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ICANN published applications for its 2026 round of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) on 7 October 2026. An unofficial tally by Domain Name Wire reports 13 applications for .agent, making it one of the round’s most contested proposed strings. That tally is not an official ICANN count, and the applications do not mean .agent has been approved or is available to register.
What happened on ICANN Reveal Day?
ICANN’s application window ran from 30 April through 12 August 2026. On 7 October, the organization published the proposed primary strings, applicant names, public portions of applications, and preliminary contention information. ICANN calls the publication day Reveal Day.
ICANN’s Reveal Day snapshot lists 1,615 applications. Its statistics page lists 481 applicants and was last published on 7 October 2026 at 15:41 UTC. These numbers measure different things: an applicant can submit more than one application. ICANN says the final number and types of applications will be confirmed on String Confirmation Day, so the Reveal Day figures are a dated snapshot rather than a final tally. ICANN’s Reveal Day announcement and the Application Publication and Statistics system provide the official figures.
| Category | Reveal Day count |
|---|---|
| Total applications | 1,615 |
| Applicants | 481, per ICANN’s statistics page as of 7 October 2026 at 15:41 UTC |
| Brand applications | 333 |
| Community-based applications | 16 |
| Self-identified geographic-name applications | 15 |
| Applications from Applicant Support Program applicants | 51 |
| Internationalized Domain Name applications | 21 |
| Variant applications | 9 |
The category figures are from ICANN’s 7 October Reveal Day snapshot. ICANN describes variant applications as requests for strings that have other forms in scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. The live application system can change: replacement-string entries may appear as separate records while counting as one application in the statistics.
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How many applicants applied for .agent?
Domain Name Wire reported 13 applications for .agent on 7 October and explicitly described its tally as unofficial. Agent Community also reported 13 the next day. ICANN’s accessible Reveal Day announcement does not state that specific count, so it should be attributed to those reports rather than presented as an official ICANN figure. Domain Name Wire’s tally names Google, Meta, and OpenAI among the applicants. Agent Community’s post identifies Open Agent Registry, Inc. as its own applicant entity.
Those reports establish competition for the proposed string, not what each applicant intends to do with it, how much it plans to invest, or which applicant is likely to succeed. Nor does the number mean all 13 applicants are AI companies.
Why are AI-related names drawing attention?
The proposed-name landscape includes visible AI and agent vocabulary, and the reported competition for .agent makes that interest hard to miss. It is reasonable to describe AI as a focus in the names being applied for, but that is an observation about the pattern—not a conclusion ICANN made about the round. The available reports do not establish a common plan among applicants or show that a future .agent namespace would be open to the public or function as an endorsed standard for agent identity.
ICANN President and CEO Kurtis Lindqvist said the applications “demonstrate how organizations around the world are seeking new ways to build trusted online identities, serve their communities, and connect with Internet users.” That is ICANN’s broad description of the round, not a specific claim about .agent or AI.
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Is .agent available yet?
No. The published records are applications for a proposed top-level domain, not approval, delegation, or a registration launch. Applicants still face program evaluation and other processes, while contention between applicants may need to be resolved. ICANN’s program overview explains the New gTLD Program status; it does not announce .agent as an active extension.
What happens next in the 2026 new gTLD round?
| Milestone | Date or status |
|---|---|
| Replacement period | 8 October 2026 at 00:01 UTC to 21 October 2026 at 23:59 UTC |
| String Confirmation Day | 17 November 2026 |
| Community Input and Objections Period | 17 November 2026 to 16 March 2027 |
| Later evaluation and contention resolution | Timing remains under planning; ICANN says it will communicate dates later |
During the replacement period, eligible applicants who supplied a replacement string may elect to switch to it. A substitute must meet ICANN’s eligibility conditions and cannot duplicate an applied-for primary or replacement string. On String Confirmation Day, ICANN plans to publish the final applied-for string list and updated contention sets. The dates and conditions are set out in ICANN’s 2026 round updates.
After that, community input and objections provide additional opportunities for review. The detailed rules depend on the mechanism involved. For example, ICANN’s 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook restricts applicants in the same contention set from communicating with one another about their contending applications and resolution strategies during the covered period.
When will ICANN approve new domain extensions?
ICANN has not announced a final approval or launch date for .agent or for the round as a whole. It says later evaluation and contention-resolution milestones are still being planned. String Confirmation Day is a scheduled step in the process, not an approval date; the final status of any particular proposed string depends on the steps that follow.
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