# Agentic commerce readiness kit for small businesses

Prepared November 7, 2026. Use this worksheet with your owner, web person and operations lead. The schedules and acceptance criteria below are our recommendations. They are not platform requirements or promises of sales.

An AI assistant helps a person find an answer. An agent can also use a tool, a named software function, to do a task. Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a way compatible assistants connect to those functions. A connector is the connection a person enables. A directory is a place to discover connections. A listing does not establish that a provider is official or that a tool is safe.

Start with public facts and a link to the checkout or booking page you already operate. The person reviews choices, supplies private details and submits there. Staff approve requests where your normal process requires it. A staff assistant is a separate project with employee sign-in and restricted access.

Companion reference: [Order handoff and catalog feed kit](https://jwatte.com/downloads/order-handoff-and-catalog-feed-kit.md). Its examples are original designs, not vendor APIs. A feed is a structured list software can read. A handoff link opens a page with permitted choices selected; it must not place an order just by being opened.

## 1. Choose a business task

Owner: ____________________
Web person: ____________________
Staff reviewer: ____________________
Business website: ____________________
Task we want a customer to finish: ____________________
Current checkout, booking or quote page: ____________________
Current failure or missed opportunity: ____________________
How we will tell whether it improves: ____________________

Choose one starting task. Do not connect the whole business because a connector makes it possible.

### Restaurant or cafe

- [ ] Menu text is public and readable without an account.
- [ ] Every item has a stable ID, name, options, location and published price basis.
- [ ] Published ingredients and allergen statements have a responsible staff owner.
- [ ] Unknown allergen information is labeled unknown; an empty list is not a safety claim.
- [ ] Hours distinguish the dining room, pickup, delivery and holiday exceptions.
- [ ] Sold-out information has a checked time and an expiry rule.
- [ ] The order link opens the correct location and available choices.
- [ ] The checkout confirms current price, fees, preparation time and substitutions.
- [ ] A person can contact staff when the assistant cannot answer safely.

Done when: the owner can compare an assistant's answer with the published menu and reach the right ordering page without retyping the item choices. Do not submit a real test order without the owner's explicit test arrangement.

### Retail or ecommerce

- [ ] Products have stable IDs; variants such as size and color have distinct IDs.
- [ ] Each product links to its own public page.
- [ ] Currency, tax basis and shipping exclusions are explicit.
- [ ] Availability identifies the relevant store or fulfillment channel.
- [ ] Returns and fulfillment policies are published.
- [ ] The feed excludes wholesale cost, customer records and account credentials.
- [ ] Your existing provider's current catalog and checkout tools were checked first.
- [ ] Checkout rechecks stock and price before the customer confirms.

Done when: a customer can find a specific variant, understand whether its stock status is current, and review it in the existing checkout.

### Service business

- [ ] Services have a clear scope, service area and exclusions.
- [ ] A quote is distinguished from an estimate or an appointment request.
- [ ] The link carries only a service ID and other approved nonpersonal choices.
- [ ] Contact details, address and job notes are entered on the business page.
- [ ] A suggested time is not described as a confirmed appointment.
- [ ] Staff know who receives requests and how they reply.
- [ ] The assistant has an honest fallback when capacity cannot be checked.

Done when: the visitor can request the right service and understands what still needs staff approval. Check the chosen assistant platform's rules for your category before applying to its directory.

### Multiple locations

- [ ] Every location has a stable ID and its own hours, address and public page.
- [ ] Time zones and holiday hours are attached to the location.
- [ ] Menu, price and inventory records identify their location.
- [ ] A broad city search asks for clarification when more than one store fits.
- [ ] A closed or temporarily unavailable location cannot produce an order promise.
- [ ] One location's data failure does not become another location's answer.

Done when: a customer cannot accidentally receive one store's menu with another store's checkout link.

