Skip to main content
learnopenclaw.org is an independent community resource. Not the official OpenClaw site. Visit openclaw.ai for the official project.

Step 1 — Choose Your Method

Two Ways to Connect OpenClaw to Shopify

Both methods work. The Composio route is faster to set up and handles authentication for you. The Custom App route gives you more control and keeps everything within your own Shopify account.

Recommended

Method A — Composio MCP Server

Composio acts as a middleware layer that connects your OpenClaw agent to Shopify's API. Authentication is handled for you — no digging around in Shopify settings for API keys.

  • Fastest setup — under 5 minutes
  • Handles OAuth and token management
  • Works with multiple stores
  • Free tier available
Manual Setup

Method B — Shopify Custom App (Direct API)

Create a private Custom App directly inside your Shopify Admin. You generate your own API credentials and paste them into your OpenClaw SOUL.md or config. More setup, more control.

  • No third-party middleware
  • You choose exact API scopes
  • Credentials stay in your Shopify account
  • Best for privacy-focused setups

Method A

Connect via Composio MCP (Recommended)

1

Create a free Composio account

Go to composio.dev and sign up for a free account. Composio is the MCP server that bridges OpenClaw and Shopify — it manages the OAuth handshake so you don't have to handle API tokens yourself.

2

Connect your Shopify store in Composio

Inside Composio, find Shopify in the integrations list and click Connect. You'll be redirected to Shopify to authorize access. Log in to the store you want to connect and approve the permissions.

3

Copy your Composio MCP server URL

After connecting, Composio gives you a personal MCP server URL. It looks like this:

https://connect.composio.dev/mcp/YOUR_API_KEY
4

Add the MCP server to OpenClaw

Open your OpenClaw settings and add the Composio URL as an MCP server. OpenClaw will automatically discover all the Shopify tools Composio exposes and make them available to your agent.

5

Test the connection

In your OpenClaw task panel, type a simple test prompt:

List the last 5 orders from my Shopify store.

If you see real order data come back, you're connected.

Method B

Connect via Shopify Custom App (Direct)

1

Enable custom app development in Shopify

In your Shopify Admin, go to Settings → Apps and sales channels. Click Develop apps, then click Allow custom app development. Confirm when prompted.

2

Create a new custom app

Click Create an app. Name it something clear like OpenClaw AI and enter your email as the app developer. Click Create app.

3

Set the API scopes you need

Go to the Configuration tab of your new app and click Configure Admin API scopes. Enable only what you actually need — more on choosing scopes below. A typical OpenClaw setup needs:

read_products write_products read_orders write_orders read_customers write_customers read_inventory write_inventory

Click Save when done.

4

Install the app and get your API credentials

Go to the API credentials tab and click Install app. Once installed, you'll see your Admin API access token — copy it now, it's only shown once. Also note your API key and API secret key.

5

Add credentials to your OpenClaw SOUL.md

Add a section to your SOUL.md (or use OpenClaw's config file) with your store credentials:

# Shopify Integration shopify_store: your-store.myshopify.com shopify_token: shpat_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # Never share this file with anyone
Important: Treat your Admin API token like a password. Anyone with it has full access to your store based on the scopes you granted. Never paste it into a chat, email, or shared document.
6

Install the Shopify skill from the Marketplace

Open the OpenClaw Marketplace and search for Shopify. Install the official Shopify Commerce skill — it gives your agent structured tools for products, orders, customers, and inventory using the credentials you just configured.

Capabilities

What OpenClaw Can and Cannot Do

OpenClaw works through Shopify's Admin API. That means it can do anything the API supports — and nothing the API doesn't. Here's the full breakdown.

