Shopify allows browser-based AI agents to complete purchases — TechCrunch

E-commerce platform Shopify has allowed AI agents operating in the shopper’s browser to complete checkout on its merchants’ websites. As TechCrunch reports, the agents can not only search for products and add them to the cart, but also make a purchase after the shopper authorizes it.

New tools for checkout

Shopify has expanded support for the WebMCP standard to the checkout stage, including for Shop Pay. This enables browser-based agents to read checkout page data, make changes, and submit a transaction without using screenshots or scraping data from pages.

For this purpose, the company added three tools: getcheckout, updatecheckout, and completecheckout. They allow an agent to view order parameters, change the shopper’s address or delivery method, and, after user confirmation, complete the order.

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Feature rollout and protocols

According to Gil Greenberg, Shopify’s senior product manager for agentic commerce, the feature is being gradually rolled out to all eligible Shopify merchants. Previously, WebMCP on storefronts and in carts gave agents access to product search, browsing the product range, and adding items to the cart.

Shopify also has a hosted Model Context Protocol server for server-to-server agent interactions. WebMCP is intended for agents acting directly in the shopper’s browser. Both solutions use the Universal Commerce Protocol, which establishes a common approach to product discovery, cart creation, and checkout. AI agents Muse and Instinct already have direct partnerships with Shopify in agentic commerce.