AI Chat: set up the shopping assistant

AI Chat adds a chat button to your storefront. Shoppers describe what they want and the assistant answers from your catalog, your store policies and the knowledge you add. The replies are written by a model we run for you, so there is nothing to connect.

Set it up

1. Open Mini apps, then AI Chat, and create an assistant.
2. In Persona, set its name, tone, reply length and welcome message.
3. In Knowledge, review the store policies read from your Shopify settings and add your own FAQs, documents and product notes.
4. In Skills, turn off anything you do not want shoppers to do in the chat. The assistant can find products, show product details, answer store questions, add to cart, show the cart and give a checkout link. Passing the chat to a person is always on.
5. In Placement, choose the pages and how the chat opens: a floating button or your own button.
6. Use the test chat in Test and publish, then publish.

Turn on the app embed

The chat is part of the AI Chat app embed, and it has to be on before shoppers see it. In the Placement tab, use Open the theme editor, switch on AI Chat under App embeds, and save the theme. The app checks your live theme and tells you whether the embed is on.

Publish, pause and roll back

• Shoppers see the last published version, not your draft.
• Pause stops the chat for shoppers; Resume brings it back.
• The Versions list keeps the last few published versions. Roll back changes what shoppers see; your draft stays as it is.
• Only admins can publish, pause or roll back.

Guardrails

• Topics to avoid, with the message the assistant gives when it declines.
• How it treats competitors: do not discuss them, or mention them neutrally.
• Discounts: never talk about them, or mention only offers that are active now.
• No medical, legal or financial claims, and a maximum number of shopper messages per conversation.

Handoff to your team

The assistant offers a person when the shopper asks, when it is not sure of an answer, when it has to decline, or after several failed tries. A shopper who asks for a person always gets one. The request arrives by email with the conversation so far, and you set the address and the message shown when your team is away. Requests and conversations are listed in the inbox.

Privacy and data retention

• Conversations are stored so you can review them in the inbox. They are deleted automatically after the retention period, which is 90 days.
• A handoff sends the transcript to the address you chose.
• Mention the chat in your store's privacy policy, because shoppers type messages into it.

Billing

A mini app is billed through your Shopify subscription for the app. Shopify allows one active subscription per app, so your store has a single charge made of your App suite plan and every mini app you subscribe to. Only the store owner adds or removes a mini app, from its page in the app, and Shopify asks you to approve the new total. The price is shown on the mini app's page. Development stores use mini apps at no cost. See Mini apps: billing and ended subscriptions.

Troubleshooting

• The chat does not show: the embed is off, the assistant is not published or is paused, or the page is excluded in Placement. The Placement tab says when the app embed is off.
• The assistant says it cannot help: check Guardrails and Skills, and add the missing answer to Knowledge. Entries that do not fit the knowledge size are left out whole, and the Knowledge tab lists them.
• The chat button covers another widget: move the button to the other corner in Appearance.