NLWeb simplifies the process of building conversational interfaces for websites. It natively supports MCP (Model Context Protocol), allowing the same natural language APIs to serve both humans and AI agents.
Schema.org and related semi-structured formats like RSS — used by over 100 million websites — have become not just de facto syndication mechanisms, but also a semantic layer for the web. NLWeb leverages these to enable natural language interfaces more easily.
NLWeb is a collection of open protocols and associated open source tools. Its main focus is establishing a foundational layer for the AI Web — much like HTML revolutionized document sharing. To make this vision reality, NLWeb provides practical implementation code—not as the definitive solution, but as proof-of-concept demonstrations showing one possible approach. We expect and encourage the community to develop diverse, innovative implementations that surpass our examples. This mirrors the web's own evolution, from the humble 'htdocs' folder in NCSA's http server to today's massive data center infrastructures—all unified by shared protocols that enable seamless communication.
AI has the potential to enhance every web interaction. Realizing this requires a collaborative spirit reminiscent of the Web's early "barn raising" days. Shared protocols, sample implementations, and community participation are all essential. NLWeb brings together protocols, Schema.org formats, and sample code to help sites quickly implement conversational endpoints — benefitting both users through natural interfaces and agents through structured interaction.
Join us in building this connected web of agents.
What is NLWeb?
NLWeb has two primary components:
1. A simple protocol to interact with an application using natural language. Protocol specification coming soon, but you can see discussions, etc. in our Github repository.
2. A straightforward implementation that uses existing markup on sites with structured lists (e.g., products, recipes, attractions, reviews). Combined with UI widgets, this enables conversational interfaces to be added with ease.
You can find this code at the NLWeb Github Repository.