---
title: "Agent readiness scoring methodology · Waymark"
canonical: "https://waymark.genedai.me/methodology"
last-updated: "2026-09-08"
---

# Waymark methodology

Waymark estimates how readily AI agents can discover, access, use, and (when relevant) pay on a public website. The score is an at-a-glance summary; the individual checks and evidence are the useful part of the report.

## Official score

Four layers, 100 points after N/A drops out of the denominator:

- Discovery — 20 — can an agent find maps, robots, sitemaps, llms.txt, and identity files?
- Access — 30 — can an agent read the door: titles, structured data, docs, OAuth, trust pages?
- Usability — 40 — can an agent use tools: OpenAPI, MCP, errors, rate limits, skills?
- Payments — 10 — only when a cart or a live machine-pay rail is present; otherwise N/A

Check IDs are Waymark `wm-*` (plus older stable aliases). Statuses: pass, fail, warn, na, error. N/A and scanner error are excluded from the score denominator. Fail means the site is missing the signal. Warn is a partial (1 point when max is at least 2).

Grades: A+ ≥ 95 · A ≥ 86 · B ≥ 70 · C ≥ 48 · D ≥ 28 · else F.

The official number is this four-layer mix. An essentials 80/20 reading may appear as extra context; it is not a substitute for the official score and is not an Ora-compatible figure.

## Journey

A live agent journey (browser, Claude Code, or Codex) is stored separately. It is supporting evidence of friction and never changes the numeric score.

## Limits

A report is one public URL at one time. Private pages, authenticated states, bot defenses, and regional differences can produce behavior a public scan cannot see. Waymark is not a security, accessibility, privacy, or legal certification.

## Provenance and how to cite

Waymark is an independent Gene / Digidai product. The public check catalog defines the scanner evidence; no external lab or web-wide census is claimed.

Cite: Waymark scored [domain] [score]/100 ([grade]) on [scanned_at], [canonical report URL]. Include the scan timestamp. The stable URL serves the latest completed snapshot, so retain the JSON or Markdown when the original evidence matters. A missing report is not a zero score.

Catalog: https://waymark.genedai.me/api/checks