Linux Foundation Forms Consortium to Support Open Standards for AI Agents
The Linux Foundation has created a new home for a growing set of standards that support agentic AI. Today, the organization announced the formation of the Agentic AI Foundation, a consortium designed to steward the protocols and frameworks that allow AI systems to connect to tools, data, and software environments in predictable ways. The initiative brings three widely adopted projects under a single governance structure: Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol, Block’s goose framework, and OpenAI’s AGENTS.md convention.
Conversational AI is transitioning toward agents that can plan tasks, take action, and coordinate across applications, creating a need for shared infrastructure. Developers want clear rules for how models work from context, call tools, and operate inside varied repositories and systems. Enterprises want the same predictability as they prepare agent workflows for production. The Linux Foundation is positioning the new group as a neutral space where these components can evolve through open processes.
“The AAIF provides a neutral, open foundation to ensure this critical capability evolves transparently, collaboratively, and in ways that advance the adoption of leading open source AI projects,” the organization said in a statement.
(Credit: The Linux Foundation)
In announcing the initiative, Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin noted the rapid change in the way AI systems are used. Over the past year, MCP, AGENTS.md, and goose have gained adoption among developers building agentic applications. “Bringing these projects together under the AAIF ensures they can grow with the transparency and stability that only open governance provides. The Linux Foundation is proud to serve as the neutral home where they will continue to build AI infrastructure the world will rely on,” he said.
The Model Context Protocol, or MCP, is one of the most widely deployed elements of the new foundation, providing a standard way of connecting AI systems to external tools and data sources. Anthropic released MCP as an open source project in late 2024 after using it internally, and within a year, it has become a common choice for developers. Anthropic says more than 10,000 MCP servers have been shared across the ecosystem, covering use cases from small developer utilities to enterprise applications. Major AI platforms including Claude, Cursor, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT, and VS Code, all support MCP.
Anthropic CPO Mike Krieger said the company wants to ensure that MCP remains collaborative as adoption increases. “Donating MCP to the Linux Foundation as part of the AAIF ensures it stays open, neutral, and community-driven as it becomes critical infrastructure for AI,” he said.
Block’s goose framework is the second project joining the new consortium. Released in early 2025, goose provides a structured environment for building and running agent workflows. It is designed as a local first system that emphasizes reliability, constrained execution and clear tool integration. Goose uses MCP as its interface layer, which allows developers to extend agents through a growing collection of compatible tools.
Block, the company behind payment platforms like Square, Cash App, and Afterpay, describes its involvement in the new foundation as part of a larger commitment to open standards. The company sees goose as one step in building agentic systems that do not depend on proprietary environments. “We’re at a critical moment for AI. The technology that will define the next decade, that promises to be the biggest engine of economic growth since the Internet, can either remain closed and proprietary for the benefit of few, or be driven by open standards, open protocols, and open access for the benefit of all,” said Manik Surtani, head of open source at Block.
(Shutterstock)
The third component, AGENTS.md, was introduced by OpenAI in mid-2025 as a simple convention for coding agents. It uses a markdown file placed in a repository to provide instructions and constraints that guide agent behavior, an approach that gives agents a consistent source of project-specific context. OpenAI says the convention has been adopted by more than 60,000 open source projects and by many agent frameworks, including Amp, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Gemini CLI.
OpenAI says the goal of donating AGENTS.md is to support an interoperable agent ecosystem. The company has also contributed its Agents SDK and related tools. “For AI agents to reach their full potential, developers and enterprises need trustworthy infrastructure and accessible tools to build on. By co-founding the AAIF and donating AGENTS.md, we’re helping establish open, transparent practices that make AI agent development more predictable, interoperable, and safe,” said Nick Cooper, member of the technical staff at OpenAI.
The roster of organizations joining the new foundation shows keen industry interest. Platinum members include AWS, Anthropic, Block, Bloomberg, Cloudflare, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI. Gold members include Cisco, Datadog, Docker, IBM, Okta, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, Shopify, Snowflake and others. A larger group of silver members spans open source companies, cloud vendors, and AI startups.
The new consortium will also oversee events that support the agentic developer community. As part of the launch, Obot.ai has donated its MCP Dev Summit series to the foundation. The next event is scheduled for April 2 and 3 in New York City. A call for proposals and registration are now open.
The need for standards in agentic AI will only increase. Protocols for context, action, and repository guidance are becoming essential. The Linux Foundation is aiming to provide a stable home for these tools at a time when the agent landscape continues to expand. By placing these projects under open governance, the new foundation will hopefully set the stage for an ecosystem that grows through collaboration.
Related
Agentic AI, AGENTS.md, AI agents, AI standards, Anthropic, block, goose framework, linux foundation, MCP, model context protocol, open source AI, OpenAI
Linux Foundation Forms Consortium to Support Open Standards for AI Agents
The Linux Foundation has created a new home for a growing set of standards that…
Marvell Launches Strategic Initiative to Accelerate AEC Ecosystem and Hyperscaler Adoption
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 9, 2025 — Marvell Technology, Inc., a leader in data infrastructure…
Anthropic and Accenture Expand Partnership to Launch New Claude-Focused Business Group
Dec. 9, 2025 — Anthropic and Accenture today announced a major expansion of their partnership…
Fujitsu and Scaleway Collaborate on Energy-Efficient CPU Path for European AI Workloads
KAWASAKI, Japan and PARIS, Dec. 5, 2025 — Fujitsu Limited and Scaleway, a leading European…
NVIDIA Awards up to $60,000 Research Fellowships to PhD Students
Dec. 5, 2025 — For 25 years, the NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program has supported graduate students doing…
AWS Anchors Its Inference Strategy With the Launch of Nova 2
In his keynote at AWS re:Invent this week, CEO Matt Garman outlined how AWS is…
