AI Commerce & Agentic Search
Model Context Protocol, agentic commerce protocols (ACP/UCP), AI-driven product discovery, and how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude shape merchandising in 2026.
10 articles
Shopify Quietly Auto-Shipped /llms.txt, /agents.md and /.well-known/ucp — Engineering Override Guide (2026)
Shopify now ships /llms.txt, /agents.md and /.well-known/ucp by default. Engineering guide: defaults, overrides via templates/llms.txt.liquid, Markets fixes, CI.
Hydrogen MCP → UCP Migration: Production Cutover Before June 15
Storefront Catalog MCP became UCP on April 22, 2026. The endpoint, tool names, and response schema all changed. Migration steps for Hydrogen before June 15.
Introducing Workspace Agents in ChatGPT: Commerce Implications (2026)
Consumer agentic checkout stalled, but internal AI workers are here. How to safely connect ChatGPT workspace agents to your Shopify Plus Admin API via MCP in 2026.
Introducing GPT-5.5: Engineering Agentic Commerce (2026)
Introducing GPT-5.5 and the Agentic Commerce Protocol — how 1M-token context windows turn ChatGPT into a native checkout channel for Shopify Plus — 2026.
Scaling Shopify Storefront MCP in Production
Auth, caching, rate-limiting, and multi-tenancy patterns for a Shopify Storefront MCP server — what scales, what breaks under bursty agent traffic.
Agentic Commerce Protocols: ACP, MCP, UCP
ACP, MCP, and UCP — the three protocols that now mediate how AI agents buy from Shopify, BigCommerce, and enterprise stores. What each is and what to implement.
Shopify MCP Server: Production Implementation Guide (2026)
Shopify MCP server setup: 4 native servers (Storefront, Customer Account, Checkout, Dev), verification from Claude and Cursor, and custom build cost £15K-£45K in 2026.
Optimising Shopify for AI Search: ChatGPT & Perplexity
ChatGPT Shopping, Perplexity Shop, and Google AI Mode recommend products directly. The structured data, feeds, and on-page signals that move the needle in 2026.
Shopify Search at Sub-100ms: Algolia vs Search & Discovery (2026)
eCommerce search under 100ms — Algolia config, Shopify Search & Discovery API limits, 1536-dim vector embeddings, and buy-vs-build decision points for 2026.
AI Search Isn't Magic: What Actually Works
We've tested plenty of AI search tools. Here's what we've learned about what actually improves eCommerce search and what's just expensive hype.