Walmart Introduces Agent Profiles and Agent Gateway for AI-Powered Shopping

Retailer says customers will keep control as AI assistants begin shopping on their behalf

Walmart on Wednesday announced three new tools for customers who want AI agents to shop for them at Walmart and Sam’s Club: Agent Profiles, the Walmart Agent Gateway and a set of terms that agents must follow.

The company said the aim is to let customers shop through the apps and agents they choose, with permissions, controls and protections built in. It stressed that agent shopping is optional. “Shopping with an agent won’t be for everyone,” the company said, “and it doesn’t have to be.”

Agent Profiles

Today, an AI agent shops by signing in with the customer’s own account, so purchases made by the agent and by the customer appear together in one history.

Agent Profiles, which Walmart says will launch within the next month, change that. Customers can authorize each agent with its own profile inside their account and see its purchases separately. They can require approval for every purchase, or allow an agent to buy within a spending limit they set, such as $50, $100 or $200. Profiles can be turned off or deleted at any time.

Setup works in three steps. The first time a customer uses an agent to shop through the Agent Gateway, Walmart automatically creates a profile for that agent. The customer then links it to their account by signing in to Walmart, which Walmart says only it sees. The customer then sets spending controls and can review purchases from every agent.

Walmart compared the model to adding someone as a cardholder on a credit card, with a spending limit and a record of how the card is used. The company said its Every Day Low Price commitment applies equally to agents. It said it prices “products, not people,” so agents see the same prices as human shoppers, with applicable offers and fees shown before purchase.

Walmart Agent Gateway

Walmart said agents currently shop through its website in a browser, following steps designed for people, which can be slow and error-prone. The Agent Gateway gives agents a more direct route using MCP, the Model Context Protocol. It begins as a beta for companies and developers.

The gateway is also designed to help agents shop for a customer’s usual items, such as a preferred bread or brand of milk, without sharing the customer’s personal information or broader purchase history with the agent. Walmart’s gateway page describes the program as an early beta, available by invitation only and subject to suspension at any time. It lists safeguards such as verified identities, controlled permissions, category restrictions, rate limits and compliance guardrails.

Terms for AI agents

Walmart also published terms governing agents that shop on a customer’s behalf:

• Customers must approve agent purchases by default, and Walmart may require additional approvals even within a spending limit.
• Agents must not act beyond what the shopper intends.
• Agents do not receive payment-card information and cannot add or change payment methods.
• Agents may access only the information needed for the task and permitted by the customer.
• The agent provider’s privacy policy governs what the agent receives, while Walmart handles information the agent provides under its own Privacy Notice.
• Walmart’s returns process applies, including if an agent doesn’t act as intended.
• Agents that don’t follow the terms will be blocked from Walmart’s site.

Walmart said it already serves customers through stores, online shopping, pickup and delivery, its Sparky assistant, and conversational commerce integrations with Muse, ChatGPT and Gemini, and wants to be wherever customers choose to shop.