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Platform Integration Guide

8.1 The Role of Platforms

In the UCP architecture, a platform hosts UCP capabilities on behalf of merchants. Platform responsibilities include:
  • Deploying and maintaining the /.well-known/ucp Profile on behalf of each merchant
  • Implementing the capability negotiation algorithm to automatically negotiate with AI agents
  • Managing merchant signing keys and OAuth configurations
  • Handling platform-side logic in the payment token exchange

8.2 Implementing the Capability Negotiation Algorithm

When an AI agent connects to a platform for the first time, both parties must perform capability negotiation. Platforms must implement this four-step algorithm:

Step 1: Compute the Intersection

Identify capabilities that appear in both the AI agent’s and the platform’s Profile:

Step 2: Select Versions

For each shared capability, select the highest version supported by both parties (using date-based comparison):

Step 3: Prune Orphaned Extensions

Remove extensions that depend on capabilities not present in the intersection:

Step 4: Repeat Pruning Until Stable

8.3 Namespace Management

Platforms can register their own vendor namespaces (com.vendor.*) alongside the standard UCP namespaces (dev.ucp.*) to offer proprietary capabilities:
Governance rules:
  • dev.ucp.*: Only the official UCP organization (https://ucp.dev/) may register and manage these
  • com.shopify.*: Only Shopify may register and manage these
  • If an AI agent does not recognize a vendor namespace, it is automatically skipped during negotiation

8.4 Shopify

Shopify is one of UCP’s six co-developers and is expected to offer native UCP support. Existing UCP-compatible foundations:
  • Storefront API already supports JSON product queries and cart management
  • Checkout API supports programmatic checkout
  • Customer Access Token mechanism closely resembles OAuth
  • Agentic Storefronts feature is a precursor to UCP
What you can do now:
  1. Ensure product data is complete (title, description, price, inventory, images, SKU)
  2. Enable the Storefront API
  3. Deploy a /.well-known/ucp Profile (via a Shopify App or custom proxy)
  4. Wait for Shopify’s official UCP plugin for one-click enablement

8.5 WooCommerce

WooCommerce’s REST API already provides much of the data capability UCP requires: Already available:
  • GET /wp-json/wc/v3/products — Product listing
  • GET /wp-json/wc/v3/products/{id} — Product details
  • GET /wp-json/wc/v3/orders/{id} — Order lookup
UCP adapter layer required:
Adapter deployment options:
  • Cloudflare Worker: Lightweight, global edge deployment, low latency
  • Standalone Node.js service: Full control, suitable for complex logic
  • WordPress plugin: Deep integration with WooCommerce

8.6 Custom-Built Stores

Custom-built stores have maximum flexibility and can implement all UCP endpoints directly:
  1. Deploy the /.well-known/ucp Profile (refer to Section 7.2)
  2. Implement the product catalog API (REST and/or MCP transport)
  3. Implement the checkout state machine (6 states, 5 operations)
  4. Generate ES256 signing keys and configure Webhooks
  5. Implement OAuth 2.0 and order management as needed

8.7 Platform Comparison

8.8 Multi-Merchant Hosting

When a platform hosts UCP for multiple merchants, several considerations apply: Profile routing: Each merchant should have its own subdomain or path prefix
Key isolation: Each merchant should have an independent signing key pair to prevent a key compromise from affecting all merchants. Capability customization: Different merchants may support different sets of capabilities (e.g., some merchants support returns, others do not). Each Profile should accurately reflect the individual merchant’s actual capabilities.
Next chapter: Testing and Validation — Profile validation, checkout flow testing, and security compliance checks