Sign inStart free

Shopify agents.md: what the file tells AI shopping agents, what a store owner can change, and how to check it

Every Shopify store now serves a Markdown file for AI agents. Here is what is in it, the template that overrides it, and the settings that matter more.

Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 21 October 2026

Shopify's agents.md is a Markdown file that Shopify generates and serves for every store at /agents.md on the store's primary domain. It is written for AI shopping agents, not for people or search engines. It tells an agent how to shop the store on a buyer's behalf: use the Shop skill, connect to the store's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) endpoints, or use the WebMCP tools built into the store's pages, and always get the buyer's approval before an order is placed. It also links the store's published policies. You do not need an app to create it. You can override it with an agents.md.liquid theme template, and the same content is served at /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt by default. It does not carry your product data. That travels through Shopify Catalog, which is set up separately.

Everything below was read on 22 October 2026 from Shopify's help centre and developer docs and from five live stores. Shopify changes this area often, so re-read the linked pages before you edit.

Where the file lives and how agents find it

Shopify's developer page on agents.md.liquid says Shopify manages an agents.md file by default for every store. It is served at the bare primary domain, with no locale or Markets subfolder, and it has no translated version.

Two signals point agents at it. On the stores we checked, the main sitemap.xml lists a child sitemap called sitemap_agentic_discovery.xml, and that sitemap contains one URL: /agents.md, marked to change weekly. The help pages we read do not mention this sitemap, so treat it as observed behaviour rather than a documented feature. The response headers on the agents.md request also carry a link to /.well-known/ucp, the store's UCP profile.

What the default file says, section by section

We fetched agents.md from Allbirds, Kith, Brooklinen, MVMT and tentree. Apart from the name, the domain and the policy list (MVMT linked two policies, Allbirds four), the text was identical. The default is a Shopify template, not something a merchant wrote.

SectionWhat it tells an agent
Shop skill (marked "recommended")Use the Shop skill at shop.com/SKILL.md for product search by text or image, carts, Shop Pay checkout with the buyer's saved details, and order tracking.
UCP integration, directFetch the store's profile at /.well-known/ucp, connect to the MCP endpoint at /api/ucp/mcp, list the tools, then search, build carts and check out with buyer authorisation.
UCP integration, in the browserUse the WebMCP tools registered on the store's pages. Checkout has its own tools. If they are missing, hand the buyer back to the checkout page and do not script form fills.
Interaction guidelinesPlace orders only with the buyer's authorisation, identify agent traffic with Web Bot Auth, back off on a 429 response, and use the buyer's country and currency where the tools allow.
Read-only browsingFind pages through the sitemap, read products at /products/{handle} and collections at /collections/all.
Store policiesLinks to the privacy, terms, refund and shipping policies the store has published.

The three names in the file, in plain words

UCP, the Universal Commerce Protocol

UCP is an open standard, documented at ucp.dev, that gives agents one way to discover products, build carts and complete checkout across businesses. A store's UCP profile lists what it supports. Allbirds' profile on 22 October 2026 named version 2026-08-25 and listed capabilities including catalog search, cart, checkout, discounts, fulfilment, buyer consent and orders. Shopify's agentic commerce docs describe agents that build carts and then hand the buyer to the merchant to pay, with "trusted agents" allowed to complete checkout directly.

WebMCP

WebMCP is a proposed web standard. The page registers tools with the browser and the agent calls them instead of clicking buttons. Shopify's WebMCP page says it provides these tools on every Liquid storefront, and on Hydrogen 2026-10 storefronts that turn them on, and that agent support is currently limited to Chromium-based browsers. The storefront tools include search_catalog, get_product, update_cart, proceed_to_checkout and search_shop_policies_and_faqs. That last one answers questions about returns, shipping and hours from the store's own content, so the wording of your policies is what an agent repeats.

The Shop skill

The file at shop.com/SKILL.md tells an agent how to connect to Shop and to offer the buyer an optional sign-in for saved addresses, Shop Pay and order history. It works across Shopify stores, which is why every store's file points to it.

What a store owner can change, and what they cannot

You can replace the text. Shopify's help page on Shopify Catalog and product discovery gives the steps: in the admin, go to Online Store, choose Edit code on your theme, add a new template, and pick agents.md, llms.txt or llms-full.txt. An agents.md.liquid template changes all three URLs. A llms.txt.liquid or llms-full.txt.liquid template changes only its own URL and wins over agents.md.liquid for that URL.

The template is deliberately limited. Only two Liquid objects work inside it: request and an agents object that fills in the store name, store URL, UCP discovery URL, MCP endpoint, supported UCP versions, currency and sitemap URL. The usual theme objects, such as shop and collections, render blank. Shopify advises keeping the default for most stores, using the agents values rather than typed-in URLs, and leaving out contact emails and phone numbers because the file is cached widely.

Some of it changes without code. The policy links follow the policies you have published.

