Manage Your Store with AI: Get Started with Claude and MCP

Imagine if you could type “show me today’s orders” or “create a 10% discount code called SOMMER26 that expires on June 30,” and your online store would just do it. You can do that in Shoporama. You connect your store to an AI assistant, type commands in plain Danish, and it carries out the actions exactly as if you were sitting in the admin panel and clicking around yourself. It requires no programming and no developer.

What is MCP in practice?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol and is an open standard for how an AI assistant can communicate with another system. Think of it as a universal power outlet: Shoporama provides the outlet, and the AI assistant plugs it in.

Without MCP, an AI chatbot can only talk about your online store based on what you type into the chat yourself. With MCP, Shoporama provides a set of tools—that is, specific actions such as “retrieve an order,” “create a product,” or “find search terms with no results.” When you ask for something, the AI selects the necessary tools on its own. At the time of writing, Shoporama has over 170 of them. Because MCP is an open standard, you’re not locked into a single assistant, but the guide in the admin panel is based on Claude from Anthropic.

How to Get Started

Go to Store, Integrations, Manage the Store with AI. There’s no on/off switch—you’ll need to activate it first. “Activation” involves connecting an AI client. Click Get Started, and at the top you’ll find Your MCP URL with a Copy button next to it. That’s the address the AI client needs, and it looks like this:

https://www.shoporama.dk/mcp?mineksempelshop.dk

The last part—that is, what comes after the question mark—is your own shop’s domain. It’s set up this way on purpose so you can connect multiple Shoporama shops to the same AI account. More on that below. Always use the URL listed on your own page, and copy it from the specific shop in question. After that, you’ll see two tabs.

claude.ai in the browser

1. Open claude.ai in a browser on your computer
2. Go to Settings, Connectors
3. Click “Add custom connector”
4. Paste the MCP URL from Shoporama
5. Claude will open a login window for Shoporama. Log in and select the correct store from the list. Read the warning below before clicking next
6. Select the access level and click Authorize
7. Start a new chat and try, for example, “Show me the latest 5 products”

Custom connectors can only be added from claude.ai in a browser, not from the mobile app. But once the connection is added to your account, it also works on your phone. Then you can check today’s sales or place a phone order while you’re in the warehouse.

Claude Desktop on Mac or Windows

Claude Desktop uses a small helper process called mcp-remote to communicate with MCP servers on the web. It runs automatically via npx, so you don’t need to install anything yourself.

1. Download Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download
2. Open Settings, Developer, Edit Config
3. Add the block below under `mcpServers`, using your own MCP URL. Remember to end it with your shop’s domain
4. Save the file, and completely close Claude Desktop using Cmd+Q or Alt+F4
5. Restart the program. The first time you send a message, a browser will open where you’ll log in to Shoporama, select your shop, and grant permission

"shoporama": {
  "command": "npx",
  "args": [
    "-y",
    "mcp-remote",
    "https://www.shoporama.dk/mcp?mineksempelshop.dk"
  ]
}

Do you have multiple stores? Then each store gets its own connection

Many people have more than one online store. A web agency might manage twenty client stores, and a retailer might have both a live store and a test store. They can all easily be connected to the same AI account at the same time.

That’s why the MCP URL ends with the shop’s domain. Claude doesn’t allow two connections with the same address, and without the domain, you’d only be able to connect one shop. At the same time, the domain acts as a label, so you can see from the list of connections which store a given connection belongs to.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Log in to the admin panel of the first shop, go to Shop, Integrations, Manage the Shop with AI, click Get Started, and copy the MCP URL from there
2. Create a connection in your AI client using that exact URL, and authorize it with the correct store and the access level you want to grant
3. Switch to the next store in the admin panel, retrieve its MCP URL, and repeat

The advantage of this model is that each store operates independently. You can grant “Read” access to the stores from which you only retrieve data, and “Full Access” to the one you’re working in. You can revoke access to one store without affecting the others, and each store has its own audit log. On the other hand, there is no automatic transfer between shops. If you want to move a campaign text from one shop to another, you’ll need to ask the AI yourself to retrieve it from one place and create it in another.

If you have both a live store and a test store active at the same time, be extra clear in your message about which store you’re referring to. Changes to the live store go live immediately. A good tip is to only keep the connections enabled that you’re currently using, and to name connections that include the domain, rather than calling them all “Shoporama.”

Which tools does the AI have access to?

The tools are divided into areas, which you can see under “Customize Tools.” Next to each area, there’s a link that shows how many tools the area contains. Click on it to see the full list of names. The areas are:

• Catalog: products, variants, categories, brands, inventory, suppliers
• Orders: orders, status updates, shipping labels, order labels
• Customers: customers, customer groups, B2B companies, profile fields, loyalty points
• Marketing: discount codes and campaigns
• Newsletter: Create newsletters, modules, lists, and subscribers. The AI cannot send
• Page Designer: homepage, modules, and scheduled pages such as a Black Friday homepage
• Theme and CSS: theme files, custom CSS, settings, stylesheet
• Content: blog posts, pages, landing pages, help articles
• Image library: images and folders in your image library
• Navigation: menus, URL redirects, 404 errors
• Insights: sales statistics, bestsellers, search terms with no results

In addition, there’s a small group called Basic Info. It’s always active so the AI knows which store it’s communicating with, and it can’t be turned off.

