[I/O 2026] Universal Cart: Google lays the groundwork for agentic commerce

Google Universal Cart and Universal Commerce Protocol launch in the US to enable AI-driven shopping across Search, Gemini, YouTube, and partner retailers.

Google is making strides in agentic commerce with the Universal Cart, a smart shopping cart that becomes the central hub for shopping across its services. The group notes that purchases flow through Google over a billion times a day, backed by the Shopping Graph and its 60 billion product listings.

The cart operates independently of merchants and services: items can be added by browsing in Search, chatting with Gemini, watching YouTube, or reading Gmail. Once an item is added, it works in the background to spot promotions and price drops, track price history, and notify of restocks. Leveraging Gemini models, it also anticipates needs, for example, by flagging component incompatibility when building a PC. Built on Google Wallet, it knows payment benefits, loyalty programs, and merchant offers to uncover savings.

Payment is based on the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), which allows payment via Google Pay or to switch to the merchant's website, which remains the seller of record. Retailers like Nike, Sephora, Target, Walmart, and Wayfair will be connected to it. The Universal Cart is first rolling out in the United States in Search and the Gemini app, before YouTube and Gmail, while the UCP protocol will expand to Canada and Australia, then the United Kingdom, as well as new sectors like hospitality and food delivery. In parallel, the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) governs payments entrusted to an agent, with user-set limits, verifiable traceability, and tamper-proof mandates, its rollout in Google products starting with Gemini Spark.