Claude Code for ecommerce: run your online store with Claude

In short: Claude Code runs your online store once you connect it to CloudCart through MCP and an access key (a PAT token) from the admin. You write the tasks in plain English: prices, stock, product descriptions, SEO, reports. You need a Claude Pro plan or higher ($17 a month billed annually), and a new CloudCart store is €1 a month for the first 3 months.

What is Claude Code, and how is it different from chatting with Claude?

Claude Code is the agent version of Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant: it carries out tasks on your computer instead of only answering. The Claude chat can write a product description, but the text stays in the window and you copy it into your store by hand.

Claude Code runs in the terminal (the Claude Code CLI) or in the Claude app, in the Code tab. Tell it "take 15% off everything in the Winter category" and it finds the products, shows you what will change, waits for your "yes", applies the change and reports back. This guide is for merchants, not developers, and the examples use CloudCart, the ecommerce platform whose Claude Code connection is public and costs nothing.

Claude, Claude Desktop or Claude Code: which one for an online store?

For running an online store, choose Claude Code: it has the fullest connection to CloudCart and built-in safeguards for bulk changes. All three use the same Claude models.

	Claude chat (browser)	Claude Desktop	Claude Code
Connects to your CloudCart store	No	Yes, with Dev MCP and the CloudCart CLI	Yes, with the CloudCart plugin
Safeguards for bulk changes	None	Standing instructions only; ask for a plan first	Built into the skills: preview, confirmation, backup file
Best for	Ideas and copy you paste yourself	If you already use the app and avoid the terminal	Building the store and running it every day

The terminal is only the window you type into. After the first sentence, the conversation reads like an ordinary chat in English, or in the language you pick at setup.

What is an MCP server, and how does Claude get into your store?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants connect to outside systems. An MCP server is the program that tells the assistant which tools exist and how to call them. Claude Code installs the four parts of the CloudCart connection by itself:

Part	What it does	Touches store data?
CloudCart CLI	Carries every real read and change, and keeps your sign-in on your computer	Yes, only this part
Dev MCP	Searches the Admin GraphQL API schema and checks every request before it runs	No
Platform reference	A public copy of the CloudCart documentation: how each feature works and where it is set up	No
Storefront MCP	The Storefront API schema for a custom Nitrogen storefront, only with the development profile	No

Every change passes the Dev MCP check first and then the permissions of your key. The CloudCart Admin GraphQL API has more than 1,100 operations: products, variants, stock, orders, customers, discounts, design, payment and shipping settings, import and export.

How much does Claude Code cost? (Claude Code pricing)

Running a store with Claude Code costs your Claude subscription plus your CloudCart plan; connecting the two is at no charge. Claude's individual plans on claude.com/pricing, in US dollars excluding tax:

Claude plan	Price	Claude Code	Which store it suits
Entry plan	$0	Not included	Chat only: ideas and copy
Pro	$17 a month billed annually ($200 up front), or $20 monthly	Yes	A small store: daily tasks, descriptions, reports
Max	$100 a month	Yes, 5 times the usage of Pro	A large catalog and frequent bulk changes
Ultra	$200 a month	Yes, 10 times Pro per week, no 5-hour limit for verified accounts	Many long tasks every day
Console (API)	Pay as you go	Yes	If you prefer to pay only for usage

The other plans have usage limits per 5 hours and per week. How fast you reach them depends on the model and the length of the conversation, and Anthropic changes its terms, so check the page before you choose.

CloudCart plans, excluding VAT and billed annually, are Baby Pack at €14, Starter Pack at €33, CC Pro at €83 and CC Master at €249 a month, all with 0% commission on your sales. Example: Claude Pro billed monthly plus the Baby Pack costs $20 to Anthropic and €1 to CloudCart for the first 3 months, then €19 a month billed monthly or €168 a year. Every feature by plan is on the CloudCart pricing page.

What do you need before you start?

• A CloudCart store, new or already selling, and owner access: only the owner can create PAT tokens.
• A Claude plan with Claude Code: Pro, Max, Ultra, Team or Enterprise, or a Claude Console account.
• macOS, Linux or Windows with Node.js 20 or newer and git. Claude Code installs what is missing where it can, and tells you when it needs administrator rights.
• Your product data: a supplier spreadsheet, an old export or a description in words.

Note: on Windows, the CloudCart plugin's background checks (bash and python3) do not run. Everything else works.

How to install Claude Code (CLI or app) and connect it to your online store

Installing Claude Code and signing in are one-off steps; connecting your store then takes one sentence and one access key.

