---
title: "MAY defined | Agent Ready Checklist"
description: "MAY: RFC 2119 keyword for an optional item. AgentReady uses it for emerging conventions with early, unmeasured adoption."
canonical: https://agentreadychecklist.com/glossary/may
site: "Agent Ready Checklist"
last_updated: 2026-11-05
section: "Glossary"
---

# MAY defined | Agent Ready Checklist

> MAY: RFC 2119 keyword for an optional item. AgentReady uses it for emerging conventions with early, unmeasured adoption.

Source: https://agentreadychecklist.com/glossary/may
Site: Agent Ready Checklist
Last reviewed: 2026-11-05
Agent endpoints: https://agentreadychecklist.com/llms.txt (index), https://agentreadychecklist.com/openapi.json (API), https://agentreadychecklist.com/mcp (MCP server), https://agentreadychecklist.com/ask (search)
Access: https://agentreadychecklist.com/auth.md (no key). Pricing: https://agentreadychecklist.com/pricing.md (free).

# MAY

RFC 2119 keyword for an optional item. AgentReady uses it for emerging conventions with early, unmeasured adoption. Example: AR-FIND-04: The site MAY publish an AI Catalog at /.well-known/ai-catalog.json. Related rows: AR-FIND-04, AR-READ-09, AR-ACT-04, AR-ACT-05, AR-ACT-08, AR-ACT-09. AR-READ-09 asks: Advertise a markdown mirror with <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"> or an equivalent HTTP Link header.

## Definition

RFC 2119 keyword for an optional item. AgentReady uses it for emerging conventions with early, unmeasured adoption.

## Example

```text
AR-FIND-04: The site MAY publish an AI Catalog at /.well-known/ai-catalog.json
```

## Where it appears on the checklist

-   [AR-FIND-04](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-find-04/)AI Catalog at .well-known: Publish an AI Catalog at /.well-known/ai-catalog.json listing every agent-facing resource (MCP server card, OpenAPI, A2A card, docs, llms.txt, skills), linked with <link rel="ai-catalog"> and an HTTP Link header.
-   [AR-READ-09](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-read-09/)Advertise a markdown mirror: Advertise a markdown mirror with <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"> or an equivalent HTTP Link header.
-   [AR-ACT-04](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-act-04/)MCP server card: Ship an MCP server card for pre-connection discovery.
-   [AR-ACT-05](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-act-05/)MCP Apps view: Products with a UI may ship an MCP Apps view (ui:// resource) so the agent can hand a working surface back to the user.
-   [AR-ACT-08](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-act-08/)Agent payments: A product that charges may let agents pay: x402 or MPP for per-call pricing, UCP or ACP for checkout, Link and Shared Payment Tokens on Stripe; no CAPTCHA wall in front of a verified agent.
-   [AR-ACT-09](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-act-09/)NLWeb /ask endpoint: Content-heavy sites may serve an NLWeb /ask endpoint and expose the same ask tool over MCP.

## Sources

-   [github.com/agentready-org/standard/blob/main/spec/spec.md](https://github.com/agentready-org/standard/blob/main/spec/spec.md)read 2026-11-04

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. AgentReady v2.0, read 2026-11-04.