Could Microsoft kill the web browser at Build? Everything developers need to know about the NLWeb Protocol

Making every website queryable by AI agents

Features By Ritoban Mukherjee published 29 May 2026

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The web browser has been the default interface for accessing online information for decades, but AI search is starting to change that assumption. Tools like Microsoft Copilot already let users ask plain-language questions and receive direct answers, bypassing the traditional results page entirely.

NLWeb is Microsoft's attempt to extend that shift down to the website level itself. Announced at Build 2025, it's an open protocol that lets any web property respond to natural language queries without a search engine acting as an intermediary.

Whether Build 2026 marks a meaningful step forward for NLWeb's adoption, or confirms that it's still an experiment in search of a standard, is worth paying close attention to. Here’s what we know so far.

• Register for Microsoft Build here

What is the NLWeb Protocol?

NLWeb stands for Natural Language Web. It's an open-source project from Microsoft that allows any website to accept and respond to natural language queries, turning a standard web property into what Microsoft describes as an AI-powered app.

The project was conceived and built by R.V. Guha, who joined Microsoft as CVP and Technical Fellow. Guha's background in web infrastructure matters here: he created RSS, RDF, and Schema.org, three formats that now underpin how structured content is shared and indexed across much of the web.

Microsoft introduced NLWeb at Build 2025 in May 2025 and drew a direct comparison to HTML's role in making website creation accessible. That framing is ambitious, and worth holding lightly. HTML solved the problem of publishing content; NLWeb is attempting to solve how both humans and AI agents query that content once it's published.

What distinguishes NLWeb from a standard chatbot widget is that every NLWeb endpoint also runs as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. MCP is an open standard that Anthropic originally developed in November 2024 for connecting AI systems to external data sources, and it has since gained widespread industry adoption. By building NLWeb on top of MCP, Microsoft is wiring website content directly into the broader ecosystem of AI agents.

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