In everyday use, it sounds something like this: “Create a phone order for three black wool hats for Bo Jensen, Vestergade 12, 5000 Odense,” “Which 404 errors should I set up redirects for?”, or “Create a Black Friday landing page that automatically goes live on November 28 and takes down on December 1.” A campaign or a scheduled homepage typically takes half an hour to put together. Described in a single sentence, it takes less than a minute, and you’ll have time to review the result before it goes live.

What AI Can’t Do

It’s just as important to know where the limits lie. There are no tools for:

• Sending newsletters. The AI can create a draft and show you a preview, but you’ll need to send it yourself in the admin panel
• Handling money. It cannot process payments, issue refunds, or change your payment gateways
• Changing your store settings. It won’t touch shipping methods, payment gateways, users, roles, domains, or subscriptions
• Deleting orders. It can update an order, but not delete it
• Working in a store other than its own. A connection can only view the one online store it was authorized for

However, the AI can both read and edit customer data if the “Customers” section is enabled. If you don’t want customer data involved, disable the section under “Customize Tools.”

And an important caveat: an AI assistant can make mistakes and misunderstand instructions. Treat it like a skilled but new employee, and ask it to show you what it’s going to do before it does it when making major changes. If it deletes a product by mistake, it’s a soft delete, so you can restore it from the Trash in the menu. Please note that a restored product will be set to “offline,” so you’ll need to set it back to “online” yourself.

Choose which areas the AI is allowed to work with

On the Customize Tools page, there’s a toggle next to each area, and at the top you’ll see “Active Tools” with two numbers. The number updates immediately when you disable an area, so you can see the effect before clicking Save. This setting applies to each individual store; if you have multiple stores connected, you’ll need to set it for each one.

There are two good reasons to disable certain features. The first is security: if you never want the AI to have access to your orders, your customers, or your theme, disable those areas. The second is practical: when the AI connects, it fetches the entire list of tools, and that takes up a significant portion of the conversation. Some users see the error message “This conversation is too long” even before they’ve typed anything. If you disable an area in the middle of a conversation, the AI may still attempt to interact until it reconnects, but the attempt will be rejected by Shoporama and logged. More details in “Customize which AI tools are active.”

Security: Access, Logs, and How to Disable the Feature

Authorization takes place on Shoporama

When you connect an AI client, it redirects you to an authorization page on Shoporama called “Authorize Access.” You log in with your regular Shoporama account, and the AI client never sees your password. You’ll choose two things: which online store the access applies to, and what access level it will have. The levels are Read, Write, and Full Access, with Full Access selected by default.

Please note that the access levels are not cumulative. If you select “Write,” the AI will only have access to the tools that make changes—not those that simply read data. If you want it to be able to both view and make changes, you must select “Full Access.” If you want to try it out risk-free, select Read. That way, the AI can still answer questions about revenue, bestsellers, and inventory status, but it can’t make any changes. It’s a great way to get started.

Everything is logged

Every single time the AI uses a tool, it’s recorded in an audit log, which you’ll find under “View audit log” at the bottom of the AI page. It shows the time, which tool was used, what arguments were provided, whether it succeeded or failed, and how long it took. The log is maintained per store, so each connection has its own history. Log entries are retained for 90 days. Fields whose names contain words such as “password,” “token,” “secret,” “API key,” or “card number” have their values replaced with [REDACTED] before anything is saved. The actual access key behind the connection is never stored in plain text. Everything about the log is in the AI audit log: see what the AI has been doing in your shop.

How to Revoke Access

Go to Store, Integrations, API Access. Connections from the AI integration appear in the list with a name starting with “OAuth:”. Click the trash can icon next to the entry, confirm, and access is revoked immediately. You’d do this, for example, if an employee leaves or if you’ve authorized the wrong store. Remember that the page always shows the store you’re currently in, so you’ll need to switch to the wrong store in the admin panel to delete its access. On the same page, you can see when each access was last used, what access level it has, and how much of the daily limit it has used. See also Find or Create an API Key.

For those with a technical background

Shoporama’s MCP server communicates via JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTPS to /mcp. Authentication follows the standard OAuth 2.0 protocol with an authorization code and PKCE, and clients discover all the necessary information on their own via .well-known-metadata. Client registration happens dynamically, so there’s nothing you need to set up in advance. If you want to use an MCP client other than Claude, just point it to the same MCP URL.

