Searches for Google ARD usually mean one of three things: Google’s Agentic Resource Discovery spec, a confused hit for German broadcaster ARD, or “is this just llms.txt with extra JSON?” This page is about the spec — the one in Google’s announcement.
SuggestAPI implements it. The merchant-facing explanation lives on Google Agentic Resource Discovery (ARD). What follows is the shorter version people look for in comments before they read a specification.
ARD is discovery, not a runtime
Google ARD (Agentic Resource Discovery) lets a site publish ai-catalog.json so an agent can find search, compare, and checkout-handoff capabilities. It does not replace MCP, OpenAPI, or your checkout. After the agent picks a resource, that resource’s own API handles auth and execution. The ARD specification (v0.9 draft) is explicit about that split.
If a comment treats ARD as “the new protocol that talks to Stripe,” it has the wrong layer.
llms.txt is not a substitute
llms.txt is useful context. It is not a live catalog. Agents that need current inventory, filters, and a safe path to your existing checkout need structured discovery plus a search API. That argument is spelled out in Beyond llms.txt. ARD is the discovery piece; your search backend stays the source of truth.
What SuggestAPI publishes
The live catalog is ai-catalog.json on the Knowledge Gateway. Merchants do not have to rip out Algolia, Typesense, Elasticsearch, or Meilisearch. SuggestAPI sits in front, same as for human search. Checkout and payment stay on the merchant’s rails — ARD makes the capability findable; it does not place the order.
If you landed here from “google ard”
You are in the right place if you meant Agentic Resource Discovery. You are in the wrong place if you meant ARD Mediathek. For the commerce spec, start with the Google ARD page, then the implementation notes. To connect a catalog, join the SuggestAPI waitlist.