The Agent Gateway is an MCP server, built on the model context protocol, an open standard originally created by Anthropic that lets AI agents plug into external services. Walmart says it lets agents shop without the hiccups of navigating a browser, while keeping a customer's broader shopping history and personal information away from the agent. So if you regularly buy a particular brand of milk, the agent can find it without seