Shopify Dev MCP server for AI agents

The Shopify Dev MCP Server enables interaction with various Shopify APIs through the Model Context Protocol. It supports the Admin GraphQL API, Functions, and optionally Polaris Web Components and Liquid/Theme validation, providing AI assistants with better context when working with Shopify development.

Installation

To install and run the Shopify MCP server, use the following command:

npx -y @shopify/dev-mcp@latest

Configuration with AI Assistants

Basic Configuration

Add the following configuration to your Cursor or Claude Desktop settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shopify-dev-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Windows Configuration

On Windows systems, use this alternative configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shopify-dev-mcp": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/k", "npx", "-y", "@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Optional Features

Disabling Instrumentation

To disable instrumentation calls, add the following environment variable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shopify-dev-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "OPT_OUT_INSTRUMENTATION": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Enabling Polaris Support (Experimental)

To enable Polaris Web Components documentation:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shopify-dev-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "POLARIS_UNIFIED": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Enabling Liquid/Theme Validation (Experimental)

To enable Liquid code and theme file validation:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shopify-dev-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "LIQUID": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can also specify the validation mode:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shopify-dev-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "LIQUID": "true",
        "LIQUID_VALIDATION_MODE": "partial"
      }
    }
  }
}

Validation modes:

"full" (default): Validates entire theme directories
"partial": Validates individual codeblocks

Available Tools

The MCP server provides several specialized tools:

Documentation Tools

learn_shopify_api: Starting point for learning about supported Shopify APIs and how to use the MCP server's tools
search_docs_chunks: Search across all shopify.dev documentation
fetch_full_docs: Retrieve complete documentation for specific paths

Development Tools

introspect_graphql_schema: Explore and search Shopify GraphQL schemas
validate_graphql_codeblocks: Validate GraphQL code blocks against a specific schema
validate_theme_codeblocks: Validates individual Liquid codeblocks (requires LIQUID=true)
validate_theme: Validates entire theme directories (requires LIQUID=true)

Usage Guidelines

Documentation Tool Selection

Always start with learn_shopify_api when working with Shopify APIs
Use search_docs_chunks for broad searches across documentation
Use fetch_full_docs when you need complete documentation for a specific API resource

Theme Validation Tool Selection

Use validate_theme_codeblocks for validating individual Liquid files or code snippets
Use validate_theme for comprehensive validation of complete theme directories

Available Prompts

The server includes pre-configured prompts:

shopify_admin_graphql: Helps with writing GraphQL operations for the Shopify Admin API

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "shopify-dev-mcp" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "shopify-dev-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

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

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "shopify-dev-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@shopify/dev-mcp@latest"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect