UCP Catalogue Explorer
Free reference app
Search Shopify's Global Catalog through UCP
Enter a product category and shipping country. The explorer queries Shopify's Global Catalog via search_catalog, returns live listings with prices and seller names, and opens results on an infinite 3D canvas you can pan through.
Built while stress-testing UCP pagination, variant resolution, and catalog data quality. Use it to see how agentic discovery surfaces your vertical, or as a working example of Global Catalog integration.
Launch UCP Catalogue ExplorerOpens in a new tab · Results are not cached · Images load from merchant CDNs
What you can do
- Category search across eligible Global Catalog merchants with country-aware shipping filters
- Infinite canvas browsing with product detail modals and variant selection via get_product
- Live UCP compliance: agent profile negotiation, no result caching, rate-limit handling
- Developer reference for hint-based pagination when cursors repeat, plus media enrichment through lookup_catalog
Read the build notes: What we learned about Shopify product data, UCP limits, and catalog hygiene.
UCP Catalogue Explorer FAQs
What is the UCP Catalogue Explorer?
The UCP Catalogue Explorer is a free reference app built by oContis Studio. It queries Shopify's Global Catalog through the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) using search_catalog, lookup_catalog, and get_product. Enter a product category and shipping country, then browse matching listings with prices, seller names, and images loaded directly from merchant CDNs in an infinite WebGL canvas.
What is Shopify's Global Catalog and UCP?
Shopify's Global Catalog is structured product data from eligible merchants, exposed to AI agents and developers through UCP-compliant MCP tools. UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) is an open standard co-developed by Shopify and Google for agentic commerce: discovery, cart, and checkout. The Global Catalog endpoint is https://catalog.shopify.com/api/ucp/mcp. See our article What We Learned Building a UCP Catalogue Explorer for practitioner notes.
Does this tool cache catalog search results?
No. The app follows Shopify catalog usage guidelines: search results are not cached server-side, and product images render from merchant CDN URLs in the browser. Rate limits return a clear 429 message instead of stale data. This matches UCP expectations that catalog responses reflect current merchant terms and should not be reused across sessions without re-validation.
Who is the UCP Catalogue Explorer for?
Shopify developers evaluating agentic commerce, agencies scoping UCP integrations, and merchants who want to see how their category appears in Global Catalog search. It is a working reference for agent profile negotiation, diversified pagination, variant expansion via get_product, and infinite-scroll discovery UX. For merchant-side catalog hygiene, book a stack assessment.
How is this different from searching my own storefront?
Global Catalog searches across eligible Shopify merchants worldwide. Storefront Catalog MCP scopes to a single store at https://{storedomain}/api/ucp/mcp. This explorer uses Global Catalog for cross-merchant discovery. If you need single-store agent tooling, the same UCP tools apply with a different endpoint and stricter batch limits on lookup.
Can I use the source code for my own agent?
The app demonstrates production patterns: UCP agent profile hosting, OAuth for Dev Dashboard rate limits, hint-based query diversification when cursor pagination stalls, and media enrichment via batched lookup_catalog calls. Use it as a reference implementation or wire your own agent profile and Catalog API credentials. For custom agentic commerce builds, see our Shopify development services.
Worried about how agents see your catalog?
We run structured Shopify stack audits: product architecture, channel visibility, checkout guardrails, and data models that survive agentic discovery.
About the UCP Catalogue Explorer
Launch the free UCP Catalogue Explorer to search Shopify's Global Catalog through the Universal Commerce Protocol. Built by oContis Studio, a London Shopify Plus agency.
The app runs search_catalog server-side, maps UCP product payloads for display, and loads more inventory through cursor pagination plus hint-based query diversification when results repeat. Product images load from merchant CDNs without server-side storage.
Read the companion article Shopify UCP Global Catalog: Lessons From Building a Catalogue Explorer for data architecture risks, pagination limits, and merchant catalog hygiene checks.