Agentic Resource Discovery (ARD): An open specification for agent discovery

This article introduces AWS Agent Registry and the Agentic Resource Discovery (ARD) specification, which enable organizations to centrally catalog and discover AI agents, tools, and resources across multiple environments.

• AWS Agent Registry provides a centralized, searchable catalog with approval workflows and flexible authorization using IAM or JWT
• ARD is an open standard (Apache License 2.0) enabling federation across registries similar to DNS for name resolution
• Supports hybrid search combining semantic understanding with keyword matching for resource discovery
• MCP-native access allows any MCP-compatible client to search and use resources directly
• Enables organizations to discover resources globally while maintaining local control over catalogs and access
• Supports cross-environment deployment across clouds, on-premises, and SaaS platforms without requiring bilateral connectors

ARD complements AWS Agent Registry by enabling interoperable discovery of agentic resources across distributed enterprise infrastructure while preserving organizational control and security.