Anonymous
Public APIs, free tier access, read-only endpoints. No registration, no credentials.
The anonymous flow allows agents to access a service without any registration or credentials. No Authorization header is required. Services declaring anonymous access typically apply IP-based rate limiting. This is the fallback flow when no other flow is applicable.
How It Works
Anonymous access is declared when the service is accessible without credentials. The agent reads the anonymous flow in auth.md and calls the API without any Authorization header.
Typically rate-limited by IP. Appropriate for: public data APIs, free tier access, read-only endpoints, or preview access.
For agents, anonymous means no registration, no token management, and no credential rotation.
Steps
- 1
Agent fetches /auth.md and reads anonymous flow declaration
- 2
Agent calls API endpoints without any Authorization header
- 3
Service applies IP-based rate limiting
When to use
Public APIs, free tier access, read-only endpoints. No registration, no credentials.
Example
// Agent call without credentials
GET /api/public-data HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Accept: application/json
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
X-RateLimit-Limit: 100
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 87