What happened
Walmart launched Agent Gateway, an MCP server letting approved AI agents search its inventory and buy for users, and will roll out Agent Profiles next month with per-transaction approval or spending limits.
Why it matters
The controls work like adding an authorized user to a credit card — agent purchases are identified and can be capped — while Walmart's returns process applies even when an agent doesn't act as intended.
WHO IT HITSOnline shoppers who use AI agents to buy will be able to authorize them with separate profiles and spending caps, while Walmart's approved-agent terms set what those agents can access — no payment information, only task-relevant data.
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Walmart's move comes shortly after its top competitor, Amazon, began blocking AI agents from making purchases on behalf of online shoppers. Other online businesses, including various travel and booking sites, have responded to growing consumer adoption of AI agents by locking them out completely. Walmart had already announced a partnership with Meta's Muse and offers integrations with apps like ChatGPT and Gemini, and it is now expanding on those efforts. CEO John Furner framed the launch as preparation for a world where AI agents become mainstream, speaking at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. The Agent Gateway is built on the model context protocol originally created by Anthropic, which lets AI agents connect to external data sources and tools. Alongside the technology, Walmart introduced special terms for AI agents specifying how they must operate and what rights they have to transact, with non-compliant agents blocked from the site.
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