[how-to]
Shopify agentic storefronts: a settings guide
What Shopify agentic storefronts turns on by default, each setting under Sales channels > Agentic, and how ChatGPT, Copilot, Google and Meta differ.
The Hearsay team Oct 5, 2026 6 min read
Shopify introduced agentic storefronts in its Winter ’26 Edition in December 2025 (Shopify news, Dec 10, 2025). If your store is eligible, it’s probably already switched on. Shopify’s help page says: “Agentic storefronts is active by default for eligible stores” (Shopify agentic storefronts).
This guide covers what’s on, where the settings are, and what’s worth changing.
What agentic storefronts are
The short version: your products, supplied to AI chat apps so shoppers can find them and, on some apps, buy without leaving the chat. Shopify’s definition is that agentic storefronts let “customers discover and purchase your products in AI channels, such as ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta.”
The product data comes from Shopify Catalog, with one exception: Google AI Mode and Gemini get products through the Google & YouTube sales channel or Google Merchant Center.
Where to find it
In your Shopify admin, go to Sales channels > Agentic. Staff need either store-owner access or the Products > View and App and sales channel > Agentic permissions to see it (Managing agentic storefronts).
The section has four jobs: controlling which channels can read your products, managing direct checkout, previewing how your products rank in catalog search, and reporting on sales from each channel.
The settings, one by one
All of these come from Shopify’s Managing agentic storefronts page.
Allow Shopify to manage for me
On by default. While it’s on, every channel can read your products through the catalog, direct checkout is active where a channel supports it, and you’re enrolled automatically in any new channel Shopify adds. Turning it off shows the settings below. Turning it back on “automatically activates all agentic storefronts settings, including direct checkout.”
Shopify Catalog access
The master switch for third-party channels. Off means “third-party agentic storefront channels can’t access your products through Shopify Catalog from that point on.” Two things to know before you flip it: it “can take up to 7 days” to take effect, and your products “can still be discovered through web crawling and indexing.” It also turns off direct checkout.
Auto enroll new storefronts
Decides whether you join new AI channels automatically as Shopify adds them. Turn it off if you want to review each new channel first.
Direct checkout
For channels that support it, this lets shoppers buy inside the chat. With it off, shoppers are sent to your online store to finish.
Other channels
A grouped switch for “smaller and emerging AI agents,” which Shopify describes as independent developers and startups building shopping agents, and new partners testing catalog access.
Per-channel switches
Each channel has its own page with a Shopify Catalog access switch, and a direct checkout switch where that applies.
How the channels differ
The channels don’t work the same way. From Shopify’s channel pages:
| Channel | How shoppers buy | Who can use it | Where product data comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Your own checkout, in an in-app browser | Stores selling to US customers | Shopify Catalog |
| Microsoft Copilot | Shopify-powered checkout in the chat | Stores selling to US customers | Shopify Catalog |
| Google AI Mode and Gemini | Shopify-powered checkout in the chat | US-based stores selling to US customers | Google Merchant Center |
| Meta, including Muse | Shopify-powered checkout | Stores selling to the US, Canada or Mexico | Shopify Catalog |
Every channel also requires catalog-eligible products, agreement to the Agentic Storefronts Supplemental Terms of Service, and completed Terms of service, Privacy policy, and Return and refund policy pages. None of them charges a fee beyond your normal payment processing. We cover ChatGPT in more detail in Selling on ChatGPT with Shopify.
Google has extra requirements: a valid Merchant Center account that meets Google’s own rules, and products synced to it. Shopify’s Google page notes the channel “is rolling out to eligible stores” and direct checkout “might not yet be available in your store.”
What direct checkout doesn’t support
In-chat checkout is a Shopify-powered checkout, not your online store’s. Shopify lists what it can’t do, and the lists differ a little by channel. The ones the Copilot, Google and Meta pages share: subscriptions, product bundles, customizable products and B2B-only products can’t be bought there, Google Analytics and custom pixels don’t fire, local delivery and pickup aren’t offered, some checkout blocks and apps may not display, and only some of your accelerated checkout options appear. Shopify Functions, automatic discounts and discount codes do work.
If your checkout depends on an app to collect information or show required notices, check the unsupported-features list on each channel page before leaving direct checkout on.
The search preview
Sales channels > Agentic includes a search tool: type a query and see which of your products rank in the catalog’s top results, with a Listing quality meter for each and suggestions under Improve your listing. The meter measures description length, image count, verified reviews, variant completeness and store policies (Managing agentic storefronts).
Shopify says channels “often re-rank results based on their own logic,” so treat the preview as “a directional signal, not an exact prediction.” What the channels themselves say they weigh is in How AI shopping agents choose which products to show.
Sources: how your data reaches the catalog
The same section has a Sources panel for Catalog Mapping. It lets you choose which field or metafield the catalog uses for each product’s title, description and category, and how variants are grouped (Mapping your product data sources). Most stores don’t need to touch it. It matters when your real product data lives in metafields or your titles carry variant information.
A setup checklist
- Confirm you’re eligible for the catalog: paid plan, no private mode, products with a title, image, price and publishing. The full list is in Shopify Catalog requirements.
- Fill in your Terms of service, Privacy policy, and Return and refund policy under Settings > Policies.
- For Google AI Mode and Gemini, connect Merchant Center through the Google & YouTube channel and keep product sync on.
- Decide whether to keep Allow Shopify to manage for me on. If you sell subscriptions or bundles, or your checkout relies on pixels or checkout apps, review direct checkout per channel.
- Run a few real shopper queries in the search preview and work through the listing-quality suggestions.
- Check what the catalog says about your products, not just whether they rank.
Step 6 is the one Shopify’s tools don’t cover. The catalog’s description, top features and selling points are partly written by Shopify’s AI (What Shopify’s AI adds to your listings), and every channel above except Google gets its product data from the catalog. Hearsay puts that text next to your own copy and flags each claim you never made. Start with the free scan.