The Agentic Real Time Framework (ARTF) is an IAB Tech Lab specification that lets a partner's agent run as a container inside a host platform's own infrastructure, such as an SSP, DSP or exchange, and act on the bidstream from there. The agent never changes the auction directly. It receives the data the host chooses to share, proposes specific changes called mutations, labels each one with an intent, and the host decides whether to apply them.

TL;DR. ARTF moves agent logic to where the bidstream already lives, instead of sending bid requests out to a vendor's servers. According to IAB Tech Lab, the aim is to delegate parts of bidstream processing to service agents "with minimal cost, latency and operational impacts", while host platforms keep control of data and SLAs. ARTF builds on OpenRTB rather than replacing it: agents return an OpenRTB Patch, a set of proposed mutations to a bid request or response. ARTF is a component of AAMP, IAB Tech Lab's Agentic Advertising Management Protocols, and IAB Tech Lab announced its finalised v1.0 release in August 2026.

What is the Agentic Real Time Framework (ARTF)?

ARTF is a standard for running third-party agent services inside a host platform's bidstream. According to IAB Tech Lab, the specification "defines a foundation for implementing agent services which operate within a host platform and that the orchestrating platform can call directly to accomplish a shared goal." IAB Tech Lab's v1.0 announcement calls it "the real-time agentic layer for OpenRTB."

The name appears in two forms. IAB Tech Lab's pages, the AAMP repository and the v1.0 specification use Agentic Real Time Framework; the code repository was originally named agentic-rtb-framework, and the specification's licence notice says Agentic RTB Framework.

IAB Tech Lab's listed use cases include fraud detection, specialised bidding, audience augmentation, deal activation, viewability computation and verification of consent signals. The list is deliberately open.

How does an ARTF agent work inside a host platform?

An ARTF agent is packaged as a standard OCI container, the image format Docker and Kubernetes use, and deployed into the host's infrastructure. The specification calls the host the orchestrator. Each container carries an agent manifest declaring its name, vendor, owner, supported intents, minimum CPU and memory, and the services it depends on. If the orchestrator cannot support those, the container should not be started.

At auction time, the orchestrator calls the container's GetMutations method with the parts of the bid request it chooses to pass, plus a tmax value: the maximum time in milliseconds it allows for mutations to come back. Each mutation in the reply states an intent, an operation (add, replace or remove) and a path. Each is atomic and accepted or rejected independently. Index Exchange's getting-started guide, published by IAB Tech Lab, puts it plainly: "You propose, the host decides."

For example, a hypothetical fraud-scoring vendor deploys a container to an SSP. The SSP passes it the impression, device and regulation objects for each request, but no buyer or pricing data. The container returns one mutation adding a fraud score to the impression, tagged with a metrics intent. The SSP logs and applies it, and buyers see the score.

Why run agent services inside the bidstream host?

Latency. An external vendor call adds network hops to a time-limited auction. Index Exchange's guide describes ARTF as running logic "inside the auction, in containers, right where the bidstream lives," which means "less latency, fewer hops, and better data protection." The specification mandates gRPC with protobuf, which it describes as more space and time efficient than JSON. MCP may also be used.

Data control. The specification applies least-privilege and least-data principles. Each agent receives only the minimum data the orchestrator allows, and private and competitive signals must be removed before the agent is involved. Containers run without external network access, except for communication with the orchestrator. In IAB Tech Lab's words, a partner's code can run inside a host's network "without your data ever having to leave it."

Operational cost. According to IAB Tech Lab, service providers package their offering once and deploy it to any platform that follows the standard, and hosts can add, update or remove capabilities without a bespoke integration for each partner.

How does ARTF relate to OpenRTB?

ARTF extends OpenRTB; it does not replace it. According to the specification, passing every agent the full OpenRTB payload is expensive to serialise, hides which agent changed what, and exposes competitive or restricted information.

The OpenRTB Patch Protocol is the answer. Agents return only the delta they want applied, using OpenRTB's own semantics, including ext objects for non-standard signals. Paths can name business entities, such as a specific deal, rather than exact JSON locations. IAB Tech Lab says v1.0 adds alignment with OpenRTB gRPC and its latest fields.

Michael Richardson, VP of Product at Index Exchange, sets the entry test in the guide: "If you can't describe your value as a change to a bid request, ARTF may not be your entry point."

Where does ARTF sit within AAMP?

ARTF is the AAMP component that works at impression time, inside the live auction. The other components focus on how agents communicate, plan and agree deals: agentic-direct for orchestration, the buyer and seller reference agents, and OpenProposal for publisher products and RFP responses.

According to IAB Tech Lab, v1.0 also added an orchestration layer that lets one ARTF node call other ARTF nodes, potentially from other organisations, and merge their responses into a single mutation, plus a Rust reference implementation alongside the Go one. AdCP, the Ad Context Protocol from AgenticAdvertising.org, is a separate protocol defining tasks agents use across a campaign; teams evaluating either should ask vendors which parts they support, and at which version.

What should host platforms ask before running ARTF agents?

Which intents does the container declare, and do they match the use case the partner described?
Which bid request fields does the agent need, and what is stripped before every call?
What tmax applies, and what happens when the container misses it?
Are images signed, verified and built through an auditable CI/CD pipeline, as the specification requires?
How are accepted and rejected mutations logged and reported back to the partner?

What should buyers ask about ARTF?

ARTF agents can change the requests buyers bid on, and IAB Tech Lab's own example has a buyer deploying a specialised bidder to an SSP. The practical questions: which ARTF agents sit in the path of the buyer's bid requests, whether any can activate, suppress or adjust deals, and whether applied mutations are logged where the buyer can see them.

A mutation that adjusts a deal floor in flight is only checkable against the floor both sides agreed, and that needs a deal record outside the bidstream. Alkimi is a neutral agentic marketplace working within IAB Tech Lab's AAMP framework; its agent is listed in the IAB Tech Lab Agent Registry, and it is being built to be AdCP compatible. Agreed deals are recorded on a shared DealSheet both parties hold, with humans keeping approval rights at the deal level.

Frequently asked questions

What does ARTF stand for?

ARTF stands for Agentic Real Time Framework, also referred to as the Agentic RTB Framework. It is published by IAB Tech Lab.

Is ARTF part of AAMP?

Yes. The AAMP repository lists ARTF as one of its components, alongside OpenProposal, agentic-direct and others.

Does ARTF replace OpenRTB?

No. Agents propose changes to OpenRTB bid requests and responses through the OpenRTB Patch Protocol, and the host platform decides which to apply.

Can an ARTF agent see the full bid request?

Not necessarily. Under the least-data principle, the host passes only the data it allows and the agent needs, with private and competitive signals removed.

Who is ARTF for?

According to IAB Tech Lab: platforms that want partners to deploy functionality to their network securely, measurement and data companies that want to run locally inside a DSP or SSP, and agent developers.

What Is the Agentic Real Time Framework (ARTF) and How Does AAMP Let Agents Run Inside a Host Platform?