MCP (Model Context Protocol)
The open protocol that lets AI models like Claude and ChatGPT query and retrieve structured data from external systems, including Shopify catalogs.
What it means
MCP standardizes how an AI model connects to outside tools and data sources instead of every integration being custom-built. For commerce, an MCP server exposes a store's catalog, inventory, and product details in a format an AI agent can query directly, rather than the agent having to scrape or guess at page content. A Shopify store with a working MCP connection can be read accurately by any MCP-compatible AI agent, which is the discovery layer underneath agentic commerce.
Why it matters for Shopify
Shopify stores that expose their catalog via MCP make themselves discoverable and queryable by AI agents shopping on a buyer's behalf, not just readable by a human browsing the site.