scalably-shopify-mcp

Shopify MCP

A single MCP server exposing the full Shopify Admin GraphQL API read surface (version 2026-04) through 6 universal tools. Read-only is enforced at the query-parser level: mutations are rejected before they ever reach Shopify, not merely discouraged. Multi-store by design: one server instance can serve many shops.

Built and maintained by Scalably. Runs on the Model Context Protocol. License: MIT.

Why read-only at the parser level? Giving an AI agent write access to a live store is how you end up with a deleted product or a wrong-priced variant. This server enforces read-only by parsing every query and rejecting mutations before they leave the process, not by trusting the model to behave, and not by relying on Shopify-side scopes alone. It's the safety boundary an agent in production actually needs. (more on the pattern)

Install

Claude Code:

claude mcp add shopify -e SHOPIFY_DOMAIN=my-store.myshopify.com -e SHOPIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN=shpat_... -- uvx scalably-shopify-mcp

Codex:

codex mcp add shopify --env SHOPIFY_DOMAIN=my-store.myshopify.com --env SHOPIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN=shpat_... -- uvx scalably-shopify-mcp

Claude Desktop: download shopify-mcp.mcpb from the latest GitHub release and open it.

Setup

Single store (simplest)

• SHOPIFY_DOMAIN or SHOPIFY_SHOP_DOMAIN - <shop>.myshopify.com
• Auth path A: SHOPIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN (legacy shpat_)
• Auth path B: SHOPIFY_CLIENT_ID + SHOPIFY_CLIENT_SECRET (Dev Dashboard custom app, client-credentials OAuth, 24h tokens auto-refreshed)

The single store registers under alias default; callers can omit the shop argument on tool calls.

Multi-store (agency setups)

Set SHOPIFY_STORES to a JSON object mapping alias to store config:

{
  "main":   {"domain": "my-store.myshopify.com",        "client_id": "...", "client_secret": "..."},
  "outlet": {"domain": "my-store-outlet.myshopify.com", "client_id": "...", "client_secret": "..."},
  "legacy": {"domain": "legacy-store.myshopify.com",    "access_token": "shpat_..."}
}

• Each store can use either client_id + client_secret (Dev Dashboard OAuth) or access_token (legacy shpat_).
• Aliases: [a-z0-9][a-z0-9_-]{0,63}, lowercase-normalized on load.
• Token cache is per-store-domain; one throttled store doesn't block others.

Scopes needed (read-only)

Minimum viable: read_products read_orders read_customers.

Recommended baseline: read_products read_orders read_customers read_inventory read_locations read_fulfillments read_discounts read_content read_themes read_files read_markets read_metaobjects read_metaobject_definitions read_reports read_translations read_locales read_shipping.

Add read_all_orders for order history older than 60 days. Enable Protected customer data access in Dev Dashboard, Configuration, if the agent needs customer PII.

Tools (6)

Tool	What it does
shopify_list_stores	List all Shopify stores configured for this agent. Call first.
shopify_graphql_query	Arbitrary read-only GraphQL. Mutations rejected by the parser.
shopify_graphql_introspect	Schema introspection, full catalog or a single type.
shopify_bulk_query	Launch an async bulk export (JSONL).
shopify_bulk_poll	Poll a bulk operation status and download URL.
shopify_shopifyql	ShopifyQL analytics (SQL-like; requires read_reports).

Every non-list tool takes an optional shop argument (alias or domain). Required when more than one store is configured; auto-selected when exactly one.

Coverage

The full Admin GraphQL API read surface: any object, field, or connection accessible with the token's scopes is reachable via shopify_graphql_query. Anything large-scale (more than 10k records) should use shopify_bulk_query. Analytics goes through shopify_shopifyql.

