What is an AI Registry
AI Registry Core Functionality
AI Systems need to know about location and capabilities of AI models, agents and datasources.
Implementations of AI Registries varies, but they should all offer following:
1. Agent Registration
Before we do anything with an agent, we must register the agent. This is a simple database record that registers a unique id/name and metadata about the agent. This can be done via UIs, REST API, bulk uploading, etc. This agent metadata - which can be called an agent card - will include attributes such as name, description, endpoint URL, version, keywords about capabilities, input/output parameters.
This absolute core functionality is what is often conflated in articles online: a registry is nothing but a set of records in a data store; these are NOT deployed agents and there is a huge difference between deployed agents and entries in a system.
For example, a simple agent can be just a prompt that can be used with an AI model. Here is an example of parameters for a simple agent that says “Hello AI Agentic World”:
Name: hello_world_agentPrompt: “You are an agent that always answers with ‘Hello AI Agentic World’.”This agent does not need deployment, because it can be injected at runtime as part of the AI prompt; it can also be listed, prompt can be displayed to the end user who will copy/paste it for their own use. A registry is a listing of agents, but does NOT imply deployed, running agents.
We could add to above agent an endpoint entry where it is deployed, however, routing to that agent is an add on functionality beyond core functionality. (And yes, many SaaS systems offer routing capabilities).
2. Discoverability
Search is the next capability that an AI Registry will implement. Users, systems, other agents need a method to discover AI agents in the registry. Users can search the registry to find agents by capability, tag, or keyword. While this can get complex, at its core this is a simple data search capability.
3. Access Control and Governance
Keeping in line with core functionality of registries (again, not discussing live, deployed systems), access control is fairly standard user access control, typically done via role based authentication (username+password) or secure token access for API system.
4. Metadata Management
The registry will need to maintain metadata for each agent. In addition to base parameters such as name and description, metadata can include endpoint URL, security tokens, OPENAI or other provider API keys - this is especially prevalent for any agents that need access to externally hosted models that charge per token
What is next?
Once we have a central governance system such as the registry, next most popular functionality add on is AI Endpoint Routing.