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[ARTICLE · art-45095] src=evaluationcontextprotocol.io ↗ pub= topic=ai-agents verified=true sentiment=↑ positive

Show HN: Evaluation Context Protocol (ECP)

A developer released Evaluation Context Protocol (ECP), a vendor-neutral protocol for testing AI agent outputs, tool calls, and audit context across frameworks and CI systems. ECP complements MCP by focusing on evaluation rather than tool access, and runs locally or in CI with a JSON-RPC contract.

read1 min views1 publishedJun 30, 2026

for AI agents.

ECP is a vendor-neutral protocol for testing agent outputs, tool calls, and evaluator-visible audit context — across frameworks, models, eval platforms, and CI systems.

$ pip install "ecp-runtime==0.3.3" "ecp-sdk==0.3.3"
$ ecp init
$ ecp run --manifest ecp_eval/manifest.yaml --json

MCP is for tools. ECP is for evals. #

MCP gives agents a common way to use tools. ECP gives evaluators a common way to inspect what an agent returned, what tools it used, and what audit evidence it exposed — independent of the framework that built the agent or the platform that runs the test.

Beyond the final answer. #

Most evals start with the final answer. ECP also checks the behavior behind it.

public_output

tool_calls

evaluation_context

ecp run --manifest

Runs anywhere

Run evals locally or wire ecp run into your CI. Exits non-zero on failure, so a regression breaks the build.

Framework neutral

Wrap agents built with plain Python, LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, or PydanticAI behind one evaluation contract.

JSON-RPC contract

Implement the protocol in any language: agent/initialize, agent/step, agent/reset over stdio or Streamable HTTP.

Your existing agent stack. #

Start grading agents in five commands. #

Install the runtime, initialize a starter manifest, and run your first eval.

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