✅ What it CAN do
📦
Read & list all products Browse your full catalog, search by title or tag, filter by collection, check status and pricing.
✏️
Create and update products Add new products with title, description, price, variants, and images. Bulk-update descriptions or tags across your catalog.
🗑️
Delete or archive products Remove discontinued items or set their status to draft or archived.
🖼️
Manage product images Add, reorder, or remove images from product listings.
🧾
Read all order data View order history, status, line items, shipping addresses, fulfillment details, and financial summaries.
🏷️
Tag and annotate orders Add custom tags to orders for routing, sorting, or internal tracking purposes.
✅
Fulfil and close orders Mark orders as fulfilled, add tracking numbers, and close orders once complete (requires fulfillment scope).
👤
Create and update customers Add new customer records, update contact details, add tags, and add notes to customer profiles.
🔍
Search and segment customers Find customers by email, tag, purchase history, or location for targeted follow-up drafts.
📊
Read and set inventory levels Check stock at any location, adjust inventory levels after stock arrivals, and sync across warehouses.
🔔
Trigger low-stock alerts Set up an OpenClaw workflow that checks inventory each morning and sends you an alert when anything drops below your threshold.
📝
Write and update product descriptions Draft SEO-optimised product copy, rewrite descriptions in bulk, or translate listings for different markets.
📈
Generate daily sales summaries Pull yesterday's order count, revenue, and top products into a morning briefing sent to your email or phone.
📤
Export store data Pull orders, products, or customer lists into CSV format or a structured report for external use.
🏷️
Create discount codes Generate basic discount codes with amount, percentage, or free shipping conditions (requires the discount write scope).
📦
Manage collections Create manual collections, add or remove products from collections, and update collection metadata.
❌ What it CANNOT do
💳
Process or refund payments directly Shopify handles payment processing inside its own secure checkout. OpenClaw cannot charge cards, issue refunds, or access payment processor data directly.
🛒
Interact with the customer-facing checkout The storefront checkout flow is a security boundary. OpenClaw works on the admin side only — it cannot see or control what customers do during checkout.
💰
Access customer payment method details Card numbers, billing details, and payment tokens are never exposed through the Admin API. This is a hard Shopify security rule with no workaround.
🎨
Edit your storefront theme or Liquid code OpenClaw cannot modify your store's visual design, theme files, or any frontend Liquid templates. Theme edits must be done in the Shopify theme editor.
🔌
Install, uninstall, or configure Shopify apps Managing apps in your Shopify App Store requires logging into Shopify directly. OpenClaw cannot install or configure third-party apps on your behalf.
📩
Send emails or SMS directly to customers OpenClaw can draft customer messages and prepare segments, but it cannot send Shopify Email campaigns or trigger SMS messages without a connected third-party skill (like Klaviyo or Omnisend).
📊
Access Shopify Analytics dashboards The Shopify Analytics UI is not accessible via the API. OpenClaw can calculate its own summaries from raw order data, but it cannot pull from your built-in Shopify reports.
🔒
Override fraud protection or payment holds Shopify's fraud analysis and payment holds are internal systems that cannot be bypassed or controlled via API.
🖥️
Control Shopify POS hardware Physical point-of-sale terminals, card readers, and barcode scanners are outside the scope of the Admin API.
🌐
Manage your Shopify subscription or billing Account-level settings like your Shopify plan, billing information, and staff permissions require logging into Shopify directly.
The rule of thumb: If you can do it in Shopify Admin through a browser, there's a good chance OpenClaw can do it via the API too. If it involves the customer-facing storefront, payments, or account-level settings — it's off-limits.

Real Examples

10 Automations Worth Building First

These are the highest-ROI things to set up once your connection is live. Most can be running within a day.

📊 Daily Store Morning Briefing

Set up a scheduled workflow that runs every morning at 8 AM. OpenClaw pulls yesterday's total orders, revenue, any unfulfilled orders older than 24 hours, and flags any products that sold out overnight. It sends everything to your email or phone in one clean summary.

Sample prompt to set it up

Every morning at 8 AM, check my Shopify store and give me: yesterday's order count and revenue, any unfulfilled orders over 24 hours old, and any products now out of stock. Email me the summary.

