Methodology

Agents are found through public launches, funding announcements, app stores, developer communities and direct submissions. Inclusion is not paid and cannot be bought. An agent is listed if it is a real product a person can message, whether or not its makers know this directory exists.

For each one we record the fields shown in the “at a glance” table on its page. Anything we could not confirm from a primary source is left blank and shown as a dash. A dash means we have not verified it, not that the answer is no.

Channels are the messaging platforms an agent can be reached on. Where the vendor states this explicitly we take it as stated; where we have inferred it from a public description, the listing says so.

How you start is the first thing a new user must actually do, text a number, tap a link, install an app, create an account. It is the single most decision-relevant field and the one most often obscured by marketing copy.

Status is whether the product is live, in beta, acquired, dead or unverified. Provider is the messaging infrastructure an agent runs on, where we have been able to establish it.

At the time of writing, listings are compiled from public sources rather than from us messaging each agent ourselves. That means response times, first replies and live status are not independently observed, and the fields for them are empty. We would rather show that plainly than imply a verification we have not done.

If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and date the change. That applies equally to a founder correcting their own listing and to anyone else spotting an error. See submit.