1. Install Claude Code. Easiest is the Claude app for macOS or Windows from claude.com/download (the Code tab). In the terminal, run curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash on macOS and Linux, or irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex in PowerShell, as in the Claude Code installation guide.
2. Sign in with the Claude account that has Pro or higher, or with a Claude Console account.
3. Paste the connection sentence and press Enter:
   Fetch and follow the instructions at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cloudcart/ai-toolkit/main/prompt.md to set up my AI agent for CloudCart
4. Answer two questions: your language, and whether the connection is for running the store (the default) or for development such as a custom storefront.
5. Approve the plugin. Claude Code installs cloudcart-plugin and the CloudCart CLI. When asked, type /reload-plugins.
6. Create an access key. In the admin, open Settings → PAT Tokens (or the bottom-left menu → "PAT Tokens") and click Create Token. Name it "Claude Code", choose the permissions and, optionally, an expiry date and IP addresses. The key starts with cc_pat_ and is shown only once.
7. Give Claude Code the key and your store address, without https://, for example mystore.cloudcart.net. It confirms the connection.
8. Start with a question, then a change: "which were my 10 best-selling products last month?", then one small edit.

To install by hand, run claude plugin marketplace add cloudcart/ai-toolkit and claude plugin install cloudcart-plugin@cloudcart-ai-toolkit, then /reload-plugins. The instructions are public at github.com/cloudcart/ai-toolkit and on the Claude Code integration with CloudCart page. The plugin does not update itself: run claude plugin marketplace update cloudcart-ai-toolkit, install again and reload.

The first conversation: from an empty store to a finished catalog

A handful of messages takes an empty store to a full catalog of drafts. Here is a store selling handmade ceramics, one message per step:

1. Catalog. "I sell handmade ceramic mugs, bowls and plates, about 60 designs. Create categories by type and a Gifts category."
2. Products from a file. "Here is my spreadsheet. Create the products with names, prices, SKUs and stock. Save them as drafts and show me which rows have no photo."
3. Variants. "The Morning mug comes in white, blue and olive. Make them variants of one product at €18."
4. Descriptions. "Write 3-sentence descriptions for everything in Mugs, capacity and care at the end, using only the spreadsheet data."
5. Settings. "How do I add card payments, and where do I set free shipping over €60?" Claude Code answers from the CloudCart reference with the exact menus.
6. Going live. "Show me all drafts with a price and a photo. If they look right, make them active."

Selling in several EU countries? A common set-up is a separate store per country with its own language, currency and domain. Each store has its own admin and PAT tokens, so create a key in each and tell Claude Code which store a task is for. The set-up is explained in the guide to multilanguage, multicurrency and multistore selling.

The Claude Code CLI commands you will use in your store

Four slash commands save the most time and usage:

Command	What it does in your store
/clear	Starts a fresh conversation between tasks; shorter conversations use less of your limit
/model	A faster model for simple edits, the strongest for descriptions and order analysis
/init	Creates a CLAUDE.md file with your standing store rules
/mcp	Shows whether Dev MCP is connected when Claude Code cannot see the store

Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md at the start of every conversation in the folder. A store example: "Save new products as drafts only. Prices include VAT. Do not touch the Sale category without my confirmation. Descriptions use only facts from the product." Press Esc to stop a task that heads the wrong way.

10 Claude Code prompts that grow your sales

The most revenue comes from the jobs you keep putting off because they take hours in the admin. Paste these as they are; Claude Code reads your store data, shows what it will do and waits for confirmation.

Goal	What you write to Claude Code
1. SEO titles	"Write an SEO title up to 60 characters and a meta description up to 155 for every product in Mugs. Product type first. Show me the first 10."
2. Descriptions	"Which products have a description under 50 words? Write new ones from the product data only: material, size, care."
3. Category text	"Write two paragraphs for every category with more than 10 products, using the phrase people search for."
4. Slow sellers	"Which in-stock products have not sold in 60 days? Suggest 15% off until Sunday and show me the list."
5. Shipping threshold	"Work out my average order value for the last 3 months and suggest a free shipping threshold just above it."
6. Bought together	"From this year's orders, give me the top 10 product pairs bought together." Use the list in Marketing → Cross-Sell & UpSell (with the Up/Cross-Sell app).
7. Abandoned carts	"Which products are in carts abandoned in the last 7 days? Suggest a new subject and text for the cart recovery email." The {$product_list} variable shows each customer their own products.
8. Shopping feed	"Which products have no brand, product code or photo?" Complete data means fewer rejections in Google Shopping and on price comparison sites.
9. Stock	"Which weekly sellers are below 5 units? Make me a supplier order table."
10. Blog	"Write 'How to choose a coffee mug' featuring our 5 best sellers and save it to the blog as inactive."

