UCP for WooCommerce: Complete Setup Guide 2026

WooCommerce and UCP

WooCommerce powers over 30% of all online stores. Unlike Shopify, which built UCP in natively, WooCommerce merchants need to install a plugin to add UCP support. The good news: the plugin exists, the setup takes about 30 minutes, and the result is a fully compliant UCP endpoint that any AI shopping agent can interact with.

This guide walks through the complete setup for a WooCommerce store. By the end, your store will have a live /.well-known/ucp manifest, a working MCP endpoint, and a tested checkout flow for agent-initiated purchases.

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

• WooCommerce 8.0 or later on WordPress 6.4+
• PHP 8.1 or later
• A payment gateway already configured (Stripe or PayPal recommended)
• SSL enabled on your store (required for UCP)
• Admin access to your WordPress installation

The UCP conformance test suite will validate everything at the end, so keep that bookmark handy.

Step 1: Install the WooCommerce UCP Plugin

The community UCP plugin for WooCommerce is available through the WordPress Plugin Directory.

From your WordPress admin panel, go to Plugins > Add New and search for "WooCommerce UCP." Install and activate the plugin from the search results.

Alternatively, install via WP-CLI:

wp plugin install woocommerce-ucp --activate

After activation, a new menu item appears in your WooCommerce settings under WooCommerce > Settings > UCP.

Step 2: Configure the Manifest

Open WooCommerce > Settings > UCP. The plugin pre-fills most fields from your existing WooCommerce settings. Review and complete the following:

Store name and description. These appear in agent-facing discovery surfaces. Be descriptive. "Outdoor gear for hikers and climbers" is more useful to an agent than "Joe's Store."

Product categories. Select the WooCommerce categories you want exposed through UCP. You can exclude categories that are not suitable for agent-initiated purchases (subscription products, items requiring in-person verification, etc.).

Payment handlers. The plugin detects your active payment gateways and maps them to UCP payment handler identifiers. Stripe maps to com.stripe, PayPal maps to com.paypal. If your gateway is not automatically mapped, you can add a custom identifier.

Save settings. The plugin immediately starts serving /.well-known/ucp from your store domain.

Verify it works:

curl https://yourstore.com/.well-known/ucp | jq .

You should see a valid JSON manifest with your store name, capabilities, and endpoint URL.

Step 3: Configure the MCP Endpoint

UCP agents interact with your store through an MCP (Model Context Protocol) endpoint. The plugin creates this automatically at /wp-json/ucp/v1/mcp.

The MCP endpoint exposes tools for agents to call:

• search_products -- queries your WooCommerce catalog with filters
• get_product -- returns full product detail including variants and stock
• create_checkout -- opens a checkout session for a specific item
• get_order_status -- returns order tracking after purchase

By default, the plugin queries your WooCommerce database directly for product data. This is fine for stores with under 10,000 SKUs. For larger catalogs, enable the plugin's search index option under UCP > Advanced, which builds a lightweight search index updated on product save.

Step 4: Wire Up Payment Token Exchange

Payment token exchange is what allows agents to complete purchases without handling raw card numbers. The plugin handles this through your existing gateway, but you need to confirm the configuration.

For Stripe:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > Stripe
2. Confirm your Stripe API keys are configured
3. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > UCP > Payment
4. Select "Stripe" and click "Test Token Exchange"

The test creates a dummy UCP token and attempts to resolve it through your Stripe account. A green checkmark means it worked.

For PayPal:

The process is the same. Go to the UCP payment settings, select "PayPal," and run the test. PayPal token exchange uses your existing PayPal merchant credentials.

If you are using a gateway not listed in the plugin's built-in integrations, check the plugin documentation for custom gateway configuration. Most gateways that support tokenized payments can be wired in.

Step 5: Test Your Endpoint

With the manifest live and payment configured, run the conformance test suite against your store:

git clone https://github.com/universal-commerce-protocol/conformance.git
cd conformance
npm install
npm test -- --url https://yourstore.com

The suite checks:

• Manifest discovery and schema validity
• Product search with filters
• Out-of-stock handling
• Checkout session creation
• Token exchange flow

Fix any failures before going live. Most common issues are listed in the UCPList directory under developer tools -- the conformance docs have a troubleshooting section.

Step 6: Submit to Directories

Once your endpoint passes conformance, get discovered:

1. Submit to ucplist.ai. The fastest way to appear in the UCPList directory. Takes 2 minutes.
2. Register with Google Merchant Center. If you are already in Google Merchant Center, enable UCP checkout in your account settings. This surfaces your store to agents that discover merchants through Google Shopping.
3. Check your agent traffic. The WooCommerce UCP plugin adds a dashboard widget showing agent queries, checkout initiations, and conversion rate. Check it weekly.

Common Issues

Manifest returns 404 after plugin activation. This is usually a permalink issue. Go to Settings > Permalinks and click Save Changes (even without changing anything). This flushes WordPress rewrite rules.

Product images not appearing in agent results. The plugin passes the WooCommerce featured image URL. If your images are served from a CDN with strict referrer policies, agents may not be able to load them. Check your CDN configuration.

Checkout sessions expire before consumer confirms. Default session expiry is 15 minutes. If consumers are taking longer to confirm agent-initiated purchases, extend this under UCP > Advanced > Session Timeout.

Inventory count mismatch. If you use a fulfillment service that manages inventory outside WooCommerce, the plugin may report stale stock levels. Enable real-time inventory sync under UCP > Advanced if your fulfillment service has a WooCommerce integration that supports it.

What Shopify Merchants Get for Free

If you have been running a Shopify store and are looking at WooCommerce, it is worth noting: Shopify merchants get UCP for free with a dashboard toggle. WooCommerce gives you more control over your data and hosting costs, but the initial setup does require this work.

The UCPList directory lists both Shopify and WooCommerce merchants. Browse the WooCommerce category to see live examples and check integration examples.

For questions or issues with the WooCommerce UCP plugin, the community forum and GitHub issues page are the best resources.