---
type: Article
name: "What is an agent credential?"
id: "https://selfe.ai/insights/glossary/what-is-an-agent-credential"
url: "https://selfe.ai/insights/glossary/what-is-an-agent-credential"
publisher: "did:web:selfe.ai"
description: "A short-lived, scoped proof that an AI agent is who it claims to be, checked before a business trusts a request enough to act on it."
datePublished: "2026-09-15T16:25:20.643Z"
author: The Selfe team
---

# What is an agent credential?

> A short-lived, scoped proof that an AI agent is who it claims to be, checked before a business trusts a request enough to act on it.

## In short

- An agent credential proves an agent is who it claims to be, before a business trusts its request.
- It answers identity specifically, not spending authority, which is checked separately.

Good for: Proving an agent is genuine. Not good for: Proving it's allowed to spend. That's a separate check entirely, handled by AP2 and a Wallet.

Without one, a business has no way to tell a genuine agent acting for a real person apart from any other automated request arriving at its systems. A credential is what closes that gap: it identifies the agent, and often the platform it's running on, without needing a business to build its own verification from scratch. It answers "is this a real agent" specifically, not "is it allowed to spend," which is a separate check.

## Good for

Proving an agent is genuine.

## Not good for

Proving it's allowed to spend. That's a separate check entirely, handled by AP2 and a Wallet.

## Act on this

- [Check whether an agent can buy from you](https://selfe.ai/agentic-commerce/buyability-check) — the free readiness scan.
- [Discover venues](https://selfe.ai/api/registry/discover) — `POST`, semantic browse across the registry.
- [Match a bookable answer](https://selfe.ai/api/registry/match) — `POST` with dates and party size.
- [Verify Selfe's identity](https://selfe.ai/.well-known/did.json) — `did:web:selfe.ai`.
- [Agent card](https://selfe.ai/.well-known/agent-card.json) — how to connect over A2A or MCP.