Walmart gives AI shopping agents their own spending limits

At its centre sits Walmart Agent Gateway, a server built on MCP (the model context protocol, a common way for AI agents to plug into outside tools). Approved agents use it to search Walmart’s range and place orders, without getting the customer’s personal details or order history. It opens first as an invitation-only beta for developers.

Next month brings Agent Profiles, PPC Land reports. You can let an agent spend up to a cap you choose, such as $50 or $100, or make it ask before every order. Its purchases sit in a profile of its own inside your Walmart or Sam’s Club account, and Walmart blocks any agent that breaks its new agent terms. Walmart already sells through Meta’s Muse, Gemini and ChatGPT, and Shopify opened its checkout to browser agents earlier this autumn.

Inside a $50 or $100 cap, an agent orders from what the gateway returns on price, stock and specifications, so a brand’s Walmart product data decides those sales.