# Protocols

Protocols define how clients and servers communicate in an asynchronous architecture.

The accepted protocols for asynchronous APIs are:

* **Kafka**
  * [Kafka Asynchronous Guidelines](https://adidas.gitbook.io/api-guidelines/asynchronous-api-guidelines/kafka-asynchronous-guidelines)
* **HTTPS**
* **WebSockets**
* **MQTT**

**Note** Guidelines for non-kafka protocols are not available at this point, but they might be added in the future.