Frequently asked questions

The questions developers and companies ask before adopting an open standard.

Is the Ask AI Protocol free?

Yes. The specification and the Ask Targets registry are open and free to implement — no fee, no permission, no AskThis account. The spec text is licensed CC-BY-4.0; the registry and its JSON Schema are released into the public domain (CC0).

Do I need the AskThis widget to use it?

No. The widget is one implementation of the protocol, not a requirement. You can implement the protocol directly against targets.json and the AI Graph meta tags on any stack.

Who controls the protocol?

AskThis publishes and stewards it in the open, under a backward-compatible-only versioning rule and a public contribution process. This is a benevolent-steward model, not a claim of multi-vendor neutrality; a public repository is planned as the contribution home.

How is it versioned?

Additions are backward-compatible within a major version; a breaking change requires a new major version and a migration note. Every release is named, dated, and listed in the Changelog, and deprecations are announced before anything is removed.

Does using the protocol send my content to AskThis?

No. A Cited Ask is built from your page's own AI Graph tags and handed directly to the AI engine the reader chooses. The protocol itself defines no server call to AskThis.

How do I add a new engine?

Propose it on the Contribute page. An engine needs a stable id, a neutral factual label, and either a direct prefill URL (with a {q} placeholder for the prompt) or adherence to the copy-to-clipboard fallback contract.

What is the difference between AI Graph and the Ask AI Protocol?

AI Graph is the read side — how an AI engine reads, summarizes, and cites a page via ai:* meta tags. The Ask AI Protocol is the share side — how a person hands a page to an engine with a portable, source-citing Cited Ask. They share the Ask Policy permission layer.

Still have a question? See Governance,Contribute, or emailhello@askthis.io.