# WooCommerce: how to read it into Maplith

*Web shop · also known as Woo, WooCommerce on WordPress · last checked 2026-10-08 · recipe `maplith://systems/woocommerce`*

The WordPress web shop's orders, order lines, products with SKUs, refunds and customers, which tie the shop to payments, accounting and shipping.

## Best path

**Recommended: export files.** No WooCommerce connector in Claude or ChatGPT is confirmed, and WooCommerce's own MCP integration is a developer preview that is off by default and also has write tools. The built-in product export and the Analytics report downloads are the safest start; a REST API key with Read permission covers what the exports leave out.

Try the paths in this order (ADR-0031):

1. **Your agent fetches it**, with the access your human already gave you. No named client connector confirmed: check the tools you already have. The agent checks whether it already has a tool that can read this WooCommerce store, read-only, and if so fetches the order, product and customer fields for a few recent months.
2. **Maplith reads an MCP server your human already has.** Official: **WooCommerce MCP integration (WordPress MCP adapter)**. Endpoint: not given here; it comes from the vendor's own setup instructions. Documentation (a page to read, not an address to connect to): https://developer.woocommerce.com/docs/features/mcp/. Access: A developer turns the server on and creates an Application Password for a WordPress user under Users > Profile, choosing a user with as few rights as possible, because each tool runs with that user's permissions. The user name and that password go into the client your human connects to the server, never into a chat. It is a developer preview that must be switched on by a developer, it runs on the store's own WordPress site, and it includes tools that create, update and delete products and change order status, so only the query tools should be used. WooCommerce says not to use a REST API key or the account password for it. Maplith cannot read this server: it offers tools or a personal sign-in to an agent, not resources Maplith reads. Maplith reads only a server that serves MCP resources and takes a token a person types under Data sources › Systems in the Maplith app, such as the customer-run template for a database (ADR-0028). Your human can connect this server to you instead, as path 1.
3. **Export files**, the fallback that always works: see *Export steps* below.

## Datasets that make a good map

| Dataset | One row is | Key columns | Joins to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orders | One order with its status, totals, payment method and billing details. | order id, order number, customer id, billing email (Maplith tries to mask it), payment method, transaction id, status, created date | Stripe or PayPal payments by transaction id; accounting invoices and shipping labels by order number. |
| Order lines | One product line on an order with quantity and line total. | order id, product id, variation id, SKU, quantity | Products by product id or SKU; warehouse and logistics stock by SKU. |
| Products and variations | One product or variation with its SKU, price, stock and categories. | product id, SKU, parent (ID or SKU), type, stock | Order lines by product id or SKU; warehouse stock and ad product feeds by SKU. |
| Customers | One registered customer or guest buyer with order count and total spend. | customer id, customer email (Maplith tries to mask it), order count, total spend, registration date | Email marketing and CRM contacts by customer email; guest orders link only by billing email. |
| Refunds | One refund on an order with amount and reason. | refund id, order id, amount, created date | Payment provider refunds by transaction id of the order; credit notes in accounting by order number. |

Columns are named, never their values. Maplith tries to mask personal data such as email addresses, but that is best effort: your human decides what goes in.

## Read-only access

**Who usually has the rights:** The site owner or a WordPress administrator.

**For the key your own agent's client uses, choose only these read permissions:** `Permissions: Read`

**Where to click:**

1. In WordPress, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > REST API
2. Click Create an API key (or Add key)
3. Type a description and choose the user the key belongs to
4. Under Permissions, choose Read
5. Click Generate API Key and copy the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret, which are shown only once

A key or token made here stays in the tool that reads the system for your human, never in a chat. Maplith asks for one only under Data sources › Systems in the app, and only for an MCP server it can read.

## Export steps

**Format:** CSV · **Date range:** The last three months of orders; all products

1. Go to Products > All Products and click Export
2. Keep Export all columns, then click Generate CSV to download the products file
3. Go to WooCommerce > Analytics > Orders and set the date range to the last three months
4. Click Download at the top right of the table; a large report is emailed to you as a download link
5. If your version shows a Download link on WooCommerce > Customers, download that table the same way

## Volume hint

**About 100–2,000 orders a month** (an estimate). Estimate for a small company, not a measured figure: a small WordPress shop takes a handful to several dozen orders a day.

Every row an agent reads passes through its context, about one token per four characters. Above a few thousand rows a dataset, or for a daily refresh, prefer an MCP server or an export over fetching through the chat.

## Always

- Read-only, and never a credential sent to Maplith through the chat.
- The same recent period, a few months, from every system.
- Your human decides what goes in.

## Sources

Written from the vendor's public documentation, last checked 2026-10-08:

- https://developer.woocommerce.com/docs/features/mcp/
- https://woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-rest-api/
- https://woocommerce.com/document/product-csv-importer-exporter/
- https://woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-analytics/
- https://woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-analytics/customers-report/