The right level of automation for an AI agent is 99%. Claude can read and rewrite every product in your Shopify catalog. The last 1%, deciding what actually ships to the storefront, stays with you. That is what makes it safe to point Claude at a live store.
How it works
- Scratch pulls your catalog into files. Every product comes down as one JSON file in Shopify's GraphQL Admin shape, in a folder on your laptop.
- Claude edits the products. Tell it what you want. Rewrite every product description to under 160 words and lead with the material. Claude works through the whole catalog.
- You review every diff and publish. Scratch shows each changed field next to the original, word by word. Approve what ships, and Scratch writes only those products back through the Admin API, one at a time.
What Claude edits in Shopify
- Product titles, descriptions (HTML), and handles
- Vendor, type, and tags
- Product SEO title and meta description
- Articles, blogs, and pages
Prices, variants, inventory, and metafields stay locked at the connector level. Claude cannot write them back even if it tries. For the full field list, see Scratch for Shopify.
Why not an MCP server?
A Shopify MCP server or app hands Claude a direct line to your live catalog. One overzealous rewrite ships to every product at once, and you are fixing it by hand. Scratch gives Claude the same full read and write access, but against a local copy. Every change waits as a diff until you approve it. The products you do not approve never leave your laptop.
Questions people ask
Is this an MCP server or a Shopify app?
No. An MCP or app gives Claude the publish button straight to your store. Scratch does not. Claude gets the same access, but publishing is a separate step you approve, one product at a time.
Will Claude touch my prices or inventory?
No. Prices, variants, inventory, and metafields are locked at the connector. They cannot be written back, even by mistake.
Can I undo a change after it ships?
Yes. Every published product is reversible from Scratch, per row. The original sits next to the rewrite until you decide which one stays.
Can it handle my whole catalog at once?
Yes, that is the use case. Pull 50 products to feel the flow, then pull thousands.
Do I need to be technical?
No. Install Scratch, connect Shopify, point Claude at the folder, and approve the diffs.