AI Agent Setup

This works through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server — a structured endpoint that our docs site exposes for AI tools to search and reference. Once connected, your AI tool can answer questions like “How does the BigCommerce checkout API work?” by pulling directly from the docs.

https://docs.bigcommerce.com/_mcp/server

We recommend bigcommerce-docs as the server name across tools for consistency.

For schema-aware workflows, you can also download BigCommerce OpenAPI Specifications and add them to tools that import OpenAPI files.

Quick install for Cursor and Claude Code

Click the Copy page dropdown in the upper right of any docs page and select Connect to Cursor or Connect to Claude Code to install the MCP server with one click — no manual setup needed.

For other agents — or if you prefer manual setup — pick your agent below.

Pick your agent

Claude Code

Terminal — Anthropic’s coding agent.

Codex

Terminal — OpenAI’s coding agent.

Cursor

IDE — AI-first VS Code fork.

Claude Desktop

Desktop — general Q&A about the BigCommerce platform.

Setup your agent Claude Code

Run this in any project to add the docs server for that project:

claude mcp add --transport http bigcommerce-docs https://docs.bigcommerce.com/_mcp/server

To enable it for all projects, add --scope user:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user bigcommerce-docs https://docs.bigcommerce.com/_mcp/server

Codex

Run this in your terminal to add the docs server:

codex mcp add bigcommerce-docs --url https://docs.bigcommerce.com/_mcp/server

Confirm it appears with codex mcp list, then use /mcp inside the Codex TUI to check its status.

Cursor

In recent Cursor versions, the Settings → Tools & MCPs → New MCP Server button opens mcp.json for direct editing rather than a Name/URL form. Add the BigCommerce docs server entry to either:

• .cursor/mcp.json in your project root (project-scoped), or
• ~/.cursor/mcp.json in your home directory (available in every project)

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bigcommerce-docs": {
      "name": "bigcommerce-docs",
      "url": "https://docs.bigcommerce.com/_mcp/server",
      "headers": {}
    }
  }
}

Save the file — Cursor picks the new server up automatically.

Claude Desktop

Node.js must be installed for npx to work.

1

Locate and open the config file

In Claude Desktop, go to Settings > Developer > Edit Config — this reveals claude_desktop_config.json in Finder (macOS) or Explorer (Windows). Open that file in VS Code, Cursor, or any text editor.

2

Add the BigCommerce docs server

Add the following to the mcpServers section:

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bigcommerce-docs": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://docs.bigcommerce.com/_mcp/server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

3

Restart Claude Desktop

Fully restart Claude Desktop — quit and reopen, not just close the window.

Verify it’s working

Once you’ve connected, try asking your AI tool:

• “What MCP tools do you have available?” — you should see tools from the BigCommerce docs server.
• “Search the BigCommerce docs for webhooks.” — if it returns results pulled from the docs, you’re set.