AI agents get their own phone directory built atop DNS

DNS for AI Discovery (DNS-AID) is an open source project that enables agent-to-agent discovery using existing internet infrastructure. It aims to replace approaches that rely on port probing or fragile hardcoded configurations with a web-native model. DNS-AID builds on DNS capabilities such as SVCB and HTTPS resource records, using TXT records as a fallback. It can optionally use DNSSEC and DANE TLSA records to support authentication. Agents can connect without a mediating entity, additional infrastructure, or a preferred protocol. DNS-AID supports MCP, A2A, HTTPS, and anything addressable via SVCB and ALPN, and it allows searching agents by name, function, and domain. Vendor-neutral governance is provided under the Linux Foundation.

"In the future, AI agents will be able to find one another using the Domain Name System (DNS), instead of crawling about and probing ports or checking configured resources. That future begins now with DNS for AI Discovery ( DNS-AID), an open source project intended to facilitate agent-to-agent discovery using existing internet infrastructure. The system has been built atop DNS to avoid the creation of yet another registry that has the potential to become a competitive chokepoint."

""Current approaches to agent connectivity are fragmented and often rely on fragile, hardcoded configurations," said Ingmar Van Glabbeek, project maintainer for DNS-AID, in a statement. "With DNS-AID, we are moving toward a 'web-native' model for AI. By utilizing the existing DNS hierarchy, we enable developers to publish and discover agents with the same reliability and ubiquity that we've used to navigate the internet for decades.""

"DNS-AID utilizes SVCB (with TXT as a fallback) and optionally DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and DNS-Based Authentication of Named Entities (DANE) TLSA records. These provide agents with a way to connect without a mediating entity, additional infrastructure, or a preferred protocol. DNS-AID supports MCP, A2A, HTTPS, and anything addressable via SVCB and ALPN."

"The system allows agents to be searched by name, by function, and by domain. The Linux Foundation promises vendor-neutral governance for the project, which was initially developed by Infoblox. "The Internet already solved the discovery problem decades ago with DNS -"

Read at theregister