# Open Service Directory

> Discover a brand's endorsed support agents and connect through the customer's chosen assistant.

Open Service Directory (OSD) helps AI assistants find a brand’s customer-support agents and verify that
the brand endorses them. It builds on
[Agentic Resource Discovery (ARD)](https://agenticresourcediscovery.org/introduction/), adding
requirements for brand identity and endorsement.

A brand publishes OSD listings for the support agents it wants assistants to discover. The brand or an authorized support platform can operate those agents.

After discovery, the assistant connects to the selected agent through a supported protocol. OSD is designed to work with connection protocols such as
[PACT](https://github.com/openpactprotocol/openpactprotocol) and
[PAP](https://www.facebook.com/business/news/a-new-way-for-businesses-and-personal-agents-to-work-together).
To list a brand that supports PAP, see [Point to a Poppy agent](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/guides/point-to-a-poppy-agent.md).

## Understand the model

![A personal AI assistant looks up a brand in the Open Service Directory, gets the brand's endorsed agent information, then connects directly to the brand's support agent through a protocol such as MCP, A2A, PACT, or PAP.](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/_astro/osd-explained.BwfAc83-.png)

- [What is OSD](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/getting-started/what-is-osd.md): the problem the directory addresses.
- [How OSD works](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/getting-started/how-osd-works.md): the flow from publishing a listing to connecting to an agent.
- [OSD and ARD](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/concepts/osd-and-ard.md): the shared discovery model and support-specific requirements.

## Start building

- [Discover support](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/guides/discover-support.md): discover agents directly from a brand's domain or through registry search.
- [Use the OSD CLI](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/guides/use-the-osd-cli.md) (coming soon): give assistants a common interface to search listings, verify brand endorsement, and connect to agents.
- [Publish a support agent](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/guides/publish-a-support-agent.md): describe your support agents, publish their endorsement, and submit listings to a registry.

## Trust

- [Trust model](https://cautious-adventure-v6loy75.pages.github.io/concepts/trust-model.md): what brand endorsement establishes and its limits.