Walmart is preparing for a version of online shopping where the customer does not always make the purchase directly. Instead, an AI agent searches, chooses and checks out on their behalf.
Walmart is introducing an Agent Gateway, described as an MCP server that lets approved AI agents connect to Walmart and Sam’s Club inventory. The retailer says the system will work with agents and apps including Meta’s Muse, ChatGPT and Gemini. That shift extends the behavior explored in WeRSM’s look at Amazon’s Bee, where AI conversations become prompts for action and shopping.
Walmart wants agents inside the checkout
The Gateway is designed to let an agent search products and complete purchases without handing over a customer’s personal information or purchase history directly. Walmart also says it has built technology to distinguish agent-led purchases from transactions made by the customer.
That distinction becomes more important with Agent Profiles, which are expected to roll out next month. Each agent can receive its own profile inside a Walmart account, making its purchases visible separately from the customer’s own activity. Shoppers can require approval for every transaction or authorize purchases within a spending limit. The profile can also be deleted at any time, and the feature will not require a Walmart+ membership.
Walmart is effectively treating an AI agent like an authorized user on a credit card. It can act, but the customer gets a defined identity, a transaction history and a ceiling on its authority.
The strategic difference is permission
Walmart’s approach stands out because other major commerce and travel sites have responded to agents by blocking them. Amazon, by contrast, has recently moved to prevent AI agents from shopping on its site.
The difference is not simply whether a retailer supports AI. It is who controls the relationship when the customer delegates the work. Walmart’s terms say agents cannot act beyond the shopper’s intent, access payment information or retrieve more information than a task requires. Agents that break those rules can be blocked, while Walmart says its normal returns process still applies if an agent behaves incorrectly.
That last promise matters. Early agentic commerce will not be judged only by convenience. It will be judged by whether customers feel safe letting software spend their money. Walmart is betting that visible controls and familiar returns policies can make delegation feel less like surrendering control and more like assigning a limited task.
For retailers, the decision is increasingly concrete: keep the agent outside the storefront, or build a controlled way for it to enter. Walmart is choosing the second option, and positioning permission management as part of the shopping experience.