## 2. What we copy from which brand

These are design lessons, not copied code or claims that all brands use identical systems. Directory observations below were made on November 7, 2026; exact times are in Sources.

| Brand and documented example | Small-business version | Boundary to preserve |
|---|---|---|
| Starbucks ChatGPT listing: drink recommendations and a route to its app or website | Ask taste preferences, suggest published items, open your order page | Recommendation does not place an order |
| Domino's India Claude listing: menu/store tools alongside account tools | Let anyone browse public choices; isolate loyalty and history | A listing marked no sign-in does not make every tool public |
| Uber Eats Claude listing: restaurant and dish search without required sign-in | Publish useful local choices before asking for an account | Discovery is not proof that checkout finished |
| Instacart Claude listing: product search and cart tools with sign-in | Keep a useful shopping list, then use your supported checkout path | A cart-changing tool cannot be labeled read-only |
| Amazon Selling Partner beta listing: seller operations with action approval | Give the owner a private inventory or listing review assistant | Approval and account authorization precede changes |
| Starbucks Green Dot Assist: staff knowledge support | Answer from an approved recipe and operations manual | Supervisor handles uncertain or missing instructions |
| Chipotle Ava Cado: questions and interview scheduling | Prepare a job FAQ and approved interview choices | Hiring manager selects candidates; applicant records stay private |
| DoorDash corporate MCP private beta: account ordering with explicit confirmation | Prepare a repeat order link to your current checkout | Reading a menu cannot authorize placing an order |
| Shopify's current migration guidance: catalog, cart and checkout are separate capabilities | Use your commerce provider's supported interfaces | Old tutorials may name removed tools |
| Square MCP documentation: authenticated access to merchant APIs | Let a manager review appropriate business records | Broad merchant access is not a public menu service |

Customer-facing is only one direction. A staff helper answering from an approved manual may be the more useful first project when staff repeatedly ask the same operational questions.

## 3. Data inventory worksheet

Use one row for each dataset, not one row for the whole company. A dataset is a related collection, such as the published menu or signed-in order history.

| Dataset | Classification | Source and owner | Freshness and fallback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menu or public product catalog | Public | __________ | __________ |
| Hours and locations | Public | __________ | __________ |
| Published allergen statements | Public, exact wording required | __________ | __________ |
| Public stock status | Public if owner approves | __________ | __________ |
| Customer order history | Sign-in and record-level authorization | __________ | __________ |
| Staff procedures | Employee sign-in | __________ | __________ |
| Inventory costs and sales reports | Authorized manager sign-in | __________ | __________ |
| Applicant records | Restricted hiring access | __________ | __________ |
| Card details, passwords, access keys | Never enter this agent workflow | Existing protected systems | No agent copy |
| Government IDs or sensitive medical details | Never enter this public discovery workflow | Appropriate separate process | Human route |
| Our additional dataset: __________ | __________ | __________ | __________ |

Public source URL: ____________________
Last verified at, with time zone: ____________________
Recheck interval: ____________________
Who can publish a correction: ____________________
What happens when the source cannot be read: ____________________
Which inputs reach the assistant provider: ____________________
Which inputs reach our hosting or commerce provider: ____________________
Diagnostic logs, access controls and retention: ____________________
Customer-facing privacy explanation: ____________________

Do not promise that nothing is stored unless the application, host and connected providers all support that statement. A public tool can still receive sensitive information if someone puts it into a free-text field. Prefer controlled choices and exclude unnecessary free text.

## 4. Sign-in decision tree

1. Is the answer already approved for publication to everyone?
   - Yes: offer it without requiring a customer account where platform rules permit.
   - No: continue.
2. Does the answer concern a particular customer, employee, applicant or business account?
   - Yes: require sign-in and check permission to that specific record on every request.
   - No: ask the owner whether it belongs in the agent at all.
3. Does the action save a cart, hold inventory, send a message, edit a record or charge money?
   - Yes: classify it as a change, show its consequences and use the appropriate authorization and approval process.
   - No: it may be read-only, but still check data access and logging.
4. Can a simple choice-only link finish the task on the existing business site?
   - Yes: prefer that for the first release.
   - No: document why a deeper integration is needed before adding it.

