Shopify MCP server

What “Shopify MCP” can mean

“Shopify MCP” names five different things, and the right one depends on who is asking.

• A merchant who wants an assistant to read or manage their own store uses Shopify’s connector for Claude, ChatGPT, or Perplexity.
• A shopping agent that browses a store, builds a cart, and checks out uses the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) servers on the store’s own domain.
• An app serving a signed-in customer uses the Customer Accounts MCP server for that customer’s orders and account.
• A developer building on Shopify uses the Dev MCP server, which serves documentation and schemas, not store data.
• A developer working in a coding tool who needs the store itself uses the Shopify CLI connector, which gives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or VS Code the CLI’s signed-in store access.

Shopify’s connector for merchants

You approve the connector’s access in your Shopify admin. Beyond what the table lists, it cannot change existing discount codes, mark orders paid, process returns, or issue gift cards.

It suits order lookups, catalog edits, and questions about your store’s own sales. It sees only Shopify: ad spend, marketplace orders, and a subscription platform’s own records are outside it. The Perplexity version manages an existing store only. Shopify’s help pages call it a connector, or a plugin in ChatGPT, rather than an MCP server; Claude’s connector directory lists it as made by Shopify.

Setup: Connecting AI tools to Shopify.

UCP servers for shopping agents

The Catalog, Cart, Checkout, and Order MCPs answer at https://{shop}/api/ucp/mcp. An agent with no credentials can search the catalog and build carts and checkouts. Completing a checkout takes a token granted permission to purchase on the shop’s behalf, and reading an order takes a token with the read_global_api_orders scope. The older catalog and cart tools at /api/mcp were removed; the policies and FAQs tool still answers there, with no sign-in.

These servers are for agents that shop a store. They expose no store-wide orders or analytics.

Setup: Shopify’s agent documentation.

Customer Accounts MCP

This server lets an assistant built as a Shopify app act for one signed-in customer: order status, order details, and account preferences. It uses OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, the store needs a custom domain, and the app must meet Shopify’s protected customer data requirements. It reaches nothing beyond that customer’s own account.

Setup: Customer Accounts MCP server.

Dev MCP

The Dev MCP server runs on your machine without authentication. It searches Shopify’s developer documentation and API schemas and validates GraphQL, Liquid, and extension code. It reads no store data.

Setup: Shopify AI Toolkit.

A first safe read

Start with a question that reads and changes nothing. In the merchant connector, ask: “List my 20 most recent orders with order number, date, total, and fulfillment status.” A good answer shows those four fields for each order, states the time span the orders cover, and says so if it stopped at the connector’s per-request limit rather than implying the list is complete. Check two of the orders against your admin before asking anything larger, and leave product and discount edits until the reads hold up.

When one source is enough, and when it is not

If the question lives entirely inside Shopify, such as finding an order, checking stock, or editing a product, Shopify’s own connector is the direct path. The picture changes once a question crosses sources. Return on ad spend needs spend from Meta or Google. Channel mix needs Amazon or TikTok Shop orders. Subscription revenue needs the subscription platform’s line-level data, and returns may live in Loop Returns or ReturnGO rather than in Shopify.