Multi-agent systems(MASs) are ubiquitous in natural and artificial systems. This paper aims to establish the finite-time adaptive consensus criterion for a class of MASs with nonlinear dynamics. Traditionally, the finite-time consensus criterion is often established based on the prior information on Lipschitz constants and the eigenvalues of Laplacian matrix. However, it is difficult to acquire the above prior information for most real-world engineering systems. To overcome the above difficulty, this paper develops the finite-time consensus criteria for a class of MASs with nonlinear dynamics via adaptive technique. In detail, we design the finite-time distributed node-based and edge-based adaptive consensus protocols for a class of MASs with fixed and switching topologies. Numerical simulations are also given to validate the proposed finite-time adaptive consensus criterion. Multi-agent systems (MASs) are ubiquitous in natural and artificial systems. This paper aims to establish the finite-time adaptive consensus criterion for a class of MASs with nonlinear dynamics. Traditionally, the finite-time consensus criterion is often established based on the Prior information on Lipschitz constants and the eigenvalues ​​of Laplacian matrix. However, it is difficult to acquire the above prior prior information for most real-world engineering systems. To overcome the above difficulty, this paper develops the finite-time consensus criteria for a class of MASs with nonlinear dynamics via adaptive technique. In detail, we design the finite-time distributed node-based and edge-based adaptive consensus protocols for a class of MASs with fixed and switching topologies. Numerical simulations are also given to validate the proposed finite- time adaptive consensus criterion