Overview

AgentCarts is the agent-commerce layer for ecommerce stores. It exposes a small, deterministic surface — products, policies, checkout intents, and a discovery manifest — that AI agents can use to find, compare, and recommend your products. Today AgentCarts targets Shopify; the protocol is designed to extend to WooCommerce, headless storefronts, and custom platforms.

Quickstart

1. 1.Request an API key — you'll receive a sandbox key (ac_sk_test_…) within one business day.
2. 2.Install the AgentCarts Shopify app or self-host the agent layer in your stack.
3. 3.Verify your store domain. AgentCarts writes endpoints under your domain so agents can trust them.
4. 4.Confirm your discovery manifest is live at /.well-known/agent-commerce.json.
5. 5.Start receiving agent traffic. Track it in your AgentCarts dashboard.

GET https://yourstore.com/.well-known/agent-commerce.json

Authentication

Every authenticated request to an AgentCarts endpoint MUST include a bearer token in the Authorization header. Keys are scoped per merchant and per environment (sandbox vs. live).

GET https://yourstore.com/agent/products
Authorization: Bearer ac_sk_test_a4f2c79e_DO_NOT_SHARE
Accept: application/json

Endpoints

Example responses

{
  "merchant": "Example Store",
  "schema_version": "agent-commerce/1.0",
  "products": [
    {
      "id": "prod_8421",
      "name": "Standing Desk Pro",
      "price": { "amount": 299, "currency": "USD" },
      "availability": "in_stock",
      "constraints": ["under_50lbs", "wood_top"],
      "scores": { "durability": 8.7, "assembly": 6.2 },
      "agent_summary": "Best budget standing desk under $300",
      "policies": { "returns": "30d", "warranty": "5y" }
    }
  ]
}

{
  "merchant": "Example Store",
  "shipping": { "regions": ["US","CA"], "free_over": 75 },
  "returns": { "window_days": 30, "restocking_fee": 0 },
  "warranty": { "default": "5y" },
  "trust": { "verified": true, "chargeback_rate": 0.004 }
}

{
  "agent_id": "agt_anthropic_001",
  "user_consent": "handoff_required",
  "items": [{ "product_id": "prod_8421", "qty": 1 }],
  "ship_to": { "country": "US", "postal_code": "94110" }
}

Shopify integration flow

1. 1. Install the AgentCarts Shopify app via OAuth.
2. 2. Approve the minimum required scopes.
3. 3. AgentCarts syncs your catalog, inventory, and policies.
4. 4. AgentCarts enriches products with agent metadata (constraints, scores, agent_summary).
5. 5. AgentCarts publishes the discovery manifest and endpoints under your store domain.
6. 6. Your dashboard begins reporting AI referrals.

Agent discovery manifest

Every AgentCarts-enabled merchant publishes a manifest at /.well-known/agent-commerce.json. This is the entry point any compliant agent uses to discover the merchant's capabilities.

{
  "merchant": "Example Store",
  "agent_cart_enabled": true,
  "products_endpoint": "https://example.com/api/agent/products",
  "policies_endpoint": "https://example.com/api/agent/policies",
  "checkout_intent_endpoint": "https://example.com/api/agent/checkout-intent",
  "permissions": {
    "agent_checkout": "handoff_required",
    "auto_purchase": false
  }
}

Best practices for agent-readable commerce

• • Keep agent_summary sentence-length and factual.
• • Use constraints to express physical limits (weight, voltage, region) so agents can filter.
• • Score products on stable, comparable axes — durability, assembly, comfort.
• • Make policies machine-readable. Free-text returns pages are not enough.
• • Verify your domain. Agents weigh trust attestations heavily.