What is agentic commerce?
Commerce where an AI agent, acting on a real person's goal, does some or all of the finding, deciding and buying that a person used to do by hand.
2 min read
That covers a wide range in practice: an agent that just narrows down options for a person to confirm, one that books or buys outright within limits it's been given, and everything in between. What makes it "agentic" rather than just "online" is the goal-directed part, someone told an agent what they want, not how to get it, and the agent works out the rest. The rest of this glossary defines the specific terms, protocols and Selfe concepts that make that work.
Good for
Framing the shift at a high level, and orienting everything else in this glossary.
Not good for
Telling you whether a specific business is ready today, that's what a readiness score or buyability check measures.
What is an AI agent?
An AI system that's given a goal and works toward it on a person's behalf, rather than one that just answers whatever's typed into it, turn by turn.
What does "agent-ready" mean?
A business is agent-ready when an AI agent can find its real facts, trust them, and complete a booking or purchase, without a person having to fill in the gaps by hand.
Being found vs being bought from: what's the difference?
Being found means an AI agent knows a business exists and mentions it. Being bought from means the agent can complete a booking or purchase there. The first doesn't guarantee the second.