Integrations

Connect an AI Assistant to Exchange It with MCP

Updated Oct 16, 2026

Connect an AI assistant to Exchange It so you can review and resolve returns, pull analytics, and look up your return policy straight from ChatGPT or Claude. You generate a per-store connection token, then add Exchange It as a custom connector in your assistant.

Where to find it

Open Exchange It's app settings and find the "Connect AI assistant (MCP)" card. This is where you set permissions, generate your connection token, copy the Connector URL, and manage any active tokens.

Prerequisites

Connecting an AI assistant (MCP) is a Standard plan feature. You need the Standard or Advanced plan to generate and list tokens; it is not available on Starter or trial. If your store isn't eligible, the card shows an upgrade notice instead of the controls.

Set it up

  1. Choose permissions. Under Permissions, "Read returns (required)" is always on and can't be unchecked. If you want your assistant to be able to see unmasked customer contact details, enable "Access unmasked customer PII" before generating the token — this adds the customers:pii scope to the token. Leave it off to keep customer email, phone, and address masked.
  2. Click Generate connection token. This mints a per-store token (shaped like eit_mcp_…) with the scopes you selected. Exchange It stores only a hash of the token, never the raw value, so the full token is shown only once. A warning banner reminds you to copy it now before leaving the page — use the Copy button next to the Connection token field.
  3. Copy the Connector URL. Copy the value from the Connector URL field using its Copy button. This is the per-store URL you'll use when adding Exchange It as a custom connector. (The URL is generated for your store and shown in that field — always copy it from there.)

Connect it in ChatGPT or Claude

In ChatGPT or Claude, add a custom connector using the Connector URL you copied. When the connect page opens, paste your connection token. For programmatic access, instead of using the connect page you can send the token as an Authorization: Bearer <your token> header. Refer to your assistant's own documentation for where custom connectors are added.

Tools your assistant can use

Once connected, your assistant can call these read-only tools:

  • get_returns_analytics — Returns analytics for your store over a time window (volume by status, reason breakdown, refund-vs-exchange split, top returned products). Input: a period (7d, 30d, 90d, or 12mo). No customer PII.
  • list_returns — Lists your store's returns, most recent first, with optional status, start date, and limit. Customer contact details are masked unless PII access is requested — returning unmasked details requires the customers:pii scope.
  • get_return — Fetches a single return by its Exchange It return id, Shopify return GID, or original order name. Can return unmasked customer details only with the customers:pii scope.
  • get_return_policy — Returns your store's policy and returns settings (window/expiration rules, country/product/order rules, fees, exchange settings). Read-only.
  • get_shop_overview — High-level store KPIs: install status, plan, currency, and lifetime returns/exchange counters. Read-only.
  • recommend_resolution — Analyzes one return and drafts a suggested resolution (approve, refund minus fees, or exchange) with a deep link into your Exchange It admin to execute it. Makes no changes.
  • shopify_read — Runs any read-only GraphQL query against your store's Shopify Admin API; mutations and subscriptions are rejected server-side and the store token is never returned. Customer PII stays masked by the underlying Shopify field unless the credential carries the customers:pii scope.
  • get_help_article — Fetches one Exchange It help-center article by slug and returns its markdown. No PII.
  • search_help_docs — Keyword search over the Exchange It help center, returning ranked results with slugs to fetch full articles. No PII.

Tools that can return unmasked customer contact details — and therefore require the customers:pii scope — are list_returns, get_return, and shopify_read. If you generated the token without the unmasked-PII permission, those tools keep customer details masked.

What it can access

The token can carry only two scopes: returns:read (always granted) and, optionally, customers:pii. There are no write scopes — the connection is read-only aside from the draft-only recommend_resolution tool, which makes no changes and instead hands back a deep link into your Exchange It admin. The shopify_read tool is scoped to your store only, and its underlying store credential is used server-side and never returned.

Managing and revoking

Active tokens appear under "Active connection tokens", each shown by its last four characters and its scopes. To rotate a token, generate a new one and update your assistant's connector. To revoke a token, click Revoke next to it — this immediately marks that token revoked so it can no longer be used. Revoking is always available, even if your plan has changed.

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