OAuth is a sign-in permission process that lets a service grant limited access without giving an assistant your password. It does not by itself guarantee that permissions are small enough. Read the actual access requested. Do not send account passwords or keys in chat.

Public menu endpoint: ____________________
Private account endpoint, if justified: ____________________
Allowed staff roles: ____________________
Denied actions: ____________________
Owner who approves permission changes: ____________________

An endpoint is the address software contacts. Keep private tools separate enough that a public caller cannot invoke them by changing the tool name.

## 5. Staff-facing starter list

Choose one and define what the agent can read before connecting it.

| Starter | Approved input | Useful output | Human decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff reference helper | Current approved procedures | Answer with source and revision date | Manager handles uncertain or conflicting procedures |
| Inventory review | Authorized counts and supplier lead times | Items to review for replenishment | Owner places purchase orders |
| Seller listing review | Published listing and approved product facts | Draft correction with supporting facts | Owner publishes |
| Hiring administration | Approved job description and process | Draft FAQ and interview scheduling proposal | Authorized person communicates and makes hiring decisions |
| Daily operations briefing | Approved aggregate sales and staffing records | Short summary with discrepancies | Manager chooses staffing and pricing changes |
| Missed-inquiry review | Minimized, approved inquiry categories | Common unanswered questions | Staff change public information and reply through approved channels |

Do not infer candidate suitability, medical needs, employee discipline or customer creditworthiness from an ordinary chat. Those are separate decisions with additional responsibilities. Begin hiring work with the public job FAQ rather than applicant records.

## 6. A 30-day plan

This is an editable working schedule. The dates are planning defaults, not measured implementation times.

| Days | Owner | Work | Done when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 | Owner and operations lead | Pick one task; record the current funnel and staff burden | There is a baseline and one named success measure |
| 6 to 10 | Web person | Reconcile public facts, location IDs, prices and policy pages | Site and approved source agree |
| 11 to 15 | Developer | Build a read-only feed and choice-only link, or use supported provider tools | Valid inputs work; invalid inputs and stale records fail honestly |
| 16 to 20 | Owner and staff | Review normal, missing-data and wrong-location cases | Each answer has evidence and the correct human boundary |
| 21 to 25 | Developer and owner | Check privacy, permissions, support and listing requirements | Documentation matches the implementation |
| 26 to 30 | Owner | Review usage and completed outcomes; decide whether to expand | Benefits and failures are counted separately |

Before releasing, test stale prices, missing allergens, a sold-out item, a closed store, an unknown product ID, a modified destination URL and a repeat request. Opening a handoff link must not send mail, reserve inventory or charge money.

Publication is a separate decision. Prepare directory submissions only after the actual customer task works. The [connector construction guide](https://jwatte.com/blog/build-mcp-connector-nonprofits-events-wordpress/) and [directory listing guide](https://jwatte.com/blog/mcp-directories-listing-guide-2026/) cover those stages.

## 7. Revenue worksheet

Keep discovery, checkout and fulfilled business separate. A tool call is not an order. A submitted quote request is not booked revenue.

Baseline period: ____________________
Comparison period: ____________________
Assistant-origin visits, where measurable with consent: ____________________
Checkout or booking starts: ____________________
Paid orders or staff-confirmed bookings: ____________________
Refunds, cancellations and duplicate requests: ____________________
Net sales after refunds: ____________________
Cost of goods, fulfillment and relevant channel costs: ____________________
Cost of maintaining the integration and reviewing errors: ____________________
Staff time spent on the same questions before and after: ____________________
Other changes that could explain the result: ____________________

Possible benefits to test: completed orders through your existing checkout, fewer missed inquiries, easier repeat purchases and more accurate product discovery. None is guaranteed. Compare your own channel's full costs with marketplace costs using your current agreements; this kit supplies no fee estimates.

