PAP work? The agent starts on the company’s website and discovers what it offers. It can stay a guest for things like stock or return policies. If the task needs the account, the customer signs in and picks read-only or write. The company then lets the agent finish through its website, its APIs or its own agent. ## Does PAP use OAuth? Yes. Sierra says sessions are built on OAuth. The customer signs in on the company’s page or uses credentials already set up with the personal agent. ## Does PAP handle payments? Not in the announced first version. Payment extensions, letting an agent buy without sharing card details, are listed as a possible later step. ## Does PAP replace MCP? No. The announcement names MCP and OpenAPI as API routes a company can offer inside a PAP session. ## What is the difference between PAP and PACT? PACT is a separate protocol Decagon open-sourced the same day, with Instinct, built on A2A and OAuth 2.0. It already has a public spec. Decagon says it has joined the PAP working group. ## What is Muse, and why does it matter for PAP? Muse is Meta’s personal agent, launched September 8, 2026. It shops, books and fills forms for users. Amazon blocked it on September 20, saying it didn’t identify itself. PAP is widely read as the industry answer to that kind of standoff. ## Is PAP open source? It’s described as an open standard anyone can implement. No license, code repository or governing body had been published by October 8, 2026. ## Is there an official PAP website? Sierra’s announcement doesn’t link one. Until the spec is out, the Sierra blog post is the primary source. ## Is pap.md the official PAP site? No. pap.md is an independent site that tracks the protocol. It isn’t affiliated with Sierra, Meta or any partner. ## Is this the same PAP as the Password Authentication Protocol? No. In networking, PAP usually means the Password Authentication Protocol used with PPP. The Personal Agent Protocol is unrelated. ## How can a company get involved? Sierra says it will host design workshops with interested parties after v0.1. No public sign-up has been posted yet. ## Sources 1. [Introducing Personal Agent Protocol](https://sierra.ai/blog/introducing-personal-agent-protocol) · Sierra (Bret Taylor, Clay Bavor), Oct 6, 2026 2. [Meta joins with group of companies to tame 'chaos' of doing business with AI bots](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/06/meta-joins-companies-to-tame-chaos-of-doing-business-with-ai-bots.html) · CNBC, Oct 6, 2026 3. [Genesys, NiCE Join Sierra, Meta on Open Standard for Personal AI Agents](https://www.cmswire.com/contact-center/genesys-joins-sierra-meta-on-open-standard-for-personal-ai-agents-01/) · CMSWire 4. [Introducing the Personal Agent Consent & Trust Protocol (PACT)](https://decagon.ai/blog/introducing-the-personal-agent-consent-trust-protocol-pact) · Decagon, Oct 6, 2026 5. [Meta's Personal Agent Protocol Signs Walmart Before It Has a Spec](https://www.beri.net/article/meta-sierra-personal-agent-protocol-oauth-guest-read-write-access-vs-ucp-acp-trusted-agent-protocol-retail-banks) · BERI