SEO fields change product by product, and the Admin API accepts more than 300 requests a minute, so 500 products take a few minutes. Tasks 4 to 9 use your own orders; a new store starts with 1 to 3, 8 and 10. Go deeper with 20 changes that raise your conversion rate, upselling and cross-selling, abandoned cart recovery, the SEO checklist for an online store and Google Merchant Center step by step.

How does Claude Code make bulk changes without surprises?

Store changes have no general "undo" button, so the plugin's skills make Claude Code follow fixed steps: find the products, show the change, apply it, report the result.

• 10 or more products: it shows the count and the first 5, and waits for your "yes".
• Deleting: it always asks first. New products: it asks whether drafts or active.
• 100 or more rows: a script saves the current values to a CSV file and does a dry run first. Over 1,000 rows, that CSV file is never skipped.
• An error on one product: the rest carry on, and the failures are listed at the end.

These rules also hold in auto mode, where a separate check stops risky commands (see the permission modes in Claude Code). The AI integration with CloudCart page shows a real case: in the dabov.coffee store, one sentence cuts 3 House Blend coffees by 20%. For extra safety, switch on daily backups in Settings → Backup & Restore, a separate subscription not available on every plan that restores the store to the last daily copy.

Is it safe to give Claude Code a PAT token?

Yes, if the key has only the permissions the task needs. Claude Code has no account of its own: it works with your key and within its limits. The platform stores only a hash, so a lost key is deleted and recreated.

Access level	What it allows	When to choose it
Read Only	Sees everything, changes nothing	Questions, reports, your first days
Full Access	Reads and changes everything	When Claude Code builds and runs the store
Custom Permissions	Selected areas: products, orders, customers, inventory, discounts, blog, settings, webhooks	Work in part of the store only

• Expiry and IP addresses: a stop date and up to 20 allowed addresses or networks. Without an IP list the key works for anyone who has it.
• Stopping access: switch the key off with its toggle or delete it, and access stops at once.
• Tracking: changes are recorded under the owner's name, the list shows each key's last successful use, and a store can have up to 100 keys.
• Staff: a non-owner can connect by signing in through the browser, with only their own permissions, for 30 days.

The data Claude Code reads is processed by Anthropic under the terms of your Claude account. Under the GDPR, applicable since 25 May 2018, your store is responsible for its customers' personal data, and Article 28 requires a contract with any processor handling it for you. To keep that data out of the assistant, use Custom Permissions without Customers and Orders. See also GDPR, cookies and the legal pages of an online store.

Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or Cursor: which AI agent for your store?

All four use the same connection sentence; Claude Code gets the fullest toolset.

	Claude Code	ChatGPT Codex	Gemini CLI	Cursor
CloudCart skills and safeguards	Yes	No, instructions in AGENTS.md	Yes	Yes
Subscription	Anthropic	OpenAI	Google	Cursor
Choose it if	You want the fullest connection	You already pay for ChatGPT	You work with Google tools	You use a code editor

Setup guides: ChatGPT Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor. What AI does in a store today is in AI for ecommerce: 12 tasks.

Claude Desktop and a custom design: the two other ways

Claude Desktop gets Dev MCP in claude_desktop_config.json, a copy of the CloudCart reference and standing instructions. Restart the app once. The plugin's skills are missing, so ask for the plan before bulk changes.

A custom storefront with Nitrogen: choose the development profile and Claude Code installs Storefront MCP and, with the cloudcart-nitrogen skill, builds a storefront from the CloudCart starter project, while orders, payments and shipping stay in the admin. More on the developers page.

What can't Claude Code do for you?

• Contracts: it sets up couriers and payments in the admin, but you sign with courier companies and payment providers.
• Two-factor steps: exporting or importing customers asks for a code sent to your email or authenticator app.
• Your files: you give it the spreadsheet and the photos.
• Product facts: it can invent a size or an ingredient, so check descriptions, especially for food, cosmetics and children's products.
• Decisions: what you sell, at what price and to whom stays with you.

Already selling on WooCommerce, Shopify, OpenCart or Magento? The CloudCart team moves products, customers and order history without stopping your sales, with 301 redirects from the old addresses (see online store migration). With a 24-month contract, migration is €0 until 31 December 2026. Then let Claude Code check the imported catalog and start on SEO titles.

Checklist for your first week with Claude Code

• A Read Only key first; a separate Full Access key when you start changes.
• An expiry date on each key, and an IP address if you work from one place.
• Daily backups on, if your plan allows them.
• New products as drafts, reviewed, then made active.
• SEO titles on your 20 best sellers and a feed check for brand, code and photo.
• A free shipping threshold from your average order value.
• Your Claude plan's data terms checked if customer data will pass through it.

Create a store for €1 and connect Claude Code to it. Questions: support@cloudcart.com.

Frequently asked questions