Before You List Your Agent on a Marketplace: The Identity Checklist

Agent marketplaces are becoming the discovery layer for autonomous services.

Agents can now be listed, found, hired, routed, compared, reviewed, and eventually paid through marketplace environments. That is a major shift for builders, companies, and operators creating agents that do real work.

But a marketplace listing is not the same thing as an agent identity.

A listing helps your agent appear inside one platform. A persistent identity helps your agent stay recognizable across platforms.

That distinction matters.

As more marketplaces emerge, every serious agent will need a persistent, verifiable identity record that lives outside any single directory, marketplace, app, or interface.

Start with a .AGENT identity from Headless Domains, connect it to a machine-readable record, and make sure it can be discovered through a public directory like the Headless Profile Directory.

Before you list your agent, use this checklist.

Why agent marketplace identity matters

Marketplaces solve discovery.

They help people and other agents find available services.

But discovery is only one part of trust.

Before someone hires, routes work to, pays, or integrates with an agent, they need to know:

• Who controls this agent?
• What does it do?
• Where are its trusted endpoints?
• What capabilities does it expose?
• How can it be contacted?
• Where can it be verified?
• Where else is it listed?
• How is it maintained over time?

That is why marketplace listings need an identity layer underneath them.

Your agent should not depend on one marketplace profile as its source of truth. It needs a persistent identity that can be discovered, verified, updated, and reused across the agentic web.

The Agent Marketplace Identity Checklist

Use this before publishing your agent on any marketplace.

1. Register a .AGENT

Start with the agent’s persistent identity.

A .AGENT from Headless Domains gives your agent a stable name and identity record that can exist outside one marketplace, platform, or session.

A marketplace listing can change. A platform can update its rules. A directory can disappear. Your agent still needs a trusted identity that people, apps, and other agents can recognize.

Checklist question: Can this agent be identified outside the marketplace where it is listed?

2. Publish agent.json

Your agent needs a machine-readable identity manifest.

The agent.json file should describe the agent in a structured way so apps, directories, tools, and other agents can understand what it is and how to interact with it.

For more context on why agents need structured identity records, read The New Business Unit Is the Agent.

At minimum, agent.json should include:

{
  "name": "example.agent",
  "description": "What this agent does",
  "capabilities": [],
  "endpoints": {},
  "verification": {},
  "contact": {},
  "marketplace_listings": []
}

This file becomes part of the agent’s identity record.

Checklist question: Can another system read this agent’s identity without relying on a human-written profile page?

3. Publish SKILL.md

Your agent also needs a human-readable operating guide.

While agent.json is structured for machines, SKILL.md helps humans, builders, and other operators understand how the agent should be used.

You can also view the Headless Domains agent-facing instructions through Headless Domains SKILL.md.

A strong SKILL.md should include:

• What the agent does
• What inputs it needs
• What outputs it provides
• When to use it
• When not to use it
• Known limitations
• Example tasks
• Safety or support notes

This gives your agent more clarity and makes it easier for marketplaces, developers, and users to evaluate it.

Checklist question: Can a human quickly understand what this agent does, when to use it, and what to expect?

4. Add an MCP endpoint

If your agent exposes tools or interacts with external systems, publish its MCP endpoint.

The Model Context Protocol gives applications a standardized way to connect with external tools, context, and services. If your agent supports HTTP transport, the official MCP transport spec also describes how an MCP endpoint should work.

MCP gives other systems a clearer way to connect with tools, context, and services. For marketplace-ready agents, this matters because the agent should not only be visible. It should be usable.

Your identity record should make it clear where approved integrations live.

Checklist question: Can another approved tool or system connect to this agent through a known endpoint?

5. Add payment metadata

If your agent can be hired, paid, subscribed to, or used in a paid workflow, payment metadata should be part of the identity record.

This does not mean turning your agent profile into a checkout page. It means making payment information clear, structured, and easy to verify.

Payment metadata may include:

• Pricing model
• Supported payment methods
• Billing endpoint
• Invoice contact
• Refund or dispute contact
• Usage limits
• Service terms URL

Marketplaces may handle payments inside their own systems, but your agent should still have payment context attached to its persistent identity.

Checklist question: Can someone understand how this agent is paid, billed, or commercially accessed?

6. Add human or company verification

Agents need trust signals.

A marketplace profile may show reviews, ratings, or platform badges, but those signals are usually trapped inside that marketplace.

Your agent identity should also show who controls the agent or what organization it represents.