🔔 Low Inventory Alerts

OpenClaw monitors your inventory levels daily and alerts you the moment any product drops below a threshold you define. No more discovering you're out of stock after customers have already tried to buy.

Sample prompt

Check my Shopify inventory every day at 9 AM. If any product variant has fewer than 10 units remaining, send me an alert with the product name, SKU, and current stock level.

✍️ Bulk Product Description Rewriter

Got a catalog of products with thin or poorly written descriptions? OpenClaw can read each listing, rewrite the description to be more compelling and SEO-friendly, and update it in Shopify — all in one pass. Especially useful after importing products from a supplier.

Sample prompt

Look through all my Shopify products tagged "needs-description". For each one, write a new product description that's 80–120 words, focuses on benefits over features, and sounds like it was written for a 25–35-year-old urban shopper. Update each product with the new description.

🏷️ Automatic Order Tagging

Tag incoming orders automatically based on rules — high-value orders get tagged for priority handling, international orders get flagged for customs, repeat customers get recognised. Makes your fulfillment workflow dramatically faster to manage at a glance.

Sample prompt

Every day, check new unfulfilled orders in my Shopify store. Tag any order over $150 as "high-value". Tag any international order as "international-shipping". Tag any order from a customer with 3+ previous orders as "repeat-customer".

📤 Weekly Sales Export

OpenClaw pulls the past 7 days of orders every Monday morning and generates a structured CSV or summary — product breakdown, top sellers, revenue by channel. Saves you from clicking through Shopify admin reports every week.

Sample prompt

Every Monday at 7 AM, pull all orders from the past 7 days from my Shopify store. Summarise total revenue, number of orders, top 5 products by units sold, and average order value. Save it as a CSV and email it to me.

👤 Customer Segment Builder

Ask OpenClaw to find customers meeting specific criteria — spent over $200, haven't ordered in 90 days, bought a specific product — and build a list with their names and emails. Use it to brief a re-engagement campaign.

Sample prompt

Find all customers in my Shopify store who placed at least one order in 2025 but have not ordered since January 2026. List their names and emails. I want to send them a win-back offer.

📦 New Product Launch Prep

When you're adding a new product, OpenClaw can draft the full listing for you — title, description, SEO meta title, meta description, and suggested tags — based on a brief you give it. Then create the product draft in Shopify ready for your review.

Sample prompt

I'm launching a new product: a hand-poured soy candle, 8oz, scented with cedarwood and vanilla, priced at $28. Create a draft product in my Shopify store with a compelling title, an 80-word description, and relevant tags. Set it to draft status so I can review before publishing.

🔁 Abandoned Order Follow-Up Drafts

OpenClaw can check for orders stuck in unfulfilled status and draft a customer note or internal task for each one. It won't send emails directly without a connected email skill, but it can prepare everything for your review and one-click sending.

Sample prompt

Check my Shopify store for any orders that have been in unfulfilled status for more than 48 hours. For each one, draft a short customer update email explaining there's a delay and we're working on it. Show me the drafts before sending anything.

🎟️ Discount Code Generator

Generate a batch of unique discount codes for a promotion — fixed amount, percentage off, or free shipping — with expiry dates and usage limits, ready to distribute to your list.

Sample prompt

Create 20 unique 15%-off discount codes in my Shopify store. Set them to expire on April 30, 2026, with a one-use limit per code. Name them all starting with SPRING26-. Give me the list when done.

📋 Inventory Audit Report

Once a month, OpenClaw audits your full product catalog — finds products with zero inventory, products with no images, products still in draft that should be live, and any pricing inconsistencies — and sends you a clean report.

Sample prompt

On the first of every month, run a full audit of my Shopify store. Find: products with zero inventory, active products with no description, active products with no images, and any product priced at $0. Send me a report with links to fix each issue.