Configuration

Variable	Required	Purpose
SHOPIFY_DOMAIN, SHOPIFY_SHOP_DOMAIN	one of these or SHOPIFY_STORES	Single-store admin domain, <shop>.myshopify.com
SHOPIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN	see above	Legacy shpat_ access token (single-store auth path B)
SHOPIFY_CLIENT_ID, SHOPIFY_CLIENT_SECRET	see above	Dev Dashboard custom-app credentials (single-store auth path A)
SHOPIFY_STORES	no	JSON object mapping alias to store config; takes precedence over the single-store variables above
SHOPIFY_STORE_<ALIAS>_DOMAIN, _CLIENT_ID, _CLIENT_SECRET, _ACCESS_TOKEN	no	Prefix-key alternative to SHOPIFY_STORES for multi-store setups; one set of keys per store alias
SHOPIFY_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS	no	HTTP request timeout in seconds (default 60)
SHOPIFY_LOG_LEVEL	no	INFO (default) or DEBUG

Read-only enforcement

Every query is parsed with graphql-core before transmission. The parser rejects:

• subscription operations (not supported by the Admin API anyway)
• Any top-level mutation except bulkOperationCancel (cancels an in-flight bulk job, no shop-data write)
• Malformed GraphQL (syntax errors)
• Queries over 100KB

bulkOperationRunQuery is not in the generic parser allowlist. Legitimate bulk exports go through the dedicated shopify_bulk_query tool, which validates the inner query with the same read-only check before wrapping it in the bulk mutation. Single source of truth, no reliance on Shopify-side validation.

Rate limiting

Per-store cost-based leaky bucket (Shopify's model). Each response includes extensions.cost.throttleStatus. On THROTTLED errors, the server sleeps ceil((requestedQueryCost - currentlyAvailable) / restoreRate) seconds (minimum 1s) and retries up to 3 times before surfacing the error. Buckets are independent per store: a throttle on one store doesn't affect another.

Reply shape

Tool replies mirror the underlying call rather than a uniform envelope. shopify_list_stores returns a JSON array of {alias, domain, name, currency, auth_mode}; every GraphQL-backed tool (shopify_graphql_query, shopify_graphql_introspect, shopify_bulk_query, shopify_bulk_poll, shopify_shopifyql) returns the raw Shopify Admin API response, {"data": ..., "errors": ..., "extensions": ...}, unwrapped. Tool-level failures (bad input, redacted transport errors) raise a plain error.

Limits

100KB query size ceiling. Bulk exports: exactly one top-level connection per query, max 5 total connections, max depth 2, every nested connection node selects id without an alias; one bulk operation at a time per shop on API versions through 2025-10, up to 5 on 2026-01 and later. API version defaults to 2026-04; override per call with api_version="YYYY-MM".

Verify

Each release lists the package version, the .mcpb sha256 and the production commit it was derived from in CHANGELOG.md. CI runs the tests and a clean install of the built wheel on every push.

Privacy Policy

This connector runs locally, on your own machine, under your own Shopify credentials. It is a thin read-only bridge between your MCP client and Shopify's Admin API.

• Data collection: The connector collects no personal data and contains no telemetry, analytics, or external reporting. It does not phone home.
• Data usage: Shopify store data you query is returned to your local MCP client to fulfill your request, and is not used for any other purpose.
• Data storage: The connector stores nothing persistently. Access tokens are held in memory only for the life of the process and are never written to disk. The only network destination is Shopify's own API (*.myshopify.com), enforced by a domain allowlist.
• Third-party sharing: None. Data flows only between your machine and Shopify. No third party, including the connector's author, ever receives your data or credentials.
• Retention: No data is retained by the connector after the process exits.
• Secret handling: Access tokens, client secrets, and all Shopify token prefixes are redacted from logs and error messages.
• Contact: [e-mail]

The canonical hosted version of this policy: https://scalably.io/connector-privacy.html

License

MIT. Copyright Scalably.

Learn more

We write about building production MCP servers and AI agents at scalably.io/blog:

• How to build an MCP server in Python, the read-only enforcement pattern used here, from a server we run in production
• What is an MCP server?, the host/client/server model
• MCP Inspector: debug your MCP server, the silent failures to watch for

References

• Shopify Admin GraphQL API
• Client credentials grant
• Rate limits
• Bulk operations
• ShopifyQL