Concept card

SAP endorsed architectures for AI and data

As of 2026-10-16

Edited by Cédric Mary, sole editor and publication director — 27 years in the SAP ecosystem. How these pages are produced, and where automation is used.

What is SAP endorsed architectures for AI and data?

'Endorsed architectures' is a term from SAP's API Policy for the integration patterns SAP accepts when AI agents call SAP APIs (A2A into Joule agents, MCP Gateway on SAP Integration Suite, SAP Business Data Cloud for analytics data), described by ASUG on 5 July 2026; the SAP Architecture Center hosts the AI-native North Star, the AI Golden Path and 30 reference architectures. The SAP TechEd 2026 catalogue lists XP111/XP111V (28 Oct) on the endorsed architectures plus ST136, XP114 and XP113. SAP has published no binding decision matrix, and the Agent Gateway is not yet generally available per SAP's own page.

What "endorsed architectures" means, and where the term comes from

Two things are easy to blur. The SAP Architecture Center (architecture.learning.sap.com) is SAP's open library of reference architectures and guidance. "Endorsed architectures" is a term from SAP's API Policy, where it names the integration patterns SAP considers acceptable for AI agents that call SAP APIs. The Architecture Center pages reviewed for this card do not use the word "endorsed"; the policy material and the SAP TechEd 2026 catalogue do. The catalogue lists session XP111 (and its virtual twin XP111V), "Understand the endorsed architectures for AI and data" (28 October), whose abstract promises to unpack API availability, usage controls and enforcement, including guardrails for agentic AI integrations, and a framework for compliant, secure and resilient architectures on SAP Business AI Platform. That is a description, not a product announcement.

The SAP Architecture Center in one paragraph

SAP's news post of 22 April 2026 presents a refreshed Architecture Center: 30 reference architectures across 104 unique documents, recent additions on agentic AI and AI agents on SAP BTP and on integrating and extending Joule, the external version of the AI Golden Path, and a GitHub contribution workflow (partner contributions from named companies). The platform is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. The post promises "regular updates"; it does not describe an endorsement process.

Why it matters

The API Policy ties agentic access to SAP APIs to endorsed architectures, so an agent design that bypasses them risks throttling, suspension or loss of support.
The Architecture Center, North Star and Golden Path are SAP's own architecture guidance; knowing what they say and do not say keeps proposals defensible.
Several pieces are still moving (Agent Gateway, MCP Gateway rollout, fair-use model), so every design needs a dated status line.

Key points

Endorsed architectures: term from SAP's API Policy, not found on the Architecture Center pages reviewed.
Three pathways per ASUG (5 Jul 2026): A2A into SAP agents incl. Joule, MCP Gateway on SAP Integration Suite, SAP Business Data Cloud.
Deterministic API automation is outside the agentic restriction; AI that chooses which APIs to call is inside it.
Requirements: authentication, authorisation, rate limits, auditability.
Architecture Center (22 Apr 2026): 30 reference architectures, 104 documents, Apache-2.0, hosts the AI Golden Path.
North Star: layers UX, process, foundation, platform; 'not a specification, roadmap, or promise of delivery'; page updated 13 May 2026.
Agent Gateway: bidirectional third-party agent communication 'not yet supported' (reference architecture updated 9 Oct 2026).
TechEd 2026: XP111, XP111V, ST136 (28 Oct), XP114, XP113 (27 Oct); descriptions only.

Terms used on this page

Endorsed architectures: Integration patterns SAP's API Policy accepts for AI agents calling SAP APIs.
SAP Architecture Center: SAP's open library of reference architectures and guidance, Apache-2.0, on GitHub.
AI-native North Star: SAP's target reference architecture for the Autonomous Enterprise: UX, process, foundation, platform layers.
AI Golden Path: Guided journey from idea to production-ready application with decision trees, hosted in the Architecture Center.
MCP Gateway: Capability of SAP Integration Suite that exposes SAP and non-SAP APIs as governed MCP tools.
Agent Gateway: SAP component for A2A access to Joule agents; third-party bidirectional use not yet supported per SAP's page.
A2A: Agent2Agent protocol for communication between agents (C163).
Published vs non-published API: API Policy distinction: documented APIs used as documented are lowest risk; undocumented interfaces are outside support.

Sources

Full card available to members. What the full card adds: the full decision framework · the SAP vs Snowflake / Databricks / Fabric comparison · the common pitfalls and their fix · the cheat sheet · the architecture schemas · the code blocks · the facts worth quoting.

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