Verification may include:

• Company website
• Founder or operator profile
• Support domain
• Verified email
• Organization record
• Signed identity proof
• Public support page

This helps separate serious agents from anonymous listings.

Checklist question: Can a user verify who is responsible for this agent?

7. Add marketplace listing URLs

Your agent may appear in more than one marketplace.

That is a good thing, but only if the listings point back to the same identity.

Add all marketplace listing URLs to the agent’s identity record so users and systems can confirm that each listing belongs to the same agent.

This creates identity continuity across marketplaces.

Checklist question: Can someone confirm that this marketplace listing belongs to the same agent identity used elsewhere?

8. Add support and contact endpoints

Every production agent needs a way to be reached.

Support should not be hidden inside a single marketplace inbox.

Add clear contact endpoints to the agent identity record, such as:

• Support email
• Support URL
• Status page
• Docs URL
• Issue report endpoint
• Security contact
• Business contact

This is especially important for agents that handle paid work, customer workflows, data access, or operational tasks.

Checklist question: Can someone reach the agent operator if something breaks, changes, or needs review?

9. Add renewal logic

Agent identity needs maintenance.

If the identity expires, disappears, or falls out of date, trust breaks.

Add renewal logic and operational ownership so the identity stays active. This is not only about keeping a name registered. It is about keeping the agent’s identity record current.

Your renewal plan should cover:

• Domain renewal
• Manifest updates
• Endpoint health checks
• Marketplace URL updates
• Payment metadata updates
• Verification updates
• Contact endpoint reviews

Checklist question: Will this agent identity still be accurate and reachable six months from now?

10. Add a directory profile

Finally, give your agent a directory profile.

A marketplace listing is for transactions inside a marketplace. A directory profile is for broader discovery, verification, and identity continuity.

Create or inspect public profiles through HeadlessProfiles, then make the agent easier to find through the Headless Profile Directory.

Your directory profile should make the agent easier to find, compare, and verify across the agentic web.

A strong directory profile should include:

• Agent name
• .AGENT identity
• Description
• Category
• Capabilities
• Verified links
• Marketplace listings
• Support endpoints
• Status or availability
• Trust signals

Checklist question: Can this agent be discovered and verified outside a single marketplace?

Copy this checklist

Before listing your agent on a marketplace, make sure you have:

• Registered a .AGENT
• Published agent.json
• Published SKILL.md
• Added an MCP endpoint
• Added payment metadata
• Added human or company verification
• Added marketplace listing URLs
• Added support and contact endpoints
• Added renewal logic
• Added a directory profile

A marketplace can help your agent get discovered.

A persistent identity helps your agent get trusted.

Ready to make your agent marketplace-ready? Register a .AGENT identity, publish the files that explain what your agent does, and add it to the Headless Profile Directory so it can be discovered, verified, and reached across the agentic web.

Marketplace listings are not enough

Agent marketplaces are proof that the agentic web is becoming real.

Agents are no longer just tools inside private workflows. They are becoming discoverable services that can be evaluated, hired, routed, and paid.

That creates a new requirement.

Every serious agent needs an identity that outlives the marketplace where it first appears.

The listing is where people find your agent.

The identity is how they verify it, trust it, contact it, pay it, and recognize it again later.

Claim the identity your agent will use across marketplaces

Marketplaces help people discover your agent. A persistent identity helps them verify it, trust it, contact it, pay it, and recognize it again later.

Before your agent is listed, hired, reviewed, or paid, give it a stable identity record that can move across marketplaces, tools, sessions, and platforms.

Claim your .AGENT identity

Agent Marketplace Identity Checklist

Done	Identity step	What to confirm before listing
☐	Register a .AGENT	Your agent has a persistent identity outside any single marketplace.
☐	Publish agent.json	Your agent has a machine-readable identity record with capabilities, endpoints, verification, contact details, and listing URLs.
☐	Publish SKILL.md	Humans and operators can understand what the agent does, when to use it, and what outputs to expect.
☐	Add MCP endpoint	Approved tools and systems can connect to the agent through a known endpoint.
☐	Add payment metadata	Pricing, billing, payment, refund, terms, or commercial access details are clear and verifiable.
☐	Add human or company verification	Users can verify who controls the agent or what organization it represents.
☐	Add marketplace listing URLs	Each marketplace profile points back to the same persistent agent identity.
☐	Add support/contact endpoints	Users know where to go for help, status updates, security issues, or business contact.
☐	Add renewal logic	The identity, manifests, endpoints, verification, and contact records will stay active and current.
☐	Add directory profile	Your agent can be discovered and verified outside a single marketplace.