APEX Protocol

Agent Protocol for EXchange

The open MCP-based specification for how AI agents communicate with financial brokers, dealers, and market makers.

APEX defines a canonical tool vocabulary, a universal instrument identifier, and a unified order model — enabling any alpha-compatible agent to connect to any alpha-compatible broker without bespoke integrations.

Repository Structure

protocol/
├── spec/                        # THE SPECIFICATION
│   ├── core/                    # Layer 1 — mandatory baseline (all brokers)
│   ├── profiles/                # Layer 2 — asset class extensions
│   │   ├── fx.md                #   Spot FX, CFD FX, rollovers
│   │   ├── cfd.md               #   Equities, indices, commodities
│   │   └── crypto.md            #   Spot, perpetuals, funding rates
│   └── registry/                # Instrument taxonomy and ID format
├── reference-implementation/    # Reference MCP servers (illustrative handlers)
│   ├── typescript/              #   Node.js 18+, MCP SDK, Zod
│   ├── rust/                    #   rmcp crate
│   ├── go/                      #   mcp-go SDK
│   └── java/                    #   Direct JSON-RPC 2.0, Jackson
├── conformance/                 # Test suite for spec compliance
├── governance/                  # TAC charter, RFC process, contributing
└── docs/                        # Design library and implementation guides

Specification Layers

Layer	Scope	Status
Layer 1 — Core	Session, account, orders, market data, risk	`v0.1-alpha`
Layer 2 — FX	Spot FX, CFD FX, rollovers, currency exposure	`v0.1-alpha`
Layer 2 — CFD	Equities, indices, corporate actions	`v0.1-alpha`
Layer 2 — Crypto	Spot, perpetuals, funding rates, margin modes	`v0.1-alpha`
Layer 2 — Derivatives	Listed options, futures, greeks	`planned`
Layer 2 — Fixed Income	Bonds, yield, duration	`planned`

Quick Start

For Agent Developers

Read docs/agent-quickstart.md
Use canonical instrument IDs from spec/registry/
Connect directly to any APEX alpha-compatible broker's MCP endpoint

For Brokers

Read spec/core/README.md — the mandatory baseline
Choose your spec/profiles/ for your asset classes
Start from a reference-implementation/
Run the conformance/ test suite against your implementation

Design Library

The docs/ directory contains a 24-document design library covering every aspect of the protocol — the why behind each mechanism, concrete scenarios, and parallels to established systems like FIX, Kafka, and HTTP.

Start with the Protocol Overview, then see the full index to find the topic you need.

Tool Vocabulary

Five domains. Consistent naming. Every tool annotated with MCP metadata.

Domain	Prefix	Purpose
Session	`apex.session.*`	Authentication, capabilities, heartbeat
Account	`apex.account.*`	Balances, positions, orders, history
Orders	`apex.order.*`	Place, modify, cancel, status
Market Data	`apex.market.*`	Quotes, snapshots, search, instrument details
Risk	`apex.risk.*`	Pre-trade checks, account limits

Instrument ID Format

APEX:{ASSET_CLASS}:{SUB_CLASS?}:{SYMBOL}

Examples: APEX:FX:EURUSD, APEX:CFD:IDX:SPX500, APEX:CRYPTO:SPOT:BTCUSDT

Versioning

APEX Protocol uses semantic versioning: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

Current version: 0.1.0-alpha

Contributing

See governance/CONTRIBUTING.md for the RFC process.

License

Specification: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Reference Implementations: Apache License 2.0