Question 1

How does search_customers work?

Accepted Answer

search_customers looks up customer accounts in your Shopify store by name, email, or phone number. No identity verification is required because it only returns a summary, not sensitive account details. It returns customer name, email address, phone number, and total number of orders placed. Internal Shopify customer IDs are never exposed. If multiple customers share the same name, the AI asks the customer to clarify using their email address or phone number. Example prompts: "Find customer John Smith" or "Look up jane@example.com".

Question 2

How does get_customer work? (identity verification required)

Accepted Answer

get_customer retrieves a full customer profile including order history and lifetime value. It uses a two-step identity verification process before releasing any data. Flow: AI asks for email address, Shopify is queried, then verification fires before data is released with Step 1 (confirm email address with phonetic/fuzzy match) and Step 2 (confirm postal code from default address with alphanumeric match). Both steps pass means full profile is shown; any step fails means access is denied after a maximum of 2 attempts per step. Returns full name and contact details, saved addresses, order history, and lifetime value. Internal Shopify customer IDs are never shown.

Question 3

How does create_customer work?

Accepted Answer

create_customer creates a new customer record in your Shopify store. No identity verification is required since the customer is creating an account, not accessing an existing one. The AI collects: first name (required), last name (required), email address (required), and phone number (optional). Phone numbers must be in E.164 format with country code. Before submitting, the AI shows a summary and asks the customer to confirm. Error handling: if an account with that email already exists, the AI explains gracefully; if the phone format is invalid, the AI asks to correct it or skip the phone field.

Question 4

How does update_customer work?

Accepted Answer

update_customer updates fields on an existing customer profile. Identity verification fires before any changes are applied. Fields that can be updated: first or last name, phone number, and internal note (visible to your team, not to the customer). Flow: AI asks for the current email address to look up the account, then verification fires with Step 1 (confirm email address, phonetic match) and Step 2 (confirm postal code from the default address, alphanumeric match). Both steps pass means the update is applied immediately. Only the fields the customer explicitly wants to change are updated — any field not mentioned is left unchanged.

Question 5

How does list_customer_addresses work?

Accepted Answer

list_customer_addresses retrieves all saved shipping addresses on a customer account. Identity verification fires before any address data is released. Flow: customer asks to see their addresses, AI asks for their email address, then verification fires with Step 1 (confirm email address, phonetic match) and Step 2 (confirm postal code from the default address, alphanumeric match). Returns all addresses with full details: street, city, postal code, country, and whether each is the default address. Internal Shopify address IDs are never shown. If the customer has no saved addresses, the AI informs them and offers to help add one.

Question 6

How does update_customer_address work?

Accepted Answer

update_customer_address replaces the default shipping address on a customer account. It requires full identity verification and a final confirmation before saving. Flow: customer says they need to update their address, AI collects all fields for the new address (street, city, postal code, country), then verification fires using the current postal code (the one being replaced, not the new one) with Step 1 (confirm email address, phonetic match) and Step 2 (confirm current postal code, alphanumeric match). Both steps pass means the AI asks for final confirmation, then customer confirms and the address is updated in Shopify. The current postal code is used for verification because verifying against the existing postal code ensures the customer can prove they own the account before overwriting.

Question 7

What happens when search_customers finds no results?

Accepted Answer

If no customers match the search query, the AI says so naturally: "I wasn't able to find any customers matching that name or email." The AI may suggest trying a different spelling, a phone number, or an email address if a name search returned nothing. No error is displayed to the customer — empty results are handled gracefully and the conversation continues.

Question 8

What if a customer has no default address during verification?

Accepted Answer

Identity verification for get_customer, update_customer, and list_customer_addresses normally requires the customer postal code from their default address. If the customer account has no saved addresses, the postal code field does not exist in the Shopify response. In this case, the postal code step is skipped automatically — the AI does not ask the customer for a postal code that does not exist. The email verification step still fires as normal. This means recently-created accounts with no address on file have a slightly lighter verification process (email only).

Question 9

What if a customer's phone number is already in use during create_customer?

Accepted Answer

Shopify enforces unique phone numbers across all customer accounts in the store. If the phone number provided is already associated with another account, Shopify returns an error: "Phone has already been taken." The AI surfaces this error clearly and asks the customer to either use a different phone number or proceed without including a phone number on the new account.

Question 10

Can update_customer change the customer's email address?

Accepted Answer

Changing the primary email address is not supported by update_customer. The email address is used as the account identifier in Shopify and cannot be changed through this integration. If a customer asks to change their email, the AI informs them that email changes need to be handled directly in the store's customer account portal or by contacting support. All other supported fields — first name, last name, phone number, and internal note — can be updated normally through update_customer.

Customer Management

What is returned

Privacy

Handling multiple matches

Example prompts