---
title: Agentic commerce
description: >-
  Learn how to build AI agents that can search hundreds of millions of Shopify
  products, manage universal carts across multiple merchants, and deliver
  seamless checkout experiences using the Shopify Catalog MCP server and web
  components.
source_url:
  html: 'https://shopify.dev/docs/agents'
  md: 'https://shopify.dev/docs/agents.md'
---

# Agentic commerce has arrived

Build unified agentic experiences that securely act on behalf of users by leveraging Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) with Shopify MCP servers.

[#### Start building\
\
](https://shopify.dev/docs/agents/get-started/authentication)

[Authenticate, search the Catalog, and refer buyers to checkout for attribution.](https://shopify.dev/docs/agents/get-started/authentication)

![UCP logo](https://shopify.dev/assets/assets/images/agents/ucp_logo-CedEyFlC.svg)

## The Universal Commerce Protocol

The [Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)](https://ucp.dev/documentation/core-concepts/) is an open standard that establishes a common language and a set of primitives that allow agents, merchants, Payment Service Providers (PSPs), and Credential Providers (CPs) to communicate consistently and securely across the web.

Shopify provides MCP tools that are UCP-compliant to build with this interoperable and extensible protocol.

[View the spec](https://ucp.dev/specification/overview/)

## How Shopify does UCP

UCP defines the interactions between four primary actors, each playing a specific role in the commerce lifecycle: Platform (agents and applications), Merchants, Credential Providers, and Payment Service Providers.

Shopify provides MCP tools that implement UCP's core capabilities and negotiate this lifecycle:

* **Discovery**: Search products across the Shopify platform, retrieve details, and help buyers find what they're looking for.
* **Checkout**: Create checkout sessions, collect buyer information, attach payment information, and direct buyers to finish purchases on merchant storefronts.

These capabilities support building secure and customizable end-to-end commerce flows within agentic experiences.

![UCP logo](https://shopify.dev/assets/assets/images/agents/agentsUCPlight-Dhjy3_n3.png)

![\[object Object\]](https://shopify.dev/images/icons/32/number-1.png)![\[object Object\]](https://shopify.dev/images/icons/32/number-1-dark.png)

#### Product discovery and Shopify Catalog

Agents can query all merchants across Shopify platform, apply relevant filters, and display results buyers can interact with using the Catalog MCP server.

Once buyers select a product, your agentic apps can retrieve the variant details needed to create checkout sessions, connecting discovery to the next step in the flow.

[Learn more about Catalog and discovery](https://shopify.dev/docs/agents/catalog)

![Checkout Kit overview](https://shopify.dev/assets/assets/images/agents/catalog-light-wSL3czp-.png)

**Coming soon:**

![\[object Object\]](https://shopify.dev/images/icons/32/number-2.png)![\[object Object\]](https://shopify.dev/images/icons/32/number-2-dark.png)

#### Create, update, and refer buyers to checkout

As buyers select items from the Catalog, your agentic apps can create and update carts and checkouts. From these carts your apps can refer buyers directly to merchant storefronts to checkout when they're ready.

All developers with access to the Catalog can direct buyers through Checkout, building referral applications and advertising models by controlling marketing attribution on top of UCP.

[Learn more about Checkout](https://shopify.dev/docs/agents/checkout)

![Checkout Kit overview](https://shopify.dev/assets/assets/images/agents/zoomedcheckoutlight-6vMgJOBz.png)