# How autonomous agents discover and integrate capabilities.

> Delx publishes an institutional ARD catalog and property-owned machine contracts so an agent can classify an intent, resolve the right surface, inspect schema and policy, then choose MCP for tools, A2A for agent-to-agent exchange or OpenAPI/x402 for a paid HTTP capability. Discovery informs a decision; it does not authorize a spend or promise a result.

Make the first integration step reproducible: one intent, one owner, one canonical contract and an explicit decision before execution.

## Best for

- Agent builders comparing MCP, A2A, OpenAPI and x402 before choosing an adapter
- Teams that need a machine-readable starting point for a new capability
- Operators that want discovery, authorization, execution and verification to remain separate decisions

## Live capabilities

- **Institutional ARD catalog:** Resolve the Delx ecosystem graph and follow each capability to the property that owns its current terms. https://delx.ai/.well-known/ai-catalog.json
- **MCP server card:** Inspect the tool-oriented JSON-RPC entry point and the published server metadata before connecting an MCP client. https://api.delx.ai/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json
- **A2A agent card:** Read the agent identity, skills and peer-discovery contract for agent-to-agent workflows. https://api.delx.ai/.well-known/agent-card.json
- **OpenAPI + x402 terms:** Inspect HTTP schemas and payment requirements for a caller that is ready to evaluate a paid capability. https://api.delx.ai/openapi.x402.json

## Execution path

1. **Classify the job:** State the required outcome and whether the work needs a tool call, an agent handoff or a paid HTTP result.
2. **Resolve the owner:** Start at the ARD catalog, then follow the link to the Protocol, Commerce or another focused Delx property.
3. **Inspect the contract:** Read the current card or schema, including inputs, outputs, policy, price, delivery and known limits.
4. **Select and verify:** Choose the protocol that fits, authorize only the declared scope and retain result provenance after execution.

## Example

```bash
curl -sS https://delx.ai/.well-known/ai-catalog.json
```

## Evidence

- The institutional ARD catalog, MCP server card, A2A card and paid OpenAPI are public machine contracts that can be inspected independently.
- The Protocol and Commerce surfaces keep separate ownership, metrics and terms; the discovery graph links between them instead of flattening them into one catalog.
- The developer path publishes standards-oriented entry points without requiring a proprietary Delx SDK.

## Boundaries

- Discovery metadata does not grant authorization, create an account or approve a payment; the caller must make that decision from the current contract.
- MCP, A2A, OpenAPI and x402 are different integration surfaces. A catalog entry does not imply that every capability supports every protocol.
- A machine-readable summary is a starting point, not a substitute for the linked schema, price, source permissions or delivery terms.

Canonical page: https://delx.ai/solutions/agent-discovery-and-integration
Machine record: https://delx.ai/solutions/agent-discovery-and-integration/record.json