Connect Claude or Codex to your store (MCP server)

Your store has its own MCP server. Connect Claude Code, Codex or the Claude app to it and you can ask, in plain words, for things like "add a best sellers row to my homepage", "make a Diwali landing page", "put everything under ₹500 in a collection" or "build a WhatsApp chatbot for returns". The assistant reads your store, makes the change and tells you what it did.

Where: Admin › Settings › Developer API › MCP server

The MCP server button only shows when it is switched on for your store. If you don't see it, contact support.

What your assistant can do

You choose what the assistant may do when you create the connection.

A connection can have any of these, alone or together. One with only Build WhatsApp chatbots cannot see or change your design.

The assistant cannot place or change orders, see your customers, or change products, prices or stock. It cannot see the text of your product reviews either, only the ratings. It cannot read your WhatsApp chats or message customers.

Connect your assistant

First create the connection in Zepio:

1. Go to Settings › Developer API and click MCP server.
2. Name the connection, tick what the assistant may do and click Create connection.
3. Pick your assistant's tab. Zepio shows a message, a command and the steps, all with your store's address and key already filled in.

The key is shown only once, when you create the connection. If you lose it, delete the connection and create a new one.

Claude Code

The easiest way: copy the message from the Claude Code tab, paste it into Claude Code and send it. Claude Code runs the command for you.

Or run the command yourself in a terminal. It looks like this, with your own address and key:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user zepio-yourstore https://yourstore.com/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"

Then run /mcp in Claude Code. Your store shows as connected.

Codex (ChatGPT)

The easiest way: copy the message from the Codex tab, paste it into Codex and send it. Codex adds your store to its config file for you.

Or add it yourself. Open ~/.codex/config.toml (on Windows, %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml), create it if it is not there, and add:

[mcp_servers.zepio_yourstore]
url = "https://yourstore.com/api/mcp"
http_headers = { "Authorization" = "Bearer YOUR_KEY" }

Restart Codex and run /mcp to check it is connected. The Codex app, the Codex editor extension and the ChatGPT desktop app all read this same file, so you only add it once.

ChatGPT on the web cannot connect yet. It only connects to apps that offer a sign-in, and does not accept a key like this one.

Claude app (claude.ai and Claude Desktop)

The Claude app connects from Anthropic's servers, so your store must be live on its own https address.

1. In Claude, open Customize › Connectors and click Add custom connector. On a Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner adds it under Organization settings › Connectors.
2. Name it after your store, and paste the MCP server URL from the Claude app tab.
3. Under Authentication, choose No sign-in.
4. Open Request headers, pick authorization, mark it Required, and paste the value Zepio shows. It starts with Bearer .
5. Click Add, then turn it on in a chat from + › Connectors.

Claude is still rolling out Request headers, so some accounts do not have it yet. If you don't see it, use Claude Code or Codex instead.

WhatsApp chatbots

With Build WhatsApp chatbots, ask for a chatbot the way you'd describe it to a person: "a chatbot that answers return with our 7-day policy and a link to their orders", or "add a Talk to us button to my help menu". The assistant builds it with the same steps as the chatbot builder, and Zepio checks it exactly as it checks one you make by hand.

• New chatbots are saved switched off. Open it under WhatsApp › Automations, check the words, and switch it on, or tell the assistant to.
• Links stay on your store. Link buttons and photos can only point at your own store's pages and images. Add links to other sites in the builder.
• API request steps are added only in the builder, because they send customer details to another address. The assistant can keep and join the ones you added, but never sees the keys in their headers.
• Chatbots belong to the whole store, not to one branch.

You need Pro and a connected WhatsApp number. Without them, the assistant is told which one is missing.

Keep it safe

• Changes are live. There is no draft or undo, and shoppers see a change as soon as the assistant saves it. It is told to describe each change and wait for your go-ahead. Read what it proposes before you say yes.
• Prefer hiding. Ask it to hide a section rather than remove it, so you can bring it back. For chatbots, switching one off keeps it; deleting it cannot be undone.
• Give only what is needed. For ideas and reviews, a connection that can only Read the store is enough.
• Connections expire after 30 days. Create a new one when you need it again.
• Disconnect at any time. Delete the connection under Settings › Developer API, and the assistant loses access at once.
• Every change is recorded in your store's activity log, with the connection that made it.

Scripts your assistant writes

For interactive sections such as tabs or a countdown, the assistant can add a small script. A script written by an assistant may only change its own section. It cannot load code from other sites, send data anywhere, read cookies or saved data, or redirect shoppers. Zepio refuses to save anything that tries.

Limits

Your assistant can make up to 120 requests a minute to your store. A big request, like reviewing every product, takes several steps. It reads your catalogue a page at a time, so it can reach every product however many you have.

Related

• Developer API keys, request limits and errors
• WhatsApp auto-replies and chatbots