Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is a collaborative initiative by Shopify and Google designed to standardize how commerce data is shared and accessed across platforms, channels, and services. UCP is an open standard that establishes a common language and a set of core primitives, enabling platforms, AI agents, merchants, Payment Service Providers (PSPs), and Credential Providers (CPs) to communicate consistently and securely across the web.
Universal Commerce Protocol defines standardized interactions between four core actors, each responsible for a critical stage of the digital commerce lifecycle:
To operationalize Universal Commerce Protocol, Shopify provides MCP tools that implement UCP's core capabilities and orchestrate the full commerce lifecycle across these actors:
Search and surface products across Shopify merchants, retrieve real-time product data, and help buyers find relevant items efficiently.
Create secure checkout sessions, collect buyer information, attach payment methods, and complete purchases across supported platforms and channels.
Track confirmed transactions, fulfillment, and delivery events, and post-purchase actions such as refunds, cancellations, and returns.
Together, these UCP-powered capabilities enable platforms and AI agents to deliver a fully integrated, end-to-end commerce experience through a single, standardized protocol.
The Universal Commerce Protocol aims to make online shopping more seamless by enabling merchants to connect their commerce systems once and make them universally accessible across search engines, marketplaces, apps, and AI-powered shopping experiences.
By using a unified, open framework, UCP reduces fragmentation in ecommerce integrations, improves data consistency, and enables merchants to reach customers wherever they shop, without rebuilding custom integrations for each platform. For consumers, UCP enables faster product discovery, more accurate information, and smoother checkout experiences across the web.
In short, Universal Commerce Protocol helps create a more open, interoperable, and scalable commerce ecosystem by aligning merchants, platforms, and technology providers around a shared standard.