Do not put a customer identifier or a chat transcript into tracking links. If attribution is incomplete, say so. Do not count all website growth as agent-generated revenue.

## 8. Handoff brief to your web person

Copy and fill this block. It authorizes planning and a reviewable implementation only; deployments, account access and transactions need the owner's actual authorization.

```text
Our business type:
Our first customer task:
Our approved public source pages:
Our owner for corrections:
Our current checkout or request page:
Our allowed nonpersonal URL parameters:
Our freshness limit and stale-data wording:
Our unknown-allergen wording:
Our staff confirmation requirement:
Our support route:
Our success measure:

Build the smallest public read-only interface needed for this task.
Construct links only to our approved destination with approved choices.
Do not submit forms, send messages, reserve stock, or take payment.
Keep personal details and account records out of public tools and URLs.
Provide the source of every answer and a checked time for changing facts.
List tests run, tests not run, unsupported platform rules, and open issues.
Return the implementation and documentation for owner review.
```

## Sources and checks

- [Starbucks ChatGPT listing](https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_69cf433334cc8191951af77fbe29f96c), observed November 7, 2026 at 18:54:26 UTC: recommendations, store finding and ordering through the Starbucks app or website.
- [Domino's India Claude listing](https://claude.ai/directory/dominos-india), observed November 7, 2026 at 18:53:15 UTC: public menu and store discovery alongside account-related tools; India only.
- [Uber Eats Claude listing](https://claude.ai/directory/uber-eats), observed November 7, 2026 at 18:53:36 UTC: restaurant and dish discovery; sign-in not required in the listing.
- [Instacart Claude listing](https://claude.ai/directory/instacart), observed November 7, 2026 at 18:53:10 UTC: sign-in required, product search and cart tools. This listing alone does not verify payment behavior.
- [Amazon Selling Partner Claude listing](https://claude.ai/directory/amazon-selling-partner), observed November 7, 2026 at 18:53:20 UTC: beta, sign-in required, seller tools and approval of actions.
- [Starbucks earnings transcript, page 5](https://s203.q4cdn.com/326826266/files/doc_financials/2026/q1/SBUX-1Q26-CORRECTED-TRANSCRIPT.pdf), read November 7, 2026 at 19:00:37 UTC: company reports Green Dot Assist scaled across North American coffeehouses in November 2025.
- [Chipotle hiring announcement](https://newsroom.chipotle.com/2024-10-22-CHIPOTLE-INTRODUCES-NEW-AI-HIRING-PLATFORM-TO-SUPPORT-ITS-ACCELERATED-GROWTH), read November 7, 2026 at 19:00:02 UTC: conversational administration and manager-selected candidates.
- [DoorDash corporate MCP guide](https://developer.doordash.com/en-US/docs/mcp/tutorials/get_started/), read November 7, 2026 at 19:02:09 UTC: private beta, account authorization and explicit confirmation before order submission.
- [Shopify migration from Storefront MCP](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/storefront-mcp), read November 7, 2026 at 19:00:46 UTC: old catalog/cart tools removed; use current Universal Commerce Protocol interfaces.
- [Square MCP documentation](https://developer.squareup.com/docs/mcp), read November 7, 2026 at 19:00:46 UTC: beta, merchant APIs, OAuth and permission controls. Square says its remote instances access production resources and recommends testing in a seller Sandbox environment first.
- [OpenAI checkout documentation](https://developers.openai.com/plugins/build/monetization), read November 7, 2026 at 19:01:26 UTC: external checkout is the generally available recommendation; embedded payment access and approved categories have separate limits. Do not infer that a service booking is eligible because physical goods are supported.

This kit contains no executable code or JSON. Its text brief is original. Brand services were not connected or exercised to make this worksheet. Directory observations verify what the listings said, not a completed customer transaction. The companion feed kit documents its own parser checks.