A product catalog can tell an AI shopping channel what you sell. It does not necessarily explain how your store handles returns, where you ship, which payment methods you accept, or what makes your brand different.
Those questions matter when a shopper moves from product discovery to purchase consideration. A product may look suitable, but the shopper may still need to know whether it ships to their country, whether a warranty is included, or how a return works.
Shopify's agentic storefronts now include a Knowledge base for this kind of non-product information. Shopify describes it as the source of truth for AI agents answering questions about a merchant's store.
This guide explains what the knowledge base is for, what to review before publishing, and how to keep the information consistent with the public store.
Product catalog data and store knowledge are different
Think of an agentic storefront as needing two kinds of information:
| Information layer | Questions it helps answer | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Product catalog | What is this item? Which options exist? What does it cost? Is it available? | A waterproof 20-liter backpack in black, priced at $89 |
| Store knowledge base | Who operates the store? Where does it ship? What are the policies? What should customers know about the brand? | Ships to the US and Canada; returns accepted within 30 days under the published policy |
The layers are complementary. Accurate store policies do not replace product attributes, and a complete product feed does not explain every business or fulfillment question.
Shopify says its knowledge base stores non-product information such as returns, shipping timelines, and brand values. AI agents can query it through Shopify's Storefront MCP. Shopify also says the published knowledge base is publicly available through that interface and can be used by AI channels, including Shop and third-party platforms.
This means the information should be treated as public customer-facing business information, not as an internal notes area.
Read Shopify's explanation of the agentic storefront knowledge base.
What information can the knowledge base contain?
Shopify currently organizes store information into categories that reflect common customer questions.
| Category | Information to review |
|---|---|
| About the Store | Store description, target audience, ownership, business model, history, and mission |
| Brand and Identity | Your own brands, third-party brands you sell, brand values, and brand aesthetic |
| Company policies | Terms of service, privacy policy, shipping policy, and returns policy |
| Contact | Public business address, email, phone number, and social profiles |
| Gift services | Gift cards, gift receipts, gift registry, and gift wrapping |
| Payment | Payment methods customers can use at checkout |
| Returns and warranty | Return windows, refunds, warranty services, and customer self-service options |
| Second hand | Whether you sell second-hand products |
| Fulfillment | International shipping, express delivery, store pickup, and other delivery options |
| Additional facts | Relevant store details that are not covered by the standard fields |
Not every store needs every category. The goal is to make the facts that apply to your business accurate, visible, and supported by a public reference where appropriate.
Step 1: Open the knowledge base in Shopify Admin
The current path is:
- Open Sales channels in Shopify Admin.
- Select Agentic.
- In the Sources section, open Knowledge Base.
- Review the facts and categories that Shopify has collected for your store.
Shopify's current documentation says the agentic storefront knowledge base is replacing the older Shopify Knowledge Base app. The new store information used in AI chats is managed from the Knowledge Base page under Sales channels > Agentic.
The interface and migration details can change. Follow the live Shopify instructions if your account still displays legacy knowledge-base settings.
Step 2: Check the source of every important fact
Shopify facts can come from different places:
- A scan of your public storefront
- A specific Shopify Admin setting, such as a policy or shipping setting
- Information entered manually by your team
The source matters. A fact that came from a storefront scan may be incomplete or out of date. A fact sourced from Shopify Admin may reflect a policy setting, but the public policy page should still say the same thing.
For each important field, ask:
- Is this fact correct today?
- Does it match the actual policy or checkout experience?
- Is the source authoritative for this information?
- Is there a clear public reference that supports it?
- Does the wording describe what the store really offers, including exceptions?
Shopify lets merchants review the source and references for a field, edit information, add references, or change the source to Manual. When you change a field to Manual, you take responsibility for maintaining the fact and its references.
Keep the storefront and knowledge base aligned
A manual knowledge-base fact should not contradict the public store. If the shipping policy says delivery to a region takes five to eight business days, do not publish a knowledge-base fact that promises two-day delivery unless that promise is genuinely available for the relevant orders.
The same applies to:
- Return windows
- Refund eligibility
- Warranty periods
- International shipping destinations
- Free-shipping thresholds
- Accepted payment methods
- Gift services
- Brand and product claims
Shopify explicitly advises merchants to ensure that knowledge-base content matches the storefront and has a customer-facing, publicly available reference.
Step 3: Review information before publishing it
Shopify regularly scans the storefront. When it identifies new information, it may suggest an update for a category. The suggested content is not automatically published; the merchant can approve or reject it.
