Shopify expanded its WebMCP protocol so AI agents can complete checkout directly on its more than 2 million merchant stores, rather than reading a screenshot or scraping the page. The company announced the change Monday, according to TechCrunch.
The update adds four tools: get_checkout, which reads the checkout state and order details; update_checkout, which edits fields such as a delivery address; complete_checkout, which submits the order after the buyer confirms; and navigate_to_storefront, which returns control to the buyer, according to Shopify.
In Shopify's own testing, time per checkout attempt fell from 27.4 seconds to 10.3 seconds, about 2.7 times faster, and successful completions rose from 56 out of 60 attempts to 60 out of 60, TechCrunch reported. Cost per attempt at OpenAI's list price dropped 58%, the company said.
"Shopping with an agent shouldn't feel like watching paint dry," said Gil Greenberg, Shopify's staff product manager for agentic commerce, according to TechCrunch. Meta's Muse and the agent Instinct already have direct partnerships with Shopify for agentic checkout, TechCrunch reported.
Amazon and Adidas are actively blocking AI agents from buying on their platforms, TechCrunch reported. Shopify's bet runs the other way: open the checkout API and let the agent transact, with the buyer's authorization as the only gate.