A2A and MCP Handshake

AG-UI now includes handshakes with both MCP and A2A protocols, ensuring smooth interoperability across the full agentic stack.

What Are Protocol Handshakes?

Protocol handshakes allow AG-UI to seamlessly communicate with agents using different interaction protocols. This means you can connect your frontend to agents that internally use MCP or A2A without any additional configuration.

Benefits

Full Interoperability

If your host agent connects to subagents using MCP or A2A, their UI properties can be propagated all the way through to the user-facing application.

Security and Control

Handshakes preserve full security, policy, and observability controls throughout the communication chain.

Simplified Architecture

No need to choose between protocols—use them all together in a single application.

How It Works

1. Frontend connects via AG-UI - Your application uses AG-UI to connect to the host agent
2. Host agent uses MCP/A2A - The host agent can communicate with subagents using MCP or A2A
3. UI properties propagate - Generative UI and other properties flow back to your frontend automatically

Learn More

• AG-UI Protocol
• MCP Integration
• A2A Protocol
• Agentic Protocols