Chat clients

Claude Desktop and Claude web

Use Claude's Connectors screen first: paste the full ShopMCP MCP URL and start chatting. The JSON file path is still here for advanced local setups.

1. Copy your ShopMCP URL

Use the full URL from ShopMCP for Claude's custom connector. It looks like this:

text
https://my.shop-mcp.app/api/mcp?token=smcp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Create it in Settings → Connections. Choose All integrations for the simplest first setup, or choose Custom if this Claude connector should only reach specific modules.

2. Add a custom connector

In Claude Desktop or Claude on the web, open Settings, then Customize, then Connectors. Choose Add custom connector.

Name: ShopMCP
URL: https://my.shop-mcp.app/api/mcp?token=smcp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Authentication: None; the URL already includes ?token=smcp_...

Save the connector. Claude runs the MCP handshake, fetches the ShopMCP tool list, and makes the connector available to your chats.

Anthropic's remote connector flow is the recommended path for Claude Desktop and Claude web because there is no config file to edit, no local server process, and no restart loop.

3. Enable it in a chat

Start a new Claude chat and enable the ShopMCP connector from the chat's connector/tool controls. Ask a question that touches one of your connected modules:

What were yesterday's Shopify orders?
Run the morning ecommerce briefing
Which GSC queries lost the most clicks last week?

Advanced: local JSON fallback

If your Claude Desktop build or plan does not show Connectors yet, you can still configure ShopMCP through Claude Desktop's local MCP JSON file. Paste the full URL from Settings → Connections:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shopmcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://my.shop-mcp.app/api/mcp?token=smcp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
    }
  }
}

If you already have other MCP servers in mcpServers, add shopmcp as a sibling key. Then quit Claude Desktop completely and reopen it.

Troubleshooting

Connector handshake failed — re-check the URL includes /api/mcp?token=smcp_ and that you copied it from Settings → Connections.
Tools list is empty — your workspace has no connected modules yet. Go back to the quickstart and connect one integration.
Tool not found— the module that owns the tool is not enabled for your workspace or is outside this key's access scope. Check Settings → Integrations and Settings → Connections.