Appearance
MCP access: connect Nexus to an AI assistant
Settings > MCP lets an AI assistant read your store's Nexus data over the Model Context Protocol (MCP). With write access, the assistant can also take actions. The page is called MCP Access and has three tabs: Tokens, Connect a client and What you can ask.
Problem and intended user
The ecommerce manager (the person who runs the store) works in an AI assistant, such as a chat tool or a command-line client. That assistant cannot see Nexus data. The ecommerce manager has to open Nexus and copy results back. A media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads) can have the same need. A person with several stores can reach all of them with one token, using the All my stores option.
Current workflow
A merchant copies figures from Nexus, a Shopify admin report, Meta Ads Manager or a spreadsheet into the AI assistant, or uploads an export. Each new question repeats the copying. The assistant works from a snapshot that can go out of date.
Prerequisites
- An AI assistant that supports MCP. The Connect a client tab lists the ones Nexus has guides for.
- MCP access turned on for your store. If the page says MCP access isn't enabled or Couldn't check MCP access, MCP is not available yet. The token form is hidden until it is. Contact support to turn it on.
- Demo Mode off, to create or rotate a token.
How Nexus works
Nexus runs an MCP server. An AI client connects to it with an access token or, for some clients, a sign-in that approves access to your store. The client sends a question, and Nexus returns data from your store. Fixed rules decide which data a token can reach. The AI assistant you connect writes its own answers, and Nexus does not control them.
Two approvals protect you. You create each token yourself and choose its reach. With write access, each action still needs an explicit confirmation before it runs.
Create an access token
An access token is a secret that lets one AI client reach your store. Treat it like a password.
WARNING
Nexus shows the full token once. Copy it before you leave the page. If you lose it, rotate the token to get a new one.
- Go to Settings > MCP and open the Tokens tab.
- Under Create an access token, enter a Token name, for example Claude Desktop. The name is required.
- Choose Expires: 30 days, 90 days, 1 year or Never. The form starts at 90 days.
- Choose Store access:
- This store only binds the token to the store you have open. It is the default.
- All my stores reaches every store you have access to. Each request must say which store it means.
- Decide on the two checkboxes:
- Allow actions (write access) lets the client launch, push or publish. Each action still needs an explicit confirmation. Leave it off for read-only access. It is off by default.
- Anonymize customer PII replaces emails and names with placeholders before data reaches the AI client. Nexus recommends it, and it is on by default.
- Select Create token.
- Under Copy your token now, select Copy token and save it somewhere safe. Then select I've saved it — dismiss.
Connect a client
Open the Connect a client tab. The Server URL row shows the address your assistant connects to. Select Copy URL to copy it.
Below it, choose your assistant. Nexus has a guide for each:
- Claude (web & desktop)
- Claude Desktop (token)
- ChatGPT (web)
- Claude Code (CLI)
- Gemini CLI
- xAI / OpenAI API
The Claude (web & desktop) and ChatGPT (web) guides use a sign-in that approves access to your store, so you copy no token. They appear only when that sign-in is turned on for Nexus. The other guides give a snippet to paste. Replace the <paste-your-token> placeholder in it with a token from the Tokens tab. The first guide on the list is marked (recommended).
Rotate or revoke a token
To replace a token, select Rotate, then Rotate token in the window. The old token stops working at once. Any client that uses it fails until you give it the new token, shown once under Copy your new token now.
To remove a token, select Revoke. Nexus does not ask you to confirm.
Exact output
The output is a token and a connected assistant.
Your tokens lists every token with its name, the start of the token, a scope label, and when it was last used. A token that was never used reads Never used.
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| This store or All stores | The scope you chose. |
| write | The token allows actions. |
| Expires in N days | The token is close to its end date. |
| Expired | The token no longer works. |
| revoked | You removed or rotated the token. |
The What you can ask tab lists example questions in groups, such as Morning review, Product strategy and Competitor research. An example that needs write access carries the label needs write access. Use these as a starting point and ask in your own words.
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Copy your token now | Select Copy token and store it in your AI client or a password manager. | Ecommerce manager |
| A token labeled Expires in N days | Select Rotate and give the client the new token. | Ecommerce manager |
| A token labeled Expired or Never used | Select Revoke if you no longer need it. | Ecommerce manager |
| A token labeled write | Check that the client needs actions. If not, revoke it and create a read-only token. | Ecommerce manager |
| An example under Morning review or Ad performance | Ask it in your AI assistant, outside Nexus. | Ecommerce manager or media buyer |
| An example labeled needs write access | Use it only with a write token. Confirm each action. | Ecommerce manager |
Expected value and measurement
MCP access can help you ask questions about your store in the tool you already use, without copying figures by hand. It can also help you keep access narrow, because each token has its own scope and end date.
To check that a token works, read Your tokens on Settings > MCP, Tokens tab. It shows when each token was last used. Never used means the client has not reached Nexus yet.
Nexus has no page that measures time saved or answer quality, so the effect cannot be isolated.
Limitations and exceptions
- The assistant writes its own answers, and they can be wrong. Check a figure on the Nexus page it comes from before you act on it.
- With Anonymize customer PII off, the AI client can see customer emails and names. Leave it on unless you need them.
- If Nexus cannot confirm that MCP is on, the page says Couldn't check MCP access. If it stays, see Contact support.
- When MCP is off, the Connect a client tab says MCP access isn't enabled for this store yet. See Contact support.
- With no tokens, Your tokens reads No tokens yet. Create one in the form above it.
- Other messages: Couldn't create the token. Please try again., Could not rotate the token. Please try again. and Couldn't load tokens. Try again. Revoke asks for no confirmation and shows no message when it fails. Reload the page to see whether the token is still active.
- A token with All my stores also appears in the token list of each store you open.
- In Demo Mode you cannot create or rotate a token. Nexus shows Disable demo mode to create an AI (MCP) access token.