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Store Connection Setup
Before XC AI Content Automation can import your product catalog or push generated descriptions back to your store, it needs a secure connection to your e-commerce platform. This guide walks you through connecting Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento 2 -- including how to create the API credentials each platform requires.
Adding a Connection
- Open the Store Connections page from the sidebar.
- Click Add Connection.
- Select your platform -- Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento 2.
- Fill in the required credentials for your chosen platform (see the platform-specific sections below for details on where to find them).
- Click Test Connection to verify that XC AI can communicate with your store. A success message confirms that the credentials are valid and the store is reachable.
- Click Save to store the connection.
Once saved, the connection is available for any project in your organization. You can add multiple connections if you manage more than one store.
Shopify
To connect a Shopify store, you need your store URL and an Admin API access token. Follow these steps to generate one:
- Log in to your Shopify admin dashboard.
- Go to Settings (bottom-left corner) and then Apps and sales channels.
- Click Develop apps at the top of the page. If this is your first custom app, you may need to allow custom app development first.
- Click Create an app and give it a descriptive name -- for example, "XC AI Content".
- Open the app you just created and go to the Configuration tab. Under Admin API integration, click Edit and enable at least the following scopes:
read_products-- allows XC AI to import your product catalog.write_products-- allows XC AI to push generated content back to your product listings.
- Save the configuration, then click Install app and confirm the installation.
- After installation, navigate to the API credentials tab and copy the Admin API access token. This token is displayed only once, so store it somewhere safe before closing the page.
Back in XC AI, enter the following on the Add Connection form:
- Store URL -- Your Shopify store address, e.g.
yourstore.myshopify.com. - Access Token -- The Admin API access token you copied in step 7.
Click Test Connection to confirm everything is working, then save.
WooCommerce
To connect a WooCommerce store, you need your store URL, a Consumer Key, and a Consumer Secret. Here is how to generate them:
- Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Navigate to WooCommerce in the sidebar, then go to Settings and open the Advanced tab.
- Click the REST API sub-tab, then click Add key.
- Fill in the key details:
- Description -- A label to help you identify this key later, e.g. "XC AI Content".
- User -- Select the WordPress user account the key should be associated with. This user must have permission to manage products.
- Permissions -- Set to Read/Write so that XC AI can both import products and sync content back.
- Click Generate API key.
- Copy the Consumer Key and the Consumer Secret. These are displayed only once, so save them before navigating away from the page.
Back in XC AI, enter the following on the Add Connection form:
- Store URL -- Your store's full address, e.g.
https://yourstore.com. - Consumer Key -- The key you copied in step 6.
- Consumer Secret -- The secret you copied in step 6.
Click Test Connection to confirm everything is working, then save.
Important: Your WooCommerce store must be served over HTTPS. The WooCommerce REST API requires a secure connection, and XC AI will not connect to stores using plain HTTP.
Magento 2
To connect a Magento 2 store, you need your store URL and an integration access token. There are two parts to the setup: enabling Bearer token support (a one-time global setting) and creating the integration itself.
Step 1: Enable Bearer Token Support
Magento 2 ships with a security setting that prevents integration access tokens from being used as Bearer tokens. This setting must be enabled before XC AI can authenticate.
- Log in to your Magento admin panel.
- Navigate to Stores > Configuration > Services > OAuth > Consumer Settings.
- Set "Allow OAuth Access Tokens to be used as standalone Bearer tokens" to Yes.
- Click Save Config.
- Flush the Magento cache: go to System > Cache Management and click Flush Magento Cache.
This is a one-time setting. Once enabled, all integrations in this Magento instance can use their access tokens as Bearer tokens.
Step 2: Create the Integration
- Navigate to System > Integrations.
- Click Add New Integration.
- On the Integration Info tab, enter a name for the integration -- for example, "XC AI Content".
- Switch to the API tab. Under Resource Access, grant access to at least:
- Catalog > Inventory and Products -- required for importing products and syncing content.
- Stores -- recommended, allows XC AI to detect available store views for multi-store setups.
- Click Save to create the integration, then click Activate on the integrations list. Confirm the activation when prompted.
- After activation, Magento displays a set of tokens. Copy the Access Token (also called the Bearer token). Store it somewhere safe -- you will need it in the next step.
Back in XC AI, enter the following on the Add Connection form:
- Store URL -- Your Magento store's base URL, e.g.
https://yourstore.com. - Access Token -- The Bearer token you copied in step 6.
Click Test Connection to confirm everything is working, then save.
Multi-Store / Multi-Website Setups
If your Magento instance has multiple store views (common in multi-language or multi-brand setups), XC AI will detect them automatically and show a Store View selector in the import dialog. Select the store view whose product data you want to import. This ensures API calls use the correct scope and avoids "default website not defined" errors that can occur on multi-website Magento installations.
Managing Connections
After you have created a connection, you can manage it from the Store Connections page at any time.
Connection Status
Each connection displays one of three statuses:
- Active -- The connection is working and credentials are valid. XC AI can import products and sync content through this connection.
- Inactive -- The connection has been saved but has not been tested yet, or it has not been used recently. Click Test Connection to verify that it is still reachable.
- Error -- The credentials are invalid, expired, or the store is unreachable. Update the credentials and test again to resolve the issue.
Testing a Connection
You can click Test Connection on any saved connection at any time to verify that the credentials are still valid and the store is reachable. This is useful after rotating API keys or if you suspect a connection may have gone stale.
Editing a Connection
If your API credentials change -- for example, if you regenerate an access token in Shopify or rotate your WooCommerce API keys -- click Edit on the connection and update the relevant fields. Test the connection after saving to confirm the new credentials work.
Deleting a Connection
To remove a connection you no longer need, click Delete. Note that a connection that is currently in use by one or more projects cannot be deleted. You must first remove the connection from every project that references it, and then delete it from the Store Connections page.