AI for your Shopify store, connected to your real data
Shopify AI development for stores that want answers from their own numbers. We build MCP servers and connections that let Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity read your store data, plus AI catalogue tools that wait for your approval before changing anything.
- Works with
- Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity
- Access
- Read-only by default
- Our own AI apps
- Ask AI, AI Change Approval
- Custom builds
- From £8k, fixed price
What Shopify AI development covers
The AI work Shopify merchants ask us for most often.
AI assistants
Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity, reading your store
A Shopify MCP server, or a custom GPT for ChatGPT, that lets the assistant your team already uses answer questions from your live orders, products, customers and stock. Read-only by default.Catalogue
Product descriptions, alt text and translations
AI drafts the copy for hundreds of products at once, in your tone and with your product facts. A person reviews and approves each change before anything is written to your store.Internal tools
A chat over Shopify and your other systems
One place to ask about sales, email, ads, support tickets, stock and accounts together, built around the tools you run, such as Klaviyo, GA4, Gorgias or Xero.Reporting
Insights you can check
Regular summaries, unusual changes flagged, and findings saved with the figures behind them, so you can see later whether the change you made actually worked.
What a Shopify MCP server is, in plain words
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It’s a standard way to give an AI assistant a short menu of tools it’s allowed to use. A Shopify MCP server is a small app holding that menu: tools such as “sales by product last month” or “products likely to sell out in 14 days”, each of which fetches the answer from your store.
The assistant never touches Shopify directly. It asks a tool, and the tool decides what it may see. That’s what keeps the connection safe: the AI can only do what the menu allows, and nothing on the menu changes your store unless you’ve chosen to add it.
Do you need custom AI work?
Not always. Start with the simplest option that answers your questions, and build only when it doesn’t.
Already in your admin
Shopify Sidekick
Shopify's own AI assistant is included with your plan. For help writing product copy, finding a setting or answering questions about your Shopify store, try it first. Nothing to build.Off the shelf, from £19.99 a month
Our Ask AI app
For questions that span Shopify and other tools, such as Klaviyo, GA4, Meta Ads and Xero, in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or its own chat. See Ask AI.Custom, from £1,500
A smaller AI set-up
An assistant connected to your store with the right permissions, or one catalogue workflow with an approval step, set up and documented for your team.Custom, from £8k
Your own MCP server or AI integration
When the AI needs your ERP, warehouse or in-house data, needs to follow your business rules, or needs to make approved changes. Built as a private app you own.
How we keep AI from changing what you didn't approve
The same rules apply to every AI project, and they’re built into the connection rather than left to the AI to follow.
Read-only unless you decide otherwise
The connection asks Shopify for read access only. If a job really needs to write, such as updating product copy, that one narrow action is added on its own.Approval before anything changes
Proposed changes are shown as a before and after. Nothing reaches your store until a person approves it, and we keep a record of what was there before.Only the data the job needs
Each tool the AI can call returns a fixed, limited set of data. Totals rather than raw customer lists wherever that answers the question.Every request logged, keys encrypted
You can see which tool the AI used, when and with what question. Access keys for Shopify and your other services are stored encrypted.
AI tools for Shopify we've built and still run
Need AI inside a bigger build, such as a reporting app or an ERP link? See custom Shopify app development and Shopify ERP integration.
Our own app
Ask AI
Shopify and 20+ other sources in one place, answered in a built-in chat or in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity. Sources are cross-checked, Shopify access is read-only, credentials are encrypted with AES-256, and saved insights are checked again at 30, 60 and 90 days.Our own app, in App Store review
AI Change Approval
Claude proposes changes to products, pages, menus and SEO. Nothing is written to the store until you approve a before-and-after review, and anything applied can be undone in one click.Case study
A UK sewing and fabric retailer
Orders, products, customers and stock joined with data from 15+ sources, including analytics, email, helpdesk, reviews and accounts, and connected to AI tools so the team can ask questions in plain English.Journal
How to give AI access to your Shopify data safely
The pattern we use on every AI project: read-only tools, limited data and a log of every request.
How a Shopify AI project runs
- 1
Tell us the questions or jobs
A short call about what you want AI to answer or do, and where the data lives. If Sidekick or Ask AI already covers it, we'll say so. - 2
Scope and fixed price
A written proposal within three working days: which data the AI can see, what it can and can't change, who approves what, and the price. - 3
Build and test on your data
Built against a development store or a read-only connection, then tested with the real questions your team asks, checking answers against your own reports. - 4
Launch and hand over
Connected to your team's AI tools, with notes on what it can access, how to switch it off, and fixes included after launch.
Shopify AI development pricing
Fixed prices, agreed in writing before work starts.
- AI workflow set-up
- From £1,500
- A connected assistant or one catalogue workflow with an approval step.
- Custom MCP server or AI integration
- From £8k
- A private app you own, connected to Shopify and your other systems. Three to six weeks.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Shopify MCP server?
MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is a standard way to give an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT a set of tools it can use. A Shopify MCP server is a small app that offers tools like "sales by product last month" or "stock running low", fetches the answer from your store and hands it to the assistant. The assistant can only do what those tools allow.
Do we need custom AI work, or is Shopify's own AI enough?
Often Shopify's own assistant, Sidekick, is enough. It's included with your plan and helps with product copy, settings and questions about your store. Custom work makes sense when the AI needs data from outside Shopify, such as Klaviyo, GA4 or your ERP, needs to work inside Claude or ChatGPT, or needs to follow your own rules and approval steps.
How much does Shopify AI development cost?
Our Ask AI app starts from £19.99 a month if an off-the-shelf tool fits. A smaller AI set-up, such as a connected assistant or one catalogue workflow, starts from £1,500. A custom MCP server or AI integration built as a private app starts from £8,000 and takes three to six weeks. Every price is fixed and agreed in writing before work starts.
Can the AI change our store?
Not unless you decide it should. We build connections read-only by default. Where AI does make changes, such as product descriptions or translations, each change is shown to a person as a before and after and only written to the store once it's approved.
Is it safe to connect ChatGPT or Claude to customer data?
It can be, if the connection is built carefully. Each tool returns only the data a question needs, totals rather than raw customer lists where possible, every request is logged, and access keys are stored encrypted.
Which AI tools can you connect to Shopify?
Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Claude and Perplexity connect through an MCP server, ChatGPT through a private custom GPT, and Gemini through a direct connection. One connection can serve all four.
Can it use data from outside Shopify?
Yes. Most useful questions span several tools, such as revenue from Shopify against ad spend from Meta and Google. Our Ask AI app already connects 20+ sources, and a custom build can add your ERP, warehouse or in-house systems.
Who owns a custom MCP server?
You do, once the project is paid. It's a private app on your store, with the code and notes handed over, so you can move it to another developer if you ever need to.
Tell us what you want AI to answer
Send us the questions your team asks every week and where the data lives. We’ll reply within a working day with the simplest way to get the answers, even if that’s a tool you can switch on today.