Loading post…
Hugging Faceben burtenshaw, shaun smithExplainer
Agentic Resource Discovery: Let agents search
Summary
Agentic Resource Discovery (ARD) is a draft, open specification for discovering agent capabilities at runtime, addressing a model in which users and developers must pre-install, integrate, and maintain each MCP tool, skill, or A2A agent. It defines a static ai-catalog.json manifest and a dynamic POST /search registry API, using indexed signals such as publisher identity, representative queries, compliance attestations, and tags to move capability selection outside the LLM. Hugging Face's Discover Tool adapts Hub semantic search into ARD catalog entries for running Spaces, exposing skills, MCP servers, or raw Space metadata according to the requested media type and wrapping agents.md files into installable SKILL.md artifacts. The tool is available through the hf CLI, REST, and MCP, while planned work includes federation modes and Hub support for profile-level manifests.
Context
Agent capabilities currently follow an install-first, use-later model: developers hardcode MCP server URLs or users connect services through plugins. That approach does not scale to thousands of ad-hoc surfaces, while placing every tool description in an LLM context is constrained by context budgets and may not provide enough detail for reliable selection.
Approach / What changed
ARD separates discovery from execution through a well-known static ai-catalog.json manifest and a REST registry API with POST /search. Hugging Face's Discover Tool adapts Hub semantic search into ARD entries, filters results to running Spaces, and returns skills, MCP server entries, or raw Space metadata based on the requested media type. It is accessible through the hf CLI, REST API, and an MCP endpoint.
Takeaways
ARD catalogs capabilities across federated registries using signals including publisher identity, representative queries, compliance attestations, and tags.
Hugging Face Discover converts Space agents.md files into SKILL.md artifacts and can generate MCP catalog entries pointing to Gradio MCP endpoints for MCP-tagged Spaces.
The specification uses a shared envelope for different artifact protocols and supports federation, allowing one registry search to surface capabilities hosted by another service.
Source and freshness
- Source
- huggingface.co
- Published
- Added to Yomu
- Last updated
Summaries are generated from the original by a language model. Check the original before relying on it.
Keep reading
Related reading
The Good Stuff
Paid picks we use ourselves. Links carry a referral code — a subscription through one earns us a commission at no extra cost to you.
The best engineering reads, once a week
One useful email. Unsubscribe anytime.