I have previously written about AI shopping and how it will significantly change purchasing behavior. But development doesn’t stand still, and right now a new technology is rolling out that will power up these changes even more.

WebMCP is a new internet protocol co-developed by Google and Microsoft, which has just been launched in an early test version (including in Chrome 146).

It might sound a bit heavy and technical, but it is actually a quite practical shortcut to making your webshop and forms directly readable for AI agents. Do it right, and you ensure the AI chooses and recommends your business over the competitor’s.

What exactly is WebMCP?

WebMCP stands for Web Model Context Protocol. It is a newly proposed W3C standard that, roughly speaking, acts as a “remote control” for your website, built explicitly for AI assistants.

Just a few months ago, AI shopping relied on the AI almost having to “guess” its way around. It had to read all the content on your site, figure out your visual layout, and try to simulate human clicks on buttons. It is a slow and unstable process (often called DOM scraping) that easily breaks if you simply change the color or position of a button.

With WebMCP, the rules of the game change. Your website can now tell the AI exactly: “Here is my contact form, these are the fields, and here is how you fill it out” – completely invisible to the regular user.

How to use WebMCP

When we talk about integrating WebMCP on your website, it typically happens along two different tracks. One is a simple upgrade of what you already have. The other is a more advanced engine.

Track 1: The practical solution for forms (Declarative API)

If your website has standard forms – e.g., “Contact us” or “Sign up for newsletter” – it doesn’t take much to get started.

We simply insert some invisible “stickers” (called data attributes) into your existing HTML. We tell the AI what the form is called (toolname) and what it does (tooldescription). The AI automatically understands the normal names of the form fields, so we just need to add a description to the fields so the AI knows exactly what data to provide (toolparamdescription).

It takes five minutes for the person maintaining your site.

Form WITHOUT WebMCP:

<form action="/send-mail" method="POST">
  <label for="name">Your name:</label>
  <input type="text" id="name" name="name" autocomplete="name" required aria-required="true">

  <label for="message">Your message:</label>
  <textarea id="message" name="message" required aria-required="true"></textarea>

  <button type="submit">Send message</button>
</form>

Form WITH WebMCP:

<form action="/send-mail" method="POST" toolname="contact_company" tooldescription="Use this form to send a message to the company.">
  
  <label for="name">Your name:</label>
  <input type="text" id="name" name="name" autocomplete="name" required aria-required="true" toolparamtitle="customer_name" toolparamdescription="The customer's full name">

  <label for="message">Your message:</label>
  <textarea id="message" name="message" required aria-required="true" toolparamtitle="message_text" toolparamdescription="The customer's message to the company"></textarea>

  <button type="submit">Send message</button>
</form>

As you can see, we’ve merely added a few specific words. It’s the equivalent of putting up a clear, digital sign saying: “Dear AI, put the customer’s message right here.”

Read my how-to guide for implementing the WebMCP with Declarative API

Track 2: The advanced integration (Imperative API)

If you have a webshop with large product catalogs or a website with dynamic calculators or forms to check available times in your calendar, you’ll need to use WebMCP’s JavaScript protocol instead.

If the simple HTML code is a sign on the door, the JavaScript protocol is a fully automatic receptionist. Here, the AI can interact dynamically with your system, search directly in your product catalog, and add items to the cart without the page needing to reload.

Technically, it’s a much more robust solution, and this is the architecture e-commerce systems and plugin developers are expected to build into their platforms in the coming period.

The downside? Building it from scratch requires developer hours and coding.

Why should you even care about this now?

When you have a tight budget and are already running fast, you have to pick your battles carefully. Here are three reasons why WebMCP should be on your to-do list:

• The SEO of the future (Agent Optimization): More and more people are asking their AI to solve tasks for them (e.g., “Find a local carpenter and ask for a quote on a shed”). If your site is “AI-Ready,” it is far more likely that the AI will choose and recommend your specific business because your site is the easiest to work with.
• Fewer obstacles for the customer: No one wants to fill out long forms on their mobile phones anymore. Let the customer’s AI do the typing flawlessly and lightning-fast, so you don’t lose the customer at the finish line.
• It’s easy to get started: With the Declarative API, you don’t need to hire an expensive agency to begin. Start small. Put the simple HTML codes into your most important forms first to catch the first big wave of AI-driven traffic without blowing the marketing budget. You can always upgrade to the comprehensive JavaScript model later.

FAQ about WebMCP