• The query string containing the store’s domain is not read by the server. The endpoint is the same for all stores, and the online store is accessed exclusively based on the bearer token that the client sends. The domain is a label, not a parameter, so you cannot switch stores by editing the URL
• Virtually all MCP tools internally call Shoporama’s existing REST API and thus inherit the same validation, the same access checks, and the same separation between online stores. Only a few lookup tools—including those that search the documentation—bypass this. See the REST API documentation
• Each authorization issues its own token with a limit of 10,000 calls per day. These calls count toward that limit just like for other integrations, and usage is displayed on the API Access page in the Daily Limit column
• Tools are classified as read-only or write-enabled, and the list is filtered based on your access level. If a tool is called despite this, it will be rejected with an explanatory error message
• The tools for theme files require theme file access on the connection. New connections receive this automatically, while older ones must be disconnected and reconnected
• Searches in Shoporama’s support articles, blog, and glossary are located in the Content section. If you disable Content, the AI will also lose the ability to look up information in the documentation

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an extra cost to use AI in my store?

Shoporama does not charge a separate fee for connecting an AI client. The calls count toward the daily limit on the AI’s access, just like other integrations, and you can track usage in the “Daily Limit” column under Store, Integrations, API Access. The AI assistant itself is a product from Anthropic, so they determine what’s included in their subscriptions.

Is this the same as the AI button in the text editor?

No. The AI assistant in the text editor writes text for you within the admin panel. This integration is different: you chat in an AI client outside of Shoporama, and it can retrieve data and perform actions across your entire store. The two features do not interfere with each other.

Can I give the AI access to multiple shops?

Yes. You simply create one connection per shop. The MCP URL contains the shop’s domain, so the two addresses aren’t the same, and you therefore retrieve the URL from within each individual shop in the admin panel. Each store gets its own connection with its own access level and its own log, and you can revoke access to one store without affecting the others.

I selected the wrong shop. Can I just switch it?

No, access is tied to the shop you selected, and there is no “switch shop” feature. Remove the connection in your AI client, create it again, and select the correct shop this time. Then log in to the wrong shop in the admin panel, go to Shop, Integrations, API Access, and delete the line that starts with OAuth:. Other connections are not affected by this.

Can Claude work across multiple shops of mine in the same conversation?

Each connection communicates only with its own shop, and there is no automatic transfer between shops. If you have multiple connections enabled in the same session, you must therefore be very clear about which store you’re referring to. If something needs to be moved from one store to another, ask the AI to retrieve it from one place and create it in another.

What happens if I edit the domain in the MCP URL myself?

Nothing—and that’s exactly the point. Shoporama doesn’t read that part of the address. Therefore, you cannot switch shops by editing the URL, nor can anyone else access your shop that way. The only thing you’ll achieve is a misleading label in your list of connections, so always copy the URL from the correct shop’s admin panel.

We’re an agency with many client stores. What do we do when a client stops working with us?

Two things. Remove the connection to that client’s store in your AI client, and delete the access within the client’s store under Store, Integrations, API Access, so it’s no longer active. These two steps are independent: if you only delete the token, the connection stops working immediately, but it remains as a dead connection in your client. The client’s audit log is not deleted, so the history of actions taken is still in the shop.

Can the AI see our customers’ personal information?

Yes, if the Customers, Orders, or Newsletter sections are enabled. In that case, the AI can both read and edit customers, customer groups, B2B companies, orders (including names and addresses), and subscribers’ email addresses. If you don’t want that data to be involved, disable those sections under “Customize Tools.” Be sure to include this when reviewing your GDPR documentation.

How do I know what the AI has actually done?

Every single tool call is logged. Go to Store, Integrations, Manage the Store with AI, and click View Audit Log at the bottom. You can filter by tool and status, and you can expand each line to see the exact arguments passed to the call.

Claude says the conversation is too long even before I type anything. What should I do?

This happens because the list of all tools takes up a lot of space in the conversation. Go to “Customize Tools” and turn off the sections you don’t use, such as “Newsletter,” “Theme and CSS,” or “Page Designer.” The counter at the top immediately shows how many tools are left. Click “Save,” and start a new chat.

Can the AI send the newsletter to our mailing list?

No, and that’s by design. The AI can build the draft, add modules such as headings, text, products, and buttons, and show you a preview. You’ll need to send the newsletter manually in the admin panel. That’s why there’s a small label next to “Newsletter” on the “Customize Tools” page that says “Cannot send.”

What if the AI makes a mistake?

Check the audit log to see exactly what happened, and correct it in the admin panel as you normally would. If the AI deletes a product, it’s a soft delete, so you can restore it from the Trash. If you’re unsure, set the access level to “Read” instead of “Full,” or disable the areas you don’t want to be modified.

If you’re stuck or unsure whether a change was made by you or by the AI, please email support@shoporama.dk, preferably with a screenshot of the audit log.