Walmart has set out how AI agents can shop on its site for customers, the company said on 21 October. A new Walmart Agent Gateway lets approved agents search and buy from Walmart and Sam’s Club using MCP, an open standard for connecting AI tools to services, rather than clicking through the website like a person. It starts as a beta for companies and developers.
Within about a month, customers will also get Agent Profiles: each agent they use gets its own profile in their account, so its purchases show up separately. Customers can require approval for every purchase, or let an agent spend up to a limit they set, such as $50, $100 or $200, and can delete a profile at any time. Walmart names ChatGPT, Gemini and Meta’s Muse among the assistants it already works with.
Walmart’s new terms say agents never see card details, cannot change payment methods, may not go beyond what the shopper intended, and will be blocked if they break the rules. Normal returns apply even when an agent gets it wrong.
Why it matters: the world’s largest retailer is writing the rules for agent shopping just as Amazon, TechCrunch reports, is blocking agents from buying on its site.
Read Walmart’s announcement: Making it possible for agents to shop on behalf of customers (Walmart)