Standard AI Protocols (MCP & A2A) (Advanced View)

One of the unique features of PURISTA agents is their ability to speak "standard" protocols. This allows them to be consumed by other AI systems (like Claude Desktop or other agents) without manual code changes.

1. Model Context Protocol (MCP)

MCP is an open standard that enables AI models to connect to data sources and tools. You can expose any PURISTA command or agent as an MCP tool.

Exposing an Agent via MCP

Simply use .setSseProtocol('mcp') in your agent builder. PURISTA will automatically map the agent's input/output schemas into the MCP tool definition.

export const supportAgent = new AgentBuilder({ ... })
  .exposeAsHttpEndpoint('POST', 'agents/support/mcp')
  .setSseProtocol('mcp')
  .build()

Why use MCP?

• Universal Access: Your PURISTA agent can now be a "tool" for any LLM that supports MCP.
• Data & Tools: Expose your existing domain services (Order lookup, Customer data) to external AI assistants.
• Interoperability: Connect different agent systems together using a standard wire format.

2. Agent2Agent (A2A)

A2A is a protocol designed for direct agent-to-agent communication. It focuses on higher-level task hand-offs and collaboration.

Exposing an Agent via A2A

Set the SSE protocol to 'agent2agent':

export const supportAgent = new AgentBuilder({ ... })
  .exposeAsHttpEndpoint('POST', 'agents/support/a2a')
  .setSseProtocol('agent2agent')
  .build()

Why use A2A?

• Task Delegation: A high-level orchestrator agent can "hand off" a specific sub-task to your specialized PURISTA agent.
• Cross-Organization Collaboration: Securely expose agents across different PURISTA instances or even different companies.

3. How Protocols are Mapped

When you set an SSE protocol other than purista, the internal agent frames are transformed in the background:

PURISTA Frame	MCP Mapping	A2A Mapping
message	Tool response text	Agent response message
artifact	Tool response data	Agent attachment
error	Tool error code	Agent error frame
telemetry	Ignored	Agent metadata

4. When to use which?

Use Case	Recommended Protocol
Connecting to Claude Desktop or IDE Assistants	MCP
B2B Agent collaboration	A2A
Vercel AI SDK / Next.js UI	ai-sdk-ui-message
Internal PURISTA-to-PURISTA	purista (Default)

By leveraging these protocols, your PURISTA agents become part of a larger, global ecosystem of AI agents and tools.