The Contact Protocol

The Contact Protocol is a simple mechanism for sharing contact information using an URL. It is designed to allow humans and their agents (applications, mobile devices etc.) to retrieve and consume up-to-date contact information.

---

The basic usage scenario is as follows:

1. Party A sets up an account with a Contact Protocol enabled site (the Contact Server).
2. Party A receives a URL that points to their account on their Contact Server. This is their Contact URL.
3. Party A gives their Contact URL to Party B.
4. Party B accesses the Contact URL using their web browser to retrieve Party A's contact information.
5. Party A updates their contact information held at their Contact Server.
6. Party B receives Party A's updated contact information the next time they use Party A's Contact URL.

The Contact URL may also be used by agents such as email applications and mobile phones. For example:

1. Party A gives their Contact URL to Party B
2. Party B enters Party A's Contact URL into their email application's address book
3. Party B sends email to Party A.
4. Party B's email application retrieves Party A's contact information using Party A's Contact URL and sends the email to Party A's current email address

---

The current draft (v0.1a) of the specification can be found here.

---

A collection of code examples and libraries can be found on the contact protocol sourceforge project.

---