# Shop MCP

A hosted MCP server that lets an agent find products from Shopify merchants, check out with them, and use the shopper's Shop account.

Shop MCP is a remote [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) server at `https://mcp.shop.com/`. An agent connected to it can search the Shopify Catalog, read a product's options and prices, and open a cart or checkout with the merchant that sells it. Any MCP client can connect, and so can your own code: each tool call is one HTTP POST, with no session to set up first.

Search, physical-store lookup, carts and checkout work without an account. When the shopper connects their Shop account, the agent can also use their saved addresses and Shop Pay, search their Shop-tracked order history, and ask them to approve a card payment at a store that doesn't run on Shopify.

## Ways to connect

| You're building | Start with |
| --- | --- |
| An agent in Claude, ChatGPT or another MCP client | [Connect an agent](connect.md) |
| An app or backend that calls the tools itself | [Quickstart](quickstart.md) |
| A script, or an agent that works in a terminal | [CLI reference](cli.md) |

Each path reaches the same tools. Your app doesn't need a language model to call them. The CLI includes a public client for prototyping, including Sign in with Shop; an app you distribute uses its [own application client](authentication.md#application-clients) so shoppers recognize it and its production access can be managed separately.

## How a purchase works

1. Search with words, a similar product or a photo. Each result carries one featured variant with its price, availability and seller.
2. Call `get_product` when the shopper wants another size or color, or needs a fact the search didn't return.
3. Create a checkout with the merchant that sells the variant. A checkout belongs to one merchant, so items from three stores take three checkouts.
4. Give the shopper the checkout's `continue_url` to pay on the merchant's page. With a signed-in shopper, the agent can instead complete it with `complete_checkout` once they've confirmed the total and a payment method.

Only a checkout with status `completed` and an `order` confirms a purchase. [Carts and checkout](checkout.md) covers each step.

## What a Shop account adds

| Tools | Signed out | Signed in |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `search_catalog`, `lookup_catalog`, `get_product` | Available | Results can use the shopper's saved preferences |
| `search_locations`, `lookup_locations` | Available for one merchant's directory | Available |
| Carts and checkout | Available | Checkout can use saved addresses and Shop Pay |
| `get_account`, `search_orders` | Sign-in required | Available |
| Spend request tools | Sign-in required | Available |

MCP clients such as Claude and ChatGPT run the sign-in for you. Your own code can use a device flow that the shopper approves on Shop's site. [Connect a Shop account](sign-in.md) covers both.

## The Shop skill

Shop publishes a skill for agents with what the tool descriptions leave out, such as when to create a checkout and what to do after a write fails. It's at `https://mcp.shop.com/skill.md`, and over MCP at `skill://shop/SKILL.md`. The CLI prints its own version, written for its commands, with `shop skill`. Give an agent the one that matches how it connects. [Load the skill](connect.md#load-the-skill) lists the files and how clients find them.

## Versions

Shop MCP uses MCP protocol version `2026-07-28`. Catalog, cart and checkout documents follow version `2026-08-25` of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), and each one reports that version in `ucp.version`.