ACP Payment Handlers

Before writing code

Fetch live docs:

1. Web-search site:github.com agentic-commerce-protocol rfcs payment_handlers for the payment handlers RFC
2. Web-search site:github.com agentic-commerce-protocol rfcs seller_backed for seller-backed payment handler RFC
3. Fetch https://developers.openai.com/commerce/specs/payment/ for payment data structures
4. Web-search site:docs.stripe.com agentic-commerce payment handler for Stripe's handler implementation

Conceptual Architecture

What Payment Handlers Are

Payment handlers are pluggable specifications that define how a particular payment method works within ACP. Each PSP or merchant publishes handler specs, and agents/merchants negotiate which handlers they mutually support.

This inverts the traditional integration model — instead of hardcoding payment methods into the protocol, handlers are discoverable and composable.

Handler Identification