Shopify takes opposite path from Amazon

While Amazon and Adidas block AI agents from making purchases on their platforms, Shopify announced on Monday that browser-based AI agents can now complete purchases on its merchants' sites.

Shopify expands agent capabilities

Shopify previously allowed browser-based AI agents to search products and add items to carts through WebMCP support. The new update extends this to checkout, including Shop Pay.

How agents will work at checkout

The update introduces three new tools: get_checkout, update_checkout, and complete_checkout. Agents can inspect a checkout, change the customer's address or delivery option, and place an order after the buyer authorizes it.

Structured APIs replace web scraping

The WebMCP tools provide structured and efficient APIs designed via Shopify's Universal Commerce Protocol to ensure accurate commerce facts, required disclosures, and handoff requirements without relying on screenshots or scraping.

“These WebMCP tools provide structured and efficient APIs, purposely designed, via UCP, to ensure accurate commerce facts, required disclosures, and handoff requirements.”

Rolling out to all eligible merchants

Gil Greenberg, a staff product manager who works on agentic commerce at Shopify, announced the feature is rolling out to all eligible Shopify merchants on September twenty-eighth.

Top agents already partnering with Shopify

Top AI agents like Muse and Instinct already have direct partnerships with Shopify for agentic commerce. The Instinct partnership was announced on the same day as the checkout update.