US retailer Walmart is introducing tools that enable authorised AI agents to make purchases for consumers under specified spending controls.
The rollout comprises Agent Profiles and the Walmart Agent Gateway, covering Walmart and its subsidiary Sam’s Club.
The tools follow the retailer’s conversational search partnerships, including integrations with Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and enable direct agentic commerce.
Agent Profiles are scheduled to launch within the next month.
The feature will create a separate sub-account for each authorised agent, comparable to adding a secondary user to an existing credit card account.
Customers will be able to keep automated purchases separate from their manual order histories.
They can require approval for every basket or set autonomous spending limits of $50, $100, or $200.
Customers can also disconnect an agent at any time, according to the retailer.
Walmart is also introducing a developer beta of the Walmart Agent Gateway.
Third-party agents have used standard web browsers to access retail platforms, an approach intended historically for human navigation that can lead to interface errors and delays at checkout.
The gateway uses model text protocol (MCP) to establish a direct and structured communication channel for automated agents.
Under the gateway’s design, Walmart will match an agent’s order request with a customer’s preferred products, including milk or bread brands.
The process is designed to avoid providing a shopper’s wider purchase history or personal details to an external system.
Walmart said prices will be consistent across its interfaces.
Agents will receive the same product prices, promotions, and delivery fees available to customers on Walmart.com.
The initiative sets out processes for machine authentication, programmatic checkout, and customer privacy in autonomous commerce.
In its statement, the company said: “Shopping with an agent won’t be for everyone, and it does not have to be. But for customers who choose to use one, our goal is to make our experience the most trusted by building clear controls and protections into the experience from the start.”
