npm install -g amp-protocol
amp init

That's it. Your AI agent can now send and receive messages.

What is AMP?

AMP is a transport protocol for AI agents — like SMTP, but peer-to-peer. Agents on different machines send messages and files directly to each other. No cloud. No accounts. No API keys.

"Send this to Javier via AMP"  →  encrypted, queued, delivered

If the recipient is offline, messages queue locally and deliver automatically when they reconnect. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, and any MCP-compatible tool.

Quick start

Install and initialize

npm install -g amp-protocol
amp init

amp init does three things:

1. Generates your cryptographic identity (Ed25519 + X25519)
2. Installs the daemon as a background service (launchd)
3. Configures MCP for detected AI tools

Connect with a peer

# You generate an invite
amp invite
# → amp://invite/eyJ2Ijox...
# Share via WhatsApp, Slack, in person

# They accept it
amp join amp://invite/eyJ2Ijox...

# They generate their invite, you accept it
# Bidirectional connection established

Send messages

amp send javier "The deploy is ready"
amp send javier -f ./report.pdf "Q2 numbers attached"

Or let your AI do it

> "Send this to Javier via AMP"        → amp_send
> "Any messages for me?"               → amp_inbox
> "Reply to Javier's last message"     → amp_reply

How it works

  Your Mac                                    Their Mac
┌──────────────┐                          ┌──────────────┐
│ Claude Code  │                          │   Cursor     │
│      ↕ MCP   │                          │      ↕ MCP   │
│  AMP Daemon  │ ◄── encrypted P2P ────► │  AMP Daemon  │
│    :9800     │                          │    :9800     │
│  ┌────────┐  │     Ed25519 + X25519     │  ┌────────┐  │
│  │ SQLite │  │     NaCl SecretBox       │  │ SQLite │  │
│  │ inbox  │  │                          │  │ inbox  │  │
│  └────────┘  │                          │  └────────┘  │
└──────────────┘                          └──────────────┘

The daemon runs in the background, handles peer discovery, message delivery, and encryption. Your AI tools connect via MCP and get six tools: amp_send, amp_inbox, amp_read, amp_reply, amp_peers, amp_status.

Network discovery

AMP finds peers automatically using three layers:

| Layer | Scope | How | |-------|-------|-----| | mDNS | Same WiFi/LAN | Bonjour — instant, zero-config | | Tailscale | Different networks | Polls tailscale status every 30s | | STUN | Raw internet | Google STUN servers — discovers public IP for hole-punching | | Manual | Fallback | amp set-address javier 83.45.12.99:9800 |

STUN — how it works

STUN only asks "what's my public IP?" — it never sees your messages. Once both peers know each other's address, they connect directly:

David                    STUN Server              Javier
  │── "my IP?" ───────────►│                         │
  │◄── "83.45.12.99:4521" ─│                         │
  │                         │◄── "my IP?" ───────────│
  │                         │── "91.22.33.44:7832" ─►│
  │                                                  │
  │◄══════════ direct P2P (AMP encrypted) ══════════►│

Security

| Layer | Implementation | |-------|---------------| | Identity | Ed25519 keypair — generated locally, never transmitted | | Key exchange | X25519 ECDH | | Encryption | NaCl SecretBox (XSalsa20-Poly1305) | | Signing | Ed25519 detached signatures on invite codes | | Trust | TOFU (Trust On First Use) — like SSH known_hosts | | Contacts | Whitelist-only — unknown peers rejected silently | | At rest | ~/.amp/ with mode 700 |

What a remote peer can do: send you text messages and files (up to 50MB).

What a remote peer cannot do: read your files, execute commands, access your AI tools, see your inbox, list your contacts, or run any code on your machine.

CLI reference

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | amp init | Initialize identity + daemon + MCP | | amp status | Node info, peer count, inbox stats | | amp invite | Generate invite code (expires 15 min) | | amp join <code> | Accept an invite | | amp peers | List contacts with online status | | amp send <peer> <msg> | Send a message | | amp send <peer> -f <file> <msg> | Send with file (up to 50MB) | | amp inbox | Show unread messages | | amp inbox --all | Show all messages | | amp read <id> | Read and mark as read | | amp set-address <peer> <ip:port> | Set peer address manually |

MCP tools

| Tool | When your AI uses it | |------|---------------------| | amp_send | "Send this to Javier" | | amp_inbox | "Any new messages?" | | amp_read | "Show me that message" | | amp_reply | "Reply to Javier" | | amp_peers | "Who's online?" | | amp_status | "AMP status" |

File transfer

Any file up to 50MB. Encrypted end-to-end. Received files go to ~/.amp/files/<peer>/.

amp send javier -f ./design.pdf "New mockups"
amp send javier -f ./photo.jpg "From the office"
amp send javier -f ./data.xlsx "Updated sheet"

Architecture

~/.amp/
├── identity.json       # Ed25519 + X25519 keypair (mode 600)
├── amp.db              # SQLite WAL — messages, peers, config
├── daemon.log          # Daemon output
└── files/              # Received files
    └── javier/
        └── report.pdf

Invite handshake

David                                        Javier
  │                                             │
  │  amp invite                                 │
  │  → signed payload: pubkey + addr + TTL      │
  │  → encoded as amp://invite/eyJ...           │
  │                                             │
  │  ── share via WhatsApp / in person ───────► │
  │                                             │
  │                              amp join <code> │
  │                    verify signature + expiry │
  │                    save peer (TOFU)          │
  │                                             │
  │ ◄── Javier sends his invite back ────────── │
  │ amp join <code>                             │
  │ verify + save                               │
  │                                             │
  │ ══════ encrypted channel established ══════ │

Compared to

| | AMP | c2c | MeshTerm | Google A2A | |---|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:| | P2P (no server) | Yes | relay | broker | HTTP server | | E2E encrypted | NaCl | — | — | TLS only | | Offline delivery | Yes | — | — | — | | Zero-config LAN | mDNS | — | — | — | | MCP native | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | | Open source | MIT | closed | MIT | Apache | | File transfer | 50MB | — | — | — |

What AMP is not

• Not a chatbot framework — AMP moves messages, it doesn't run models
• Not a cloud service — no accounts, no servers, no subscriptions
• Not an orchestrator — it doesn't coordinate workflows
• Not a blockchain — no tokens, no fees, no consensus

AMP is a transport protocol. Like SMTP for agents.

Requirements

• Node.js 20+
• macOS or Linux
• For LAN: Bonjour (built into macOS) or Avahi (Linux)
• For WAN: Tailscale (optional) or port 9800 accessible

Contributing

Contributions welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss.

License

MIT