Checkout and AI agents
AI agents are starting to buy for people: adding to the cart, filling in checkout and paying. Everything we have on making carts, checkouts, sign-ups and bookings work for them.
Start hereHow to make checkout work for AI shopping agentsA step-by-step guide to the shopping journey for AI agents: finding products, choosing options, adding to cart, checkout and the payment handoff.Read the guide
What AgentScore checks
- Shoppers can check out without an account An agent buying for someone can't easily create an account for them. Guest checkout lets the purchase go through. Most checkouts only open with something in the cart, so AgentScore adds one item, once, with the add-to-cart button (never “Buy now”), to look; it never fills in the form or orders anything. Usually fixed by E-commerce platform admin
- AI agents aren't blocked or shown a CAPTCHA at the cart and checkout A CAPTCHA or block at cart or checkout stops an agent at the last step, after it has done all the work, so the order is lost. If your bot protection checks where requests really come from, our test requests can't show whether real assistants get through, so a block isn't counted. Usually fixed by Bot protection or CDN admin
- Cart and checkout fields are labelled for agents Checkout is where agents most often fail. Clearly labelled fields let them enter details correctly and finish the order. When the empty cart shows no form, AgentScore adds one item to the cart, once, with the add-to-cart button (never “Buy now”), to see the checkout; it never fills in the form or orders anything. Usually fixed by Developer
- Agents can find and press your add-to-cart or sign-up button If an agent can't find or press “Add to cart”, “Sign up” or “Book now”, it can't convert, however good the rest of the page is. If the product we check is sold out, we try up to two others, and if they're all sold out this check is skipped, so it never counts against you. Usually fixed by Developer
- An AI agent completes a real task This is the real test: can an AI agent actually finish a task on your site? The free scan has an agent try one, like adding a product to the cart. If it can't finish, the score can't go above 59. Ghost Agent tests measure more. Usually fixed by Developer
Guides
Guest checkout: why AI shopping agents need itWhy forced accounts stop AI agents at the last step, how AgentScore checks for guest checkout, and how to offer it without losing accounts.
Rate limits for AI agents: fair limits that don't turn customers awayHow to set rate limits that stop scrapers but not AI assistants: 429 with Retry-After, per-agent limits for verified agents, and what to watch.
Login walls and gated content: what AI agents can reachWhat AI agents can't reach behind logins and paywalls, what to keep public, how to hand off to the customer, and paywall structured data for publishers.
Sign-up, booking and lead forms AI agents can finishHow to build sign-up, booking and quote forms AI agents can complete, and how to handle email verification, CAPTCHAs, date pickers and the handoff.
Carts AI agents can manage: quantities, promo codes and totalsHow to build a cart AI agents can change and check: named quantity and remove controls, usable promo code fields, clear totals and carts that last.
How to test your key journeys with AI agentsWhich journeys to test with AI agents, how to test by hand and with Ghost Agents, what to measure, and how to test safely without real purchases.
From the blog
AgentScore now checks your checkout with an item in the cartAgentScore v7 adds one item to the cart to see your checkout form: what it presses, where it stops, and what happens when it can't add one.
What AI agents do to your conversion funnelWhen AI agents shop for people, discovery, browsing and comparison move out of sight. How the funnel changes, why reports mislead, and what to measure instead.
What AI agents can't do on websites yetAn honest list of where today's AI agents stop on websites, from CAPTCHAs and logins to payment and custom widgets, and what to fix now versus wait for.
Ghost Agents: testing your site with real AI agentsGhost Agents are real AI agents that run your checkout, search and sign-up journeys on a schedule, with pass rates, step-by-step replays and alerts.
Free tools
Terms to know
- Guest checkout Letting shoppers buy without creating an account.
- Agentic commerce Purchases that an AI agent makes for a shopper.
- Journey A task a visitor sets out to complete on your site, such as finding a product and reaching checkout, or booking a call.
- Task completion Whether an agent can actually finish a journey.
- Ghost Agent A real AI agent we send through a journey on your site, on a schedule, to see whether agents can complete it.