ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) is an open standard that allows AI (e.g. ChatGPT) carry out a purchase in chat, and your store gets order and confirmed payment via a trusted provider (e.g. Stripe/PayPal) - without holding card details on the agent's side. Conclusion: if you want to be ready for ChatGPT shopping, you need to prepare store endpoints, shopping cart states, authorization and event logging.

What exactly is the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)?

In the simplest terms: the ACP allows the customer to buy the product directly in the AI chat, and the store automatically receives the order and payment. 

It is an open standard developed by the OpenAI team together with technology partners, including Stripe, PayPal and Worldpay. Its purpose is to allow "sales agents" (i.e., AI systems such as ChatGPT) to communicate with online stores in a structured and secure manner.

In practice, the ACP defines a set of flows, which is a sequence of sales events. Each flow describes what happens when a user makes a purchase decision in a chat. For example:

• The user asks the agent for the product,
• The agent makes a query to the store's API,
• receives a response about availability, price and parameters,
• forms a basket,
• forwards payment data to a trusted processor,
• and then confirms the order.

The important thing is that ACP does not store payment data and does not execute transactions directly. Rather, it acts like a translator: it turns the user's natural language into structured API requests that the store can understand.

ACP has a open standard, which means it can be implemented by any e-commerce platform, not just Shopify or Etsy. The documentation is public and continuously developed by OpenAI Developers.

How does the "agent → store → payment" architecture work?

To better understand how sales work in ChatGPT, it is useful to break it down into three layers.

1. agent (ChatGPT or other AI system).

This is the conversational layer. The agent takes the user's inquiries, analyzes the intent and creates a product proposal. With ACP, the agent can guide the customer through the entire buying process without overstepping his own authority.

2. store (merchant endpoint)

It's your back-end of your commerce. The store provides an interface that receives requests from the agent in ACP format. In practice, this means that your backend must be able to:

• return a list of products with current prices and availability,
• confirm the addition to the cart,
• generate an order ID,
• transfer the data to the payment gateway,
• confirm implementation.

3 Payment (processor: Stripe, PayPal, Worldpay)

This layer handles transaction authorization. The agent initiates the process, but the payment itself takes place on the trusted provider's side. ACP only ensures communication and compliance with security protocols.

This "three-tier" model allows the retailer to maintain full control of the data on the merchant side, while giving the user a shopping experience without switching between pages.

How to prepare a store integration outside Shopify and Etsy?

Shopify and Etsy already have built-in ACP support. However, if your store runs on another platform (such as WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop or a proprietary CMS), you can implement compatibility yourself.

The minimum scope of integration includes:

1. Endpoint ACP - API point that responds to product inquiries, availability, shopping cart and orders.
2. Webhook of events - Receives information on status changes and payments.
3. Authorization layer - preferably based on JWT or OAuth2 tokens, so that the agent can verify the authenticity of queries.
4. Product data mapping - Fields such as title, price, currency, availability, image_url, sku, shipping must comply with ACP requirements.

Checklist for a programmer - ACP in 5 points

1. Create an ACP endpoint (products, shopping cart, orders).
2. Implement cart and payment status webhooks.
3. Align the product feed with ACP requirements (title/price/sku/availability/image/variants).
4. Implement token authentication (JWT/OAuth2).
5. Test full flows in the ChatGPT + Stripe sandbox.

Cart state models and validations

ACP defines the so-called. basket states, i.e., sets of states that a shopping cart passes through during a conversation with an agent. For the vendor, this is important because each state generates different queries and logs.

Typical basket states are:

1. Draft - The user has added a product, but has not yet proceeded to payment.
2. Pending - The shopping cart is awaiting confirmation of availability.
3. Confirmed - The agent confirmed the purchase and provided payment details.
4. Completed - transaction completed.
5. Failed / Canceled - failed payment or user cancellation.

Each of these steps can be monitored in ACP logs, allowing real-time analysis of conversions.

In addition, ACP requires that the store be able to respond dynamically to changes, such as:

• Inform the user of the price change,
• update availability,
• Offer an alternative if the product is sold out.

