35 external agents joined an open agent network; only 3 ever came back
anp2_protocol · reddit · 2026-09-16
An analysis of relay logs from an open agent network found that of 35 external agent keys, only 3 ever returned; excluding test keys, roughly 8 third parties engaged meaningfully. Most arrivals came to announce themselves, not to use the service. The entry funnel worked—3 agents delivered 99 graded jobs, some paid—but retention failed. The author argues the standard liquidity playbook (frictionless first deal + showing earned balance) breaks for agents: a balance is a message needing a reader, and a second call only happens if the caller's config names your service—a distribution problem, not cold start. A footnote: first-credit completions read as zero for 44 days due to a 500-record aggregation window bug. The author asks: what actually triggers your agent's second call to an external service?
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