Integrate an AI Chatbot With Shopify: Data and Handoff
To integrate an AI chatbot with Shopify, install the chatbot’s app from the Shopify App Store, read what data it asks for on the install screen, switch on its chat widget in the theme editor, and connect it to your order data and your human handoff before it talks to a customer. The integration is mostly the chatbot vendor’s work; your job is to decide what it may see and do, and to test that it does only that. If you have not picked a bot yet, Shopify Inbox’s own AI agent is the option with no integration at all.
What the chatbot needs from Shopify
Every app shows its data access on the Install app screen before you install it. Shopify’s page on installing apps, read on October 23, 2026, splits it in two:
| Category | What it covers | What a chatbot uses it for |
|---|---|---|
| View personal data | Personal data the app can view, such as customers and the store owner | Recognizing the customer and their orders |
| View and edit store data | Areas the app can view and edit, such as customers, products, orders, discounts and gift cards | Product answers, order status, and actions like creating a discount code or editing an order |
Expand each category to see the exact permissions, and open the developer’s privacy policy, which the screen links to. We build Shopify apps and ask for permissions through this same screen; a good rule for a merchant is to compare what an app asks for with what you want it to do. A bot that only answers product and shipping questions has no reason to edit orders. After installing, you can check an app’s activity and permissions at any time on its about page.
Set it up step by step
- Pick from the App Store, not a link. Apps installed from a third-party link show a warning that the app has not been through Shopify’s App Store review. Such an app may still be fine, and an App Store listing adds reviews and support details you can check.
- Install and review permissions as above. Note which ones allow editing.
- Switch on the widget. Chat apps built on theme app extensions add their widget through an app embed: in the theme editor, open Theme settings > App embeds and turn it on, as Shopify’s developer docs on theme app extensions describe. If the chat does not appear, check that only one chat widget is active, one of the causes covered in chat widget not showing.
- Feed it your knowledge. Point the bot at your policies, FAQ page and product data, and remove old documents. A bot answers from what you give it, so a stale shipping page becomes a wrong answer.
- Decide how it identifies customers. For order questions the bot needs to know who is asking. Some bots ask for an order number and email; others rely on the customer being signed in to their account. Shopify’s own Inbox agent asks a customer to sign in before it reviews an order, while its Track my order option uses an order number and email.
- Limit actions. If the bot can cancel orders, issue refunds or create discount codes, set a ceiling, such as codes only up to 10%, and send everything above it to a person.
- Set the handoff (next section) and the hours it applies to.
Handoff to a person
The bot needs a clear route out. Decide which questions always go to a person: damaged items, chargebacks, anything about a refund above a set amount, and any customer who asks for a human. Then check where the handoff lands: in the bot’s own inbox, in your helpdesk, or in email, and who watches it during and outside your hours.
Shopify’s Inbox agent is a useful model. When it reaches a limit, it stops answering and hands the conversation to your staff if handoff is available, and the conversation moves to the Unassigned folder with the agent’s earlier context. If handoff is not available, the customer gets your store’s sender email address and writes to you there. Your third-party bot should do at least that much. The Inbox agent itself is set up in set up the Inbox agent, and the choice between bots in Shopify customer service chatbot.
Test before launch
Run these with a test order and a colleague playing the customer:
- Ask about a product’s size, material and stock; compare the answers with the product page.
- Ask “where is my order?” for the test order, signed in and signed out.
- Ask for a refund and a cancellation; confirm the bot does only what its limits allow.
- Ask for a person; time how long the handoff takes and where it lands.
- Ask something the bot cannot know, such as a product you do not sell; it should say so, not invent.
- Check the chat on a phone, and that it does not cover the add-to-cart button.
- Read the bot’s first-week transcripts, and fix the knowledge source behind every wrong answer.
Add the bot to your privacy policy before launch, since chat transcripts are personal data. More support guides are in the running a store hub.
Frequently asked questions
Can a chatbot see Shopify orders? A chatbot app can read orders if you grant that permission on the install screen. For a specific customer’s order, it also has to identify the customer, usually by sign-in or by order number and email.
Is it safe to give a chatbot refund access? Grant it only with limits the app enforces, such as a maximum amount, and send larger or unusual refunds to a person. Test the limit with a test order before you rely on it.
Can I run Shopify Inbox and another chatbot? Two chat widgets on one store compete for the same space and confuse customers, so run one at a time. If you switch to another bot, turn off the Inbox chat on your online store and keep a single route for handoffs.