This is what differentiates Agentic Checkout from classic e-commerce. The whole process is a conversation, not a sequence of rigid screens.

How does ACP ensure security and compliance?

ACP was created in cooperation with financial partners, so its structure from the beginning takes into account security requirements.

1. Authorization of transactions
   ACP does not store card details or payment account logins. All payments are routed to an authorized processor, such as Stripe or PayPal. Payment complies with PSD2 and SCA requirements, and card data never goes to ChatGPT - it is processed exclusively by the payment provider.
   
2. Event logs
   Every action of the agent and the store is recorded in the form of a standardized log. This is a safeguard in case of disputes, as well as an audit tool.
   
3. Compliance with RCP (Regulated Commerce Protocol).
   This is an extension of ACP that addresses compliance with local trade regulations. In practice, this means, among other things, keeping records of orders, email confirmations and return policies.
   
4. RODO and privacy
   Personal data is processed on the side of the store, not the agent. ChatGPT provides only the minimum set of information needed to process the order.
   
5. Encryption and tokenization
   All communication in ACP is based on HTTPS and one-time tokens. Each shopping session has its own unique identifier.

As a result, Agentic Checkout is safe for the user and complies with the financial requirements set by the EU and US markets.

What does a step-by-step ACP implementation roadmap look like?

Implementing ACP does not have to be a long project. Store preparation can be divided into three stages.

Stage 1: Sandbox

The first step is to create a test environment. OpenAI provides a sandbox that simulates agent behavior and allows you to test communications without real payments. At this stage:

• you configure endpoints,
• you check the flow of data,
• You test different states of the basket,
• You learn to interpret ACP logs.

Stage 2: Test flows

The second stage is to test full purchase flows. It is worth running several scenarios:

1. purchase of one product,
2. changing the quantity in the shopping cart,
3. payment error,
4. user cancellation,
5. accessibility correction.

Based on these tests, the correctness of the integration and compliance with the RCP is verified.

Stage 3: Production

Only when all tests pass can the integration be switched to production mode. At this point, it's also a good idea to implement monitoring, such as through webhooks that alert you to payment errors or rejected orders.

After production deployment, it is recommended to analyze the first 100 orders to check the accuracy of data and user experience.

Why implement ACP now - including in Poland

ACP is the technological foundation of the entire sales model through ChatGPT. Although full checkout via ChatGPT works today mainly in the US and Canada (in Poland, product visibility and testing are available for now, without finalizing the transaction), then nothing prevents you from starting preparations in Poland today.

Why? Because ACP is an open standard, independent of region. Any store can implement its technical structure, test the integration in a sandbox environment and have a ready-made system when OpenAI opens sales in more countries.

For companies in Poland, this means a real advantage:

• Early access to closed tests of ChatGPT Shopping,
• Ready-made integration infrastructure (endpoints, feeds, validations),
• The ability to collect data on purchase interactions even before payments are initiated,
• experience of the dev/ops and marketing team at a stage when competitors are just learning how it works.

The earlier a store launches with ACP, the better the chance of being displayed in ChatGPT before the competition does.

You can already integrate your own store with ACP in test mode, connect to Stripe Sandbox and see how the whole "agent → store → payment" flow looks like. It's a secure environment that doesn't require production deployment or access to real cards.

In short: in Poland it is not yet possible to accept payments via ChatGPT, but everything else can be prepared - from catalog structure to ACP endpoints and shopping cart status support. As a result, as soon as OpenAI enables checkout support in Europe, your store can be among the first to become visible in ChatGPT Shopping.

Agentic Commerce Protocol and ChatGPT shopping - Summary

Agentic Commerce Protocol is a new way of thinking about online commerce. It allows AI agents to conduct real transactions, while stores retain full control over the process and data.

In the article: "Selling via ChatGPT: how it works, for whom it makes sense, and how to implement it." you learned about the concept of selling through ChatGPT. This text, on the other hand, shows you how to translate it into practice. The next step is to take care of product visibility in the ChatGPT ecosystem, i.e. preparing feeds and structured data. You can read about it in the article: Store visibility in ChatGPT: how product discovery works and how to appear there.