Methodology & Bibliography
How this field guide is sourced, what counts as a canonical citation, and how the data is refreshed.
Data last refreshed: 2026-05-08. Next scheduled refresh: Q3 2026 (or sooner on regulator/vendor trigger). Research sprint: see raw/research-notes.md in the source repository.
Sourcing rule
Every claim that does load-bearing argumentative work has at least one direct quote or paraphrase from a canonical primary source — meaning:
- The vendor's own published documentation, blog, or press release (Apple, AWS, Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Hugging Face).
- The standards body's own specification (Linux Foundation MCP / A2A).
- The regulator's own text or enforcement portal (EU Commission DMA / DSA portals, EU AI Act portal, EUR-Lex for the revised Product Liability Directive).
- The peer-reviewed paper of record (Rochet & Tirole 2003 on two-sided markets; Eisenmann/Parker/Van Alstyne 2007 on envelopment; Tirole 2014 Nobel lecture).
- An operator-grade book where the author is the primary source for the framing (Andrew Chen, The Cold Start Problem).
- An analyst publication where the analyst is the primary source for the framing (Gartner, a16z).
Wikipedia, secondary blogs, and content farms are never the primary citation. Where we link to a secondary aggregator (e.g., a clean writeup of a regulatory development), we do so only after verifying the underlying primary source independently.
Freshness flags
- Foundational — citations to original peer-reviewed papers and operator-grade books that established the field's vocabulary (e.g., Rochet & Tirole 2003, Eisenmann/Parker/Van Alstyne 2007, Tirole 2014, Andrew Chen 2021). Considered evergreen — refreshed only if substantively revised.
- In force — current binding regulatory text or in-effect specifications (EU DMA, DSA, AI Act, PLD; MCP and A2A specifications under Linux Foundation stewardship).
- Emerging 2026 — vendor announcements and marketplace launches that crystallised in 2025–2026 (Anthropic Connectors directory, Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Store, Google Agentspace).
- Contested — entries with named, meaningful disagreement in the field. We carry both positions.
Anything older than six months that does not carry one of the four flags is considered stale and gets retired or refreshed.
Refresh cadence
| Trigger | Action |
|---|---|
| Bi-annual full review (pillar-mini-site default) | Every cited URL pinged; every primary source re-read for material changes; comparison table re-derived from the live developer pages |
| Vendor publishes new marketplace economics (Apple, AWS, Salesforce, Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google) | Targeted refresh of the affected row in the take-rate table; quotable line replaced if superseded |
| Regulator publishes binding update (DMA, DSA, AI Act, PLD) | Same-week refresh of the liability section; in-force date and quotable revised; counter-narratives reviewed |
| URL 404 or vendor pivot | Immediate fix; replacement source identified within 48 hours |
| Major marketplace launch (e.g., a vertical agent marketplace at scale) | Reassess the comparable set; add row if the launch changes the landscape |
Bibliography (v1 — 2026-05-08)
The full canonical-source list backing the field guide. Each line: source, URL, accessed date, role.
- Apple Developer, App Store Small Business Program. developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program
- Apple Developer, DMA and apps in the EU. developer.apple.com/support/dma-and-apps-in-the-eu
- AWS, AWS Marketplace pricing. aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pricing
- Stripe, Stripe Connect. stripe.com/connect
- OpenAI, Introducing the GPT Store (Jan 10 2024). openai.com/index/introducing-the-gpt-store
- OpenAI, Introducing apps in ChatGPT and the new Apps SDK. openai.com/index/introducing-apps-in-chatgpt
- Anthropic, Connectors directory (Sept 2025). anthropic.com/news/connectors-directory
- Microsoft, Agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot (May 19 2025). microsoft.com/microsoft-365/blog
- Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Copilot Studio. learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot-studio
- Google Cloud, Agentspace. cloud.google.com/agentspace
- Salesforce, Partner Program. partners.salesforce.com
- Hugging Face, Pricing. huggingface.co/pricing
- Rochet, J.-C. & Tirole, J., Platform Competition in Two-Sided Markets, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2003. rchss.sinica.edu.tw/cibs/pdf/RochetTirole3.pdf
- Eisenmann, T., Parker, G. & Van Alstyne, M., Platform Envelopment, HBS Working Paper 07-104. hbs.edu/faculty
- Tirole, J., Market Power and Regulation (Nobel lecture, 2014). nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/tirole-lecture.pdf
- Chen, A., The Cold Start Problem, Harper Business, 2021. andrewchen.com/the-cold-start-problem-book
- Model Context Protocol, Specification (2025-11-25). modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25
- A2A Protocol, Specification v1.0. a2a-protocol.org/latest/specification
- European Commission, Digital Markets Act portal. digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu
- European Commission, EU AI Act, Article 25. artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/25
- European Commission, Digital Services Act. digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/.../digital-services-act-package
- European Union, Directive (EU) 2024/2853 — revised Product Liability Directive. eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/2853/oj
- Gartner, Hype Cycle for Agentic AI. gartner.com/en/articles/hype-cycle-for-agentic-ai
- Andreessen Horowitz, Marketplace 100. a16z.com/marketplace-100
- AgentsBooks, Anatomy of a Firm. agentsbooks.com/anatomy
- AgentsBooks, The Agents Economy pillar. agentsbooks.com/blog/agents-economy
- AgentsBooks, agentsbooks.com. agentsbooks.com
What counts as a "canonical" marketplace-economics source?
The bar for inclusion in this bibliography:
- It is the marketplace operator's own published terms or developer pages (Apple, AWS, Salesforce, Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, Hugging Face).
- It is the regulator's own portal text or directly-linked legal instrument (DMA, DSA, AI Act, PLD).
- It is the foundational peer-reviewed paper that established a piece of the vocabulary (Rochet & Tirole 2003 on two-sided markets, Eisenmann/Parker/Van Alstyne 2007 on envelopment).
- It is an operator-grade book whose framing the page uses (Andrew Chen, The Cold Start Problem).
- It is an analyst publication used as the primary source for a market-context claim (Gartner Hype Cycle, a16z Marketplace 100).
Refresh trigger schedule (next 6 months)
- Apple App Store EU terms — refresh after the next EC adequacy / non-compliance decision affecting the DMA-compliance fee structure.
- OpenAI agent monetisation — refresh if OpenAI announces new builder-revenue terms, an explicit take rate, or a marketplace pivot.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Store partner economics — first published partner-revenue stats expected late 2026; refresh tenant-distribution section then.
- Salesforce AppExchange revenue tiers — refresh on Spring '26 / Summer '26 release notes.
- EU AI Act enforcement actions — refresh liability section on first major enforcement against a marketplace operator.
- Vertical-AI marketplace launches — reassess the comparable set if a new vertical agent marketplace at scale launches.
How to suggest a correction or new source
Email hello@agentsbooks.com with the claim, the canonical source you'd like quoted, and the section it belongs in. We aim to triage within five business days; verified additions ship in the next refresh cycle, with same-week handling for vendor / regulator news.