Agent vendor matrix (dated, source-graded)
Fast-moving facts live here and nowhere else in this skill. Each row carries a source grade: P = primary (vendor docs, spec, source code), S = secondary only, C = conflicting sources. Last full check: 2026-09-23. Refresh before quoting any row older than 60 days (see "Refresh procedure").
What each agent reads and whether it calls WebMCP
| Vendor / product | Reads | WebMCP | Identity | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI: ChatGPT desktop built-in browser ("site tools") | ARIA / accessibility tree (publisher FAQ) | Yes, imperative only, top-level document, on by default, not Enterprise/Edu | ChatGPT-User; signs agent and cloud-browser traffic with Web Bot Auth | P |
| OpenAI: cloud browser (ChatGPT Work), Codex | as above | not documented | Web Bot Auth | S |
| Google: Gemini in Chrome, Chrome auto browse | page elements and screen positions | no public evidence of consumption; Google co-edits the spec | Google-Agent (user-triggered, generally ignores robots.txt); experimenting with Web Bot Auth as https://agent.bot.goog |
P (identity), S (reading) |
| Microsoft: Edge, Copilot Mode | not documented | Edge supports WebMCP for testing; no evidence Copilot consumes tools | not researched | P (Edge), S (Copilot) |
| Anthropic: Claude in Chrome (Claude Code, Cowork, Desktop), computer use | page text, DOM, console and network, screenshots | none (public issue reports discovery missing) | ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User; all honour robots.txt; IPs at claude.com/crawling/bots.json | P (bots), S (reading) |
| Perplexity: Comet | accessibility tree and screenshots | no public signal | PerplexityBot honours robots.txt; Perplexity-User generally does not | P (bots), S (reading) |
| Brave: Leo | not documented | experimental, Nightly behind brave://flags/#enable-webmcp-testing |
not verified | S |
| Opera Neon, Dia, Sigma, Fellou | not documented | no public signal | not verified | S |
| Apple: Safari / WebKit | n/a | opposes (agents are closer to assistive tech; sites should not detect them) | n/a | P (label), S (quotes) |
| Mozilla: Firefox | n/a | neutral; not implementing | n/a | P |
Two gaps to state plainly in reports: no primary source shows any consumer
agent sending Accept: text/markdown, and robots.txt behaviour for Dia,
Opera and Comet agent actions is unverified.
Product status notes
| Item | Status | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Atlas browser | reported stopped 2026-08-09; ChatGPT agent removed early Aug 2026 | S |
| ChatGPT Instant Checkout | reported moved to Apps in 2026-03 | S |
| Project Mariner | reported shut down 2026-05-04 | S |
| Chrome WebMCP origin trial | M149 to M156; no ship milestone announced | P (range), S (end date 2026-11-17) |
| Lighthouse | 13.5.0 (npm latest, 2026-09-18); PSI runs 13.5.0 | P |
| Web Bot Auth | draft-ietf-webbotauth-httpsig-protocol-00 (2026-09-01); Signature-Agent dictionary form |
P |
| Content-Signal | Cloudflare CC0 policy; IETF individual draft expired 2026-04-04 (P); no Google statement found, and Google's robots.txt spec does not list the field (S) | P/S |
| MCP Server Card | SEP-2127 open and unmerged (updated 2026-09-12) | P |
Evidence of impact (flag vendor numbers)
- Cloudflare's token-reduction figures for Markdown are vendor-sourced.
- "Token efficiency" percentages for WebMCP come from marketing posts with no traceable benchmark. Do not cite them.
- Agent benchmarks such as WebArena measure models, not site quality.
- No controlled public study links accessibility-tree quality or WebMCP to agent task success. Treat such claims as hypotheses.
Contested or unverified (do not quote without rechecking)
- Exact WebKit and Mozilla position dates and the WebKit quotes (secondary trackers, one written by an automated agent). Check the GitHub timeline.
- A WebKit suggestion of a new working group or TPAC workshop (vendor tracker paraphrase only).
- Anthropic and Perplexity Web Bot Auth signing (secondary only).
- Cloudflare verification of the dictionary-form
Signature-Agent(reported mismatch, not tested). - Whether Content-Signal is scoped per robots.txt group (no normative text).
- ChatGPT site-tools model requirements (vendor pages disagreed).
Refresh procedure
- PSI: run
lighthouse_agentic.py https://claude-seo.md/ --json. Iflighthouse_versionchanged, diff the categoryauditRefsagainstreferences/lighthouse-agentic-category.md. - Lighthouse source:
npm view lighthouse version, then readcore/config/default-config.jsandcore/audits/agentic/for the new tag. - WebMCP: the spec's last commit (webmachinelearning/webmcp), chromestatus feature 5117755740913664, learn.chatgpt.com/docs/webmcp.
- Bots: developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots, support.claude.com crawler article, docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots, Google's user-triggered fetchers page.
- Drafts: datatracker.ietf.org for webbotauth and aipref.
- Update the dates here and the
CHECKED_ONconstant inagentic_check.pyin the same change.