The AI Assistant lets you read and update the shipment tracking on your orders by chatting with your own AI — Claude, ChatGPT, or any assistant that supports connectors. It works by exposing a secure MCP (Model Context Protocol) endpoint on your store that AI assistants can connect to.
No external AI API key is required. Your own AI subscription powers the conversation. Your store only provides the secure tools and the authenticated connection — you never pay per message.
What you can do with it
- Look things up — the tracking on any order, orders still waiting for tracking, and how many orders shipped by a given carrier or in a given period.
- Make changes — add a tracking number and carrier to an order, or remove a tracking entry.
- Same rules as adding tracking by hand — order status changes and customer emails follow your existing AST PRO settings. The AI cannot bypass them.
How it works
The plugin adds a standards-based MCP server to your store. You paste your Connection URL into your AI assistant’s connector settings. The AI is then redirected to your store’s login page, where you sign in with your normal store account and approve access via OAuth 2.1 with PKCE — no API key is ever copied by hand. After that the AI can call tracking tools on your behalf, acting as your store account.
Two ways an AI can connect
- Connection URL (recommended) — the built-in OAuth 2.1 route. Works from claude.ai in a browser, from the Claude and ChatGPT mobile apps, and from desktop apps. This is the only route that works from a phone. Each person who connects gets their own token and can be revoked individually.
- WooCommerce MCP — connect a desktop AI client (Claude Desktop, Cursor) using a WooCommerce API key. The AI gets WooCommerce’s own tools plus all AST PRO tracking tools in one connection. Note: a WooCommerce key opens the whole store — orders, products, customers — not just tracking. Configured under AI Assistant → Woo MCP.
Requirements
- AST PRO installed, up to date, and its licence active.
- Your site’s REST API must be reachable over HTTPS by outside clients. Some security plugins block anonymous REST access — see Troubleshooting if the connection fails.
- For WooCommerce MCP: WooCommerce 10.9 or newer with the MCP integration feature switched on (go to WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → MCP).
- An AI assistant that supports custom connectors (Claude, ChatGPT, and others).
In this section
- Enable & Configure the AI Assistant — turn it on, review who is connected, and control read/write access.
- Connect Your AI Assistant (Claude / ChatGPT) — step-by-step connection guide.
- WooCommerce MCP — connect Claude Desktop or Cursor via a WooCommerce API key.
- What the AI Can Do (Tools) — the full list of actions and their limits.
- Audit Log — see every action taken, which channel it came from, and which app made the call.
- Troubleshooting — fix connection problems.