Shopify has deprecated search_shop_policies_and_faqs, the Storefront MCP tool AI agents call to answer a shopper’s questions about returns, shipping and warranties. Its replacement is ask_business, on the UCP MCP endpoint at https://{shop-domain}/api/ucp/mcp. The old tool is maintained until January 15, 2027, per Shopify’s developer changelog entry of November 11, 2026, which is flagged “Action required”.

That closes a gap this log has tracked since August. When Shopify moved its cart tools to UCP, the policies tool had no UCP successor, and a developer forum thread asking for one went unanswered. It now has one, with a different contract.

What changes, from Shopify’s changelog

  • New tool, new endpoint. Calls move from search_shop_policies_and_faqs on https://{shop}.myshopify.com/api/mcp to ask_business on https://{shop-domain}/api/ucp/mcp.
  • An agent profile is required. Every request carries a meta object with ucp-agent.profile, and that profile must declare dev.ucp.common.ask.
  • A question, not a search. The buyer’s question goes in ask.query; optional context such as country or language goes in ask.context.
  • The response shape changes. ask_business returns a written answer in result.structuredContent.answer.plain, “not raw knowledge base facts or full policy text”. Code that parsed the old response has to be updated.
  • Availability is per profile. Shopify says to use tools/list to check whether a store offers ask_business to a given agent profile.

What the agent actually gets back

Shopify’s Ask MCP documentation says the tool answers “from the store’s knowledge base, policies, and product information”. An agent can ground a question in up to 10 product, variant, collection or cart IDs, and pass buyer context such as address_country, postal_code, language or currency.

Three limits matter on Shopify today:

  • One question per request. Multi-turn conversations aren’t supported.
  • Links only where a page exists. The response links back to products, variants and collections only when they have an online store URL. Cart IDs get no links.
  • An answer is not always information. A valid request “can return an answer that explains why Ask can’t help”, so an agent cannot read a successful call as proof the store had the facts.

What the protocol says the answer is worth

ask_business implements the Ask capability of the Universal Commerce Protocol. In the public UCP specification, Ask is read-only: a business “MUST NOT change the state” of a cart, checkout or order in response to it. More important for a merchant, “an answer is indicative, not authoritative”. Prices, availability and “policy terms stated in an answer are not commitments”, and when an answer conflicts with what catalog, cart, checkout or order returns, the agent “MUST prefer” the structured version.

On versions: Ask was merged into the spec’s main branch on October 6, 2026 (PR #538), and the files are not in the tree of the last dated release, v2026-08-25. Shopify’s docs nonetheless list Ask as available to agent profiles on UCP 2026-08-25 and draft.

What this means for your store

  • Your policy text is now an input to a generated answer. The agent no longer receives your policy verbatim; it receives Shopify’s written answer built from it. Vague or missing return and shipping policies produce vague answers.
  • Structured data still wins. Because the spec makes the answer non-binding, the facts an agent commits to come from structured surfaces: catalog data, checkout, and, where supported, a structured return policy.
  • Keep policy pages linkable. The spec’s well-known link types include refund_policy, shipping_policy and faq, so an agent can send the shopper to the authoritative page.
  • If you built a custom agent or app on the old tool, you have until January 15, 2027, but Shopify says all documentation will refer to Ask MCP.

FAQ

What replaces search_shop_policies_and_faqs on Shopify?

Shopify’s replacement is the ask_business tool on the UCP MCP endpoint at https://{shop-domain}/api/ucp/mcp. It implements the UCP Ask capability, dev.ucp.common.ask, and the calling agent’s profile must declare it. The old Storefront MCP tool is maintained until January 15, 2027.

Is an answer from ask_business binding on the merchant?

No. The UCP specification says an Ask answer “is indicative, not authoritative”, and that prices, availability and policy terms stated in it are not commitments. When the answer conflicts with the store’s catalog, cart, checkout or order data, the agent must prefer the structured data.

Do merchants need to do anything about the deprecation?

The migration itself is work for developers whose agents or apps called the old tool. Merchants are affected through the content: Shopify says ask_business answers from the store’s knowledge base, policies and product information. Clear, complete return and shipping policies are what an agent’s answer is built from.

Sources

An agent can only promise a shopper what it can read as fact, and with Ask the facts stay in your structured data, not in the generated answer.