Agent types
Four software agent types, each with flagship deployments
| Agent type | Where it operates | Flagship deployments | Registry incidents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding and research agents | Code repositories and shells | Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Trae | 5 |
| Workflow agents | Business software and tools | Microsoft Copilot Studio, Manus, Coze and Coze Space | 1 |
| Commerce agents | Payments and shopping | Alipay AI Pay in the Qwen App, ChatGPT checkout and Agentic Commerce Protocol, Google UCP and AP2 | 0 |
| Enterprise agents | Corporate systems | Microsoft Agent 365, Salesforce Agentforce, Alibaba Cloud Bailian (Model Studio) | 3 |
Attack surface
Identity rates very significant or critical for all four software agent types
Deployments
12 flagship deployments, five of them in China
| Deployment | Agent type | Developer / operator | Scale | Status | Controls declared |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Coding and research agents | Anthropic / Developers and enterprises | Over $2.5 billion run-rate revenue (Feb 2026) | Generally available | Six permission modes; sandbox with no network by default |
| OpenAI Codex | Coding and research agents | OpenAI / Developers and knowledge workers | 8 million weekly users (Jul 2026) | Generally available | Three sandbox modes; cloud tasks in separate VMs |
| Trae | Coding and research agents | ByteDance / Developers | 1 million+ monthly users (May 2025) | Generally available | Not confirmed |
| Microsoft Copilot Studio | Workflow agents | Microsoft / Enterprises | 1 million+ custom agents; 230,000+ organizations (May 2025) | Generally available | A2A support; governance through Agent 365 |
| Manus | Workflow agents | Manus / Consumers and prosumers | $100 million ARR (Dec 2025) | Meta purchase ordered unwound by NDRC | Not confirmed |
| Coze and Coze Space | Workflow agents | ByteDance / Developers and enterprises | Not disclosed (Jul 2025) | Generally available | Not confirmed |
| Alipay AI Pay in the Qwen App | Commerce agents | Ant Group and Alibaba / Consumers | 120 million+ transactions in one week (Feb 2026) | Generally available | Confirmation step; voice plus confirm on glasses |
| ChatGPT checkout and Agentic Commerce Protocol | Commerce agents | OpenAI with Stripe / US merchants | Not disclosed (2026) | Moved toward merchant-site checkout | Tokenized delegated payment; merchant accepts the order |
| Google UCP and AP2 | Commerce agents | Google / Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart | 25+ partners (Jan 2026) | Generally available | Cryptographic proof of user consent |
| Microsoft Agent 365 | Enterprise agents | Microsoft / Tens of thousands of companies | About 40 million registered agents (Jul 2026) | Generally available | Entra identity link |
| Salesforce Agentforce | Enterprise agents | Salesforce / Salesforce customers | $1.2 billion ARR (Apr 2026) | Generally available | Sharing and security models; human approval at some customers |
| Alibaba Cloud Bailian (Model Studio) | Enterprise agents | Alibaba Cloud / 200,000+ developers | 800,000+ agents built (Sep 2025) | Generally available | Sandbox and observability components |
Incidents
Nine of the 19 registry incidents involve software agents
| Incident | Date | Agent page | Found by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Chatbot Invents a Refund Rule | Nov 2022 | Enterprise agents | User |
| EchoLeak Turns Microsoft 365 Copilot Into a Data Leak | Jan 2025 | Enterprise agents | Third party |
| Claude Opus 4 Blackmails an Engineer in a Test | May 2025 | Enterprise agents | Developer |
| Replit Agent Deletes the SaaStr Database | Jul 2025 | Coding and research agents | User |
| Stolen Drift Tokens Drain Salesforce Data | Aug 2025 | Workflow agents | Not disclosed |
| Nx Malware Turns AI Coding Tools Against Their Users | Aug 2025 | Coding and research agents | User |
| Chinese State Group Runs Espionage Through Claude Code | Sep 2025 | Coding and research agents | Developer |
| Cursor Agent Deletes the PocketOS Database | Apr 2026 | Coding and research agents | User |
| OpenAI Test Models Breach Hugging Face | Jul 2026 | Coding and research agents | Target |
Rules
China's agent rules took effect in July 2026; US and EU rules are voluntary or delayed
| Rule | Jurisdiction | What it requires | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| China agent Implementation Opinions (CAC, NDRC, MIIT) | China | Filing, testing and recall for high-risk agents | Jul 15, 2026 |
| EU AI Act Digital Omnibus | EU | High-risk duties delayed to 2027 and 2028 | 2026 |
| NIST CAISI AI Agent Standards Initiative | US | Voluntary agent security and identity standards | Feb 2026 |
| MCP specification 2026-07-28 | Open standard | OAuth-aligned authorization for tool servers | Jul 28, 2026 |
| Reg E and Reg Z (CFPB) | US | Payment liability; agent status unresolved | In force |
Status colors: green in force, blue voluntary standard or framework, amber adopted and phasing in, gray draft or pending, red withdrawn.
Record
Page Record
- Agent class
- Software
- Datasets
- ai_deployments.csv (12 flagship rows); ai_attack_surface.csv (40 rows); ai_incidents.csv (9 linked)
- Sources
- Listed on each agent type page
- Last verified
- October 2026