The Open Agent Readiness Standard
The web was built for people. AI agents need something different.
OARS defines what it means for a website to be fully machine-operable - discoverable, readable, actionable, transactable, and operable by AI systems acting on behalf of users. Knov.ai maintains the standard, verifies businesses against it, and operates the directory AI agents query to find them.
The levels of agent-readiness
A Level 0 prerequisite plus five cumulative levels — each requires full compliance with every level below it. Read the full specification →
- Level 0 Reachable The site is operationally usable by an agent at all.
- Level 1 Discoverable Agents can find and identify the entity.
- Level 2 Readable Agents can comprehend offerings, knowledge, and context.
- Level 3 Actionable Agents can take defined actions — book, quote, query.
- Level 4 Transactable Agents can complete commercial transactions.
- Level 5 Operable AI operates workflows inside the business.
Why OARS exists
The infrastructure of the web — HTML, DNS, robots.txt, WCAG — exists because the web needed shared standards to function at scale. The agent web is no different.
AI agents that research, transact, and operate on behalf of users need structured, machine-readable, action-capable, verifiable infrastructure. Without a standard, businesses are invisible or unreachable to agents. With it, they become part of the machine-operable web.