This is useful for discovering changed policy text, but it is not a substitute for a deliberate review process. Shopify notes that a scan may not detect every storefront change, and the time required for a suggested update to appear can vary.
For important facts, update the knowledge base directly rather than waiting for the next scan to find the change.
A practical review schedule is:
- Review shipping and returns whenever the underlying policy changes.
- Review payment and fulfillment facts whenever checkout options or delivery coverage change.
- Review brand identity and business information after a rebrand, acquisition, or business-model change.
- Review seasonal facts before a seasonal campaign begins and after it ends.
- Recheck all critical facts on a recurring schedule, even when no one has reported an error.
These are suggested operating practices, not Shopify-mandated review intervals.
Step 4: Add useful facts that are missing
The Additional facts section lets a merchant add information that the standard categories do not already cover.
Shopify documents three fact types:
- Paragraph: For explanations, such as how a loyalty program works or what a material means.
- Yes/No: For questions with a binary answer, such as whether gift wrapping is offered.
- Tags: For short lists of related values, such as materials or certifications.
Choose the format that best represents the answer. Do not create one long paragraph when the information is easier to verify as a yes/no fact or a short list.
Examples of useful additional facts might include:
| Customer question | Possible fact type | What to include |
|---|---|---|
| Does the store offer gift wrapping? | Yes/No | A direct, accurate yes or no |
| Which languages does customer support use? | Tags | The languages actually supported |
| How does the loyalty program work? | Paragraph | Eligibility, earning rules, expiry, and a public policy link |
| Does the store offer installation? | Yes/No or Paragraph | Whether installation is offered and any geographic limits |
| Which sustainability certifications does the business hold? | Tags | Only verified certifications with appropriate references |
Avoid adding private operating information, internal supplier notes, employee details, customer data, confidential pricing arrangements, or claims that the business cannot substantiate.
Shopify says a knowledge base can contain up to 1,000 facts, including generated facts and additional facts. Use that capacity for information that helps answer real customer questions, not for repetitive marketing language.
Step 5: Publish selectively and understand public exposure
Shopify lets merchants publish or unpublish all knowledge-base information, a whole category, or an individual field.
Before publishing a fact, treat it as public. Shopify says the published knowledge base is available through Storefront MCP and may be used by AI channels, including third-party platforms.
That means you should not include:
- Internal instructions or escalation procedures
- Private contact details that are not intended for customers
- Unpublished product launch information
- Customer-specific information
- Supplier terms or margin data
- Unverified certifications, guarantees, or performance claims
Publish information that the business is comfortable making available as a public customer-facing statement. Where possible, point to the public page that supports the fact.
Step 6: Request a rescan, then verify the result
Shopify provides a way to request a rescan of the storefront from the Knowledge Base page. Its current documentation says a rescan can take up to 48 hours to complete.
After a rescan:
- Review suggested updates rather than approving them automatically.
- Check the source and references for important facts.
- Confirm that the public policy page and the knowledge-base fact agree.
- Publish the facts that should be available to AI agents.
- Test real customer questions in the relevant AI channel.
A rescan is an update mechanism, not proof that every channel has refreshed its own copy or will phrase an answer exactly as written. Keep your own change log and verify the outcome.
A practical knowledge-base quality checklist
Use this checklist before and after publishing:
- The business description is current and describes what the store actually does.
- Target audience and brand information are accurate, not exaggerated.
- Shipping destinations and delivery estimates match current operations.
- Return, refund, and warranty details match the published policies.
- Payment methods match what customers can use at checkout.
- Contact details are intended for public customer use.
- Additional facts answer questions that are not already covered elsewhere.
- Each manual fact has a reliable source or public reference where appropriate.
- No confidential or customer-specific information is published.
- Important facts have been checked in an AI shopping conversation after publication.
What a knowledge base can and cannot do
A reliable knowledge base can give supported AI channels a clearer source for non-product questions about your business. It can reduce ambiguity about shipping, returns, payment, fulfillment, and brand information.
It does not replace product catalog quality. It does not guarantee that a product will be recommended, that every AI platform will query the knowledge base, or that every response will reproduce the merchant's wording exactly.
Treat it as a customer-information source that supports the buying decision, not as a ranking-control panel.
For the product side of the same system, read How to Audit a Product Catalog for AI Shopping and How to Map Shopify Product Fields for AI Shopping.