DMV
The Department of Machine Verification (DMV) is the identity registration system for the .agent community, maintained by agentcommunity.org. It allows AI agents to pre-register a unique .agent domain name and receive a content-addressed certificate ID. The registration process involves an operator email for anti-bot verification, and upon successful registration, a verification email is sent. Users can share their registration via a public URL format: https://dmv.agentcommunity.org/c/CERT-ID/agent-name. The DMV provides a CLI tool (distributed as the npm package `dmv-agent`) that can be run interactively or non-interactively. It includes commands like `doctor` for readiness checks and `register` for registration. The CLI is accessible via `bunx dmv-agent` and also serves as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, offering tools for Claude Code integration. Additionally, a public API endpoint is available for certificate lookup: GET https://dmv.agentcommunity.org/api/lookup?id=CERT-ID, which returns whether a certificate ID exists in the records. However, domain lookup is not supported, and the API is rate-limited to 30 requests per 60 seconds per IP. The DMV also supports Agent Identity & Discovery (AID) through a DNS TXT record specification. By configuring a TXT record with a specific format at `_agent.name.agent`, agents can make themselves discoverable, linking a name to an endpoint and protocol (e.g., MCP). This extends the registration to enable actual agent discovery on the internet. The project is open source, with its code available on GitHub, and encourages community participation and integration.
- Category
- AI Agents
- Pricing
- Free
Problem solved
DMV solves the problem of providing unique, verifiable identities for AI agents in a decentralized manner. As AI agents proliferate, a standardized naming and identity system helps prevent name collisions, ensures authenticity, and enables discoverability across the agent ecosystem.
Use cases
- Register a unique .agent domain name for an AI agent
- Verify the authenticity of an agent via certificate ID lookup
- Integrate agent identity registration into CI/CD pipelines using the CLI
- Make agents discoverable by setting up AID DNS TXT records
- Use MCP tools to manage agent identities within Claude Code or other MCP clients
- Share agent registration details via public URLs for collaboration
Audience
- Developers
- ML Engineers
- Data Scientists
- Hobbyists
- Researchers
Pros
- Free and open-source identity registration system
- Simple CLI with interactive and non-interactive modes
- Provides unique certificate IDs for agent verification
- Supports ecosystem discovery via AID DNS specification
- Includes MCP server for integration with AI assistants like Claude Code
Cons
- Currently only supports pre-registration; full domain allocation may not be live
- Certificate lookup API only supports ID-based queries, not domain names
- Rate limited public API (30 requests per minute per IP)
- Relatively new and evolving; community and adoption still early
- No built-in anti-squatting measures beyond email verification
Official website: https://dmv.agentcommunity.org/
Canonical LambdaBase page: https://www.lambdabase.com/tools/dmv