Important

API Rate Limits & Known Gotchas

Shopify enforces API rate limits and OpenClaw has its own request handling quirks. Know these before you build anything that touches your catalog in bulk.

Limit Details Severity
Shopify REST API — bucket rate 40 requests per bucket. The bucket refills at 2 requests/second. If OpenClaw fires requests faster than that (e.g. bulk product updates), it will start getting 429 errors. Watch out
Shopify GraphQL API — cost limit 1,000 cost points per second. Complex queries (fetching orders with all line items) consume more points per request. If your queries are large, you'll hit this faster than you expect. Watch out
OpenClaw 429 cooldown bug A known issue in OpenClaw means that when it receives a 429 (rate limit) response, it can enter an aggressive cooldown and refuse to retry even after the limit has cleared. If your agent goes quiet during a bulk task, this is likely why. Restarting OpenClaw clears it. Known bug
API token shown once When you create a Shopify Custom App, your Admin API access token is only displayed once at install time. If you miss it, you have to uninstall and reinstall the app to generate a new one. Hard limit
Bulk operations > 250 products For stores with large catalogs, bulk operations via the standard Admin API can be slow. Shopify's Bulk Operations API (GraphQL) is more efficient for catalogs over 250 products, but requires more configuration. Large stores
Read-only scopes for sensitive data Even with write_customers scope, OpenClaw cannot access customer passwords, stored payment methods, or protected PII that Shopify encrypts at rest. By design
Draft orders vs. live orders OpenClaw can create and manage draft orders (quotes, manual orders). Converting a draft order to a live order with payment collection requires the customer to complete checkout — OpenClaw cannot do this step for them. By design
Bulk update tip: If you're running a large bulk operation (rewriting 500 product descriptions, for example), add a pause instruction to your prompt — something like "update 20 products at a time and wait 15 seconds between batches." This keeps you inside Shopify's rate limits and prevents OpenClaw's cooldown bug from triggering.

Security

Keeping Your Store Safe

Your Shopify Admin API token has real power over your store. A few simple practices dramatically reduce your risk.

  • 🔒
    Grant only the scopes you actually need. If you're only using OpenClaw for read-only reporting, don't enable write scopes. Each scope you grant is an additional surface area if your credentials are ever leaked. Start minimal and add scopes only when you need them.
  • 🙈
    Never put your API token in a prompt. Your SOUL.md is the right place for credentials — it's local to your machine. Typing your token into a chat prompt means it could appear in logs, conversation history, or memory. If you accidentally paste it in a prompt, regenerate the token immediately.
  • 👀
    Always review before publishing or sending. Configure OpenClaw to present changes for your approval before pushing them live. A prompt like "show me all the changes before updating anything in Shopify" costs you 30 seconds and protects you from a runaway bulk operation that overwrites your entire catalog.
  • 🔄
    Rotate your API token periodically. Especially if anyone else ever sees your SOUL.md, or if you share screen during a setup. In Shopify Admin, go to your Custom App settings and reinstall the app to generate a fresh token.
  • 🏷️
    Use a separate Custom App for OpenClaw. Don't reuse credentials from another integration. A dedicated app with its own token makes it easy to revoke OpenClaw's access in one click without disrupting anything else.
  • 📋
    Check the audit log after bulk operations. Shopify keeps a log of API activity. After any large automated task, spend a minute in Settings → Plan → Activity log to confirm everything that changed was expected.
If something goes wrong: Shopify doesn't have a one-click "undo all API changes" button. For product edits, you can restore from a Shopify backup or re-import a CSV. This is the main reason to always have OpenClaw show you a summary before making bulk changes — prevention is the only real safety net.

Ready to connect your store?

Follow the setup steps above and have OpenClaw running on your Shopify store in under 15 minutes.

Get OpenClaw set up first → Browse the Skill Marketplace

Get integration guides in your inbox.

New OpenClaw integrations, tutorials, and tips — no spam, unsubscribe any time.

Unsubscribe any time · Powered by ConvertKit