You cannot move product data through it. Shopify's help page says Shopify Catalog is the authoritative product feed to agentic channels and that the discovery files are separate from it. Editing agents.md does not change what ChatGPT or Copilot receive about your products. The help page also does not describe any setting that switches the file off. It describes overriding it.

Do not confuse it with an AGENTS.md file at the root of a theme. Shopify says that one briefs coding agents on how the theme is built and is never served on the storefront.

The controls that matter more than the file

Most of what decides whether an assistant shows your products sits in Sales channels, then Agentic. Shopify's managing agentic storefronts page explains the settings:

  • Allow Shopify to manage for me is on by default. It gives every channel Catalog access, turns on direct checkout where offered, and enrols you in new channels.
  • Shopify Catalog access can be turned off for all third-party channels or for one at a time. Shopify says it can take up to 7 days for sharing to stop, and products can still be found by ordinary web crawling.
  • Shop is a Shopify-owned channel, and its Catalog access cannot be turned off in this section.
  • Hiding a product from every agentic channel means the Unlisted status or the seo.hidden metafield, which also hides it from Google. Our guide to the seo.hidden metafield and when Unlisted is the better choice covers the trade-off.
  • robots.txt rules affect only open-web crawlers. They do not stop Catalog sending data to channels you have switched on.

The same section has a search preview of how your products rank in Catalog search, with a listing quality meter built from description, images, verified reviews, variants and policies. Shopify notes that each channel re-ranks with its own logic, so read the preview as a direction.

How to check what an assistant actually does with your store

  1. Open your own file. Visit yourdomain.com/agents.md and confirm the store name, domain and every policy you expect are there.
  2. Run the Agentic search preview for your five best sellers and fix the weakest listing quality signal first.
  3. Ask the assistants as a buyer would, with a need and a budget but no brand name, and record which stores they name. The weekly routine in our guide to Shopify and ChatGPT sets this out step by step, alongside how the Agentic Commerce Protocol started.
  4. Ask about your store by name and compare the return window, shipping times and prices in the answer with your published policies.

The file describes how an agent can shop with you. Whether an assistant suggests your store when someone asks for a recommendation is a separate question, and it is the step most merchants never see. AI Knows Us asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews the questions your buyers ask, and shows whether your store is named and which sources each answer leans on. Read those results next to the Agentic preview and you see both halves.

Questions about Shopify's agents.md

Do I need an app to create agents.md on Shopify?

No. Shopify's help page says every store serves /agents.md, /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt automatically, and that no third-party app is needed to generate them.

Will editing agents.md change how my products rank in ChatGPT?

Shopify says product data reaches AI channels through Shopify Catalog, and that the discovery files are separate from it. Put your effort into titles, descriptions, images, variants, reviews and policies, which are the signals Shopify's listing quality meter measures.

Can I add my phone number or email to agents.md?

Shopify advises against it. Its developer page says the default file leaves out contact details on purpose, because the file is cached broadly and served to every agent that asks.

Does agents.md work on a headless Shopify store?

Shopify's docs describe agents.md.liquid as a theme template, and its WebMCP tools as built into Liquid storefronts and Hydrogen 2026-10 storefronts that turn them on. If you run another front end, request /agents.md on your own domain to see what is served.

Read next

Simon-Kucher pricing strategy, what the firm publishes about its own method and what a Singapore buyer should ask before briefing itThe firm publishes its approach, its scale and four named service lines, and publishes no fee, so the useful work before any call is reading what it claims and deciding which decision you are buying.International pricing strategies for a Singapore company, and the corridor that stops one market undercutting anotherA converted home price is the one answer that is almost always wrong, so set a price per market and keep the gaps narrower than the cost of moving a unit between them.Premium pricing strategy for a Singapore business, and the fence that makes the higher number holdCharging permanently more than the credible alternatives works when the buyer can name what the extra money buys, and the published Singapore writing ladder shows exactly how that is built.Red Antler publishes no price, so here is what its own site does publish and how to cost the same scope from SingaporeRead on 29 October 2026, three pages of redantler.com carry a complete deliverable list, three business stages and not one figure about what any of it costs.Hiring a full service content agency, the five stages a retainer has to cover and the two handoffs where the money leaksMost content retainers buy production and quietly leave strategy and distribution with you, so price the stages rather than the word count.Hiring a branding agency for a Singapore financial services firm, and the three registers to search before you fall in love with a nameIdentity work for a licensed firm starts with a clearance search rather than a mood board, and two of the three registers are free to read in a browser today.

Or browse the whole archive.

See what AI says about you.

The first scan is free, it needs no account, and it asks the questions your buyers ask.

Free. No card. We ask 5 real buyer questions on 2 AI apps.

Already sure you want this? Start free. No card needed, and the free plan stays free. Pay only when you want the work done. Or talk to a person if you have a question first. Or read how we fix what it finds.