Let AI Shop for You — Build AI-Powered Commerce with the W3Ship MCP Server

Raj Narayanasamy — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:54:33 +0000

What if you could tell Claude: "Buy me a VR headset and book a session for 4 PM" — and it just... did it?

No login. No password. No OAuth dance. Just your wallet address as identity.

That's what W3Ship MCP Server does. It's a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives AI assistants 13 commerce tools — shopping carts, orders, shipment tracking, and session booking — all using cryptographic identity.

Let's set it up in under 5 minutes.

What You'll Build

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have an AI assistant that can:

✅ Create a shopping cart linked to your wallet address
✅ Add items and place orders
✅ Track shipments in real-time
✅ Book session time slots (VR, fitness, dining, etc.)
✅ Look up shipping addresses via cryptographic signature

All through natural language. No API keys to manage.

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+
Redis (or Docker): docker run -p 6379:6379 redis:latest
One of: Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, or Gemini CLI

Step 1: Install & Configure

No npm install needed. The MCP server runs via npx.

Claude Desktop

Open your claude_desktop_config.json and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "w3ship": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "w3ship-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "W3SHIP_PUBLIC_KEY": "YOUR_METAMASK_ADDRESS_WITHOUT_0x",
        "VALKEY_HOST": "localhost",
        "VALKEY_PORT": "6379"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Same config in .cursor/mcp.json.

VS Code

{
  "servers": {
    "w3ship": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "w3ship-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "W3SHIP_PUBLIC_KEY": "YOUR_METAMASK_ADDRESS_WITHOUT_0x",
        "VALKEY_HOST": "localhost",
        "VALKEY_PORT": "6379"
      }
    }
  }
}

That's it. Restart your client and you have 13 commerce tools available.

Step 2: Your First Shopping Trip

Open Claude (or your preferred client) and try:

"I want to shop on W3Ship"

If you set W3SHIP_PUBLIC_KEY, Claude will create a cart automatically. If not, it'll call generate_demo_key to create a test identity.

The Full Flow

You: "Create a cart and add a VR headset"

Claude: [calls create_cart → add_item]
        "Done! Created cart and added VR headset. 
         Want to browse session times too?"

You: "Yeah, what's available downtown today?"

Claude: [calls get_available_slots]
        "Downtown VR has slots at:
         • 2:00 PM - $45 (3 spots)
         • 4:00 PM - $45 (5 spots)"

You: "Hold the 4 PM slot and place my order"

Claude: [calls hold_slot → create_order]
        "Order confirmed! 
         Order: ord_x7k2m9p4
         Tracking: TRK-8392751046
         4 PM slot held for 10 minutes."

You: "Track my shipment"

Claude: [calls track_shipment]
        "Status: Label Created
         Carrier: QuantumLogistics
         You'll get updates as it moves."

Step 3: Understanding the Identity Model

Here's what makes W3Ship different from every other e-commerce API:

No accounts. No passwords. Your wallet address IS your identity.

The MCP server accepts three identity types:

Type	Format	Example
EVM Address	40 hex chars	Your MetaMask address
ECDSA	66 or 130 hex chars	Compressed/uncompressed public key
SLH-DSA	64 hex chars	Post-quantum identity (Dah.mx app)

When you set W3SHIP_PUBLIC_KEY in your config, every tool automatically uses it. No need to specify your identity in each request — Claude just shops as you.

Why This Matters

Traditional e-commerce APIs require:

Create an account → email verification → password
Generate API keys → store securely → rotate periodically
OAuth flow → token refresh → session management

W3Ship requires:

Paste your MetaMask address into config
Done

For AI agents, this is transformative. An MCP server shouldn't need to manage OAuth tokens or session cookies. Cryptographic identity eliminates that entire layer.

Step 4: The Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  AI Client (Claude / Cursor / VS Code)      │
│  "Book me a fitness session"                │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                   │ stdio (MCP Protocol)
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────┐
│  W3Ship MCP Server (your machine)           │
│                                              │
│  Local (Redis/Valkey):                       │
│  ├── Shopping Carts (TMF663)                 │
│  ├── Orders (TMF622)                         │
│  └── Shipments (TMF621)                      │
│                                              │
│  Remote (w3ship.com API):                    │
│  ├── Session Booking (/api/slots)            │
│  └── Identity Lookup (/api/identity)         │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Cart, order, and shipment data stays on your machine in Redis. The MCP server only calls the W3Ship API for identity verification and session booking. No AWS credentials needed.

The server follows TMF Open API standards (TM Forum), making it interoperable with telecom and enterprise commerce systems.

Step 5: All 13 Tools

Here's every tool available to your AI assistant:

Shopping Cart

create_cart — Create a cart (auto-uses your configured identity)
get_cart — View cart contents
add_item — Add products to cart
delete_cart — Remove a cart

Orders & Shipping

create_order — Convert cart → confirmed order + shipment
get_order — Get order details
track_shipment — Real-time tracking with status updates

Session Booking

get_available_slots — Browse time slots by location/date
hold_slot — Reserve a slot (10-min hold)
list_bookings — View confirmed bookings

Identity

ship_address — Retrieve shipping address via signed request

Setup

generate_demo_key — Generate a test key (no wallet needed)
get_identity — Check your configured identity

Try It Without a Wallet

Don't have MetaMask? No problem. Just configure the MCP server without W3SHIP_PUBLIC_KEY:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "w3ship": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "w3ship-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "VALKEY_HOST": "localhost"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then tell Claude: "Generate a demo key and create a shopping cart for me."

Claude will call generate_demo_key, get a valid test identity, and start shopping — all automatically.

What's Next

npm package — Install docs and full README
GitHub — Source code and issues
Setup page — Connect MetaMask and get your config

Built with TypeScript, MCP SDK, and Redis. MIT licensed.

If you build something with W3Ship, I'd love to see it — drop a comment below or tag @W3Ship on X.

DEV Community: Raj Narayanasamy