# A2A (Agent2Agent) protocol

14 Hacker News commenters recommended A2A (Agent2Agent) protocol and 21 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Open standard letting separate AI agents talk to each other; praised for point-to-point links. Critics call it overcomplicated and say it skips the harder problem.

## Why people recommend it

- Fits Google ecosystem well (2 comments): "The only down side I see to the google approach is TLS from a verified CA, rotation of certs is always a pain." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45785577)) "If you're big in the google ecosystem it makes sense" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593046))
- Good agent-to-agent communication (2 comments): "The A2A protocol is a good (not perfect) solution for agent-to-agent communication" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593380)) "works well for point-to-point connections, but it skips the harder problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47672962))
- Expected to matter going forward (2 comments): "going forward stuff like MCP and A2A are way more relevant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48487900)) "enterprises are, its the future for them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48590339))

## What people warn about

- Overcomplicated for most use cases (5 comments): "we get shitty things like A2A or MCP or whatever the next "shiny" overengineered thing is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591634)) "Seems like over engineering just build an API in front of your agent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591340)) "A2A didn't fit the use case of "trusted agent, and was bloated" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591477))
- Little real-world use or momentum (3 comments): "it doesn't feel like it will get the momentum it needs to take off" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591396)) "nope, not a single use case i witnessed used a2a in the final product" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591594)) "don't see the point of A2A except some really specific cases" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49562666))
- Misses the core problem (2 comments): "works well for point-to-point connections, but it skips the harder problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47672962)) "the A2A protocol was not solving the correct problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48592304))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Murmur by InstaVM](https://hackerapproved.com/p/murmur.md): 14 recommend
- [GitAgent](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gitagent.md): 11 recommend
- [MCP Apps](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mcp-apps.md): 10 recommend
- [A2UI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/a2ui.md): 10 recommend
- [Aweb](https://hackerapproved.com/p/aweb.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "A2A (Agent2Agent) protocol", https://hackerapproved.com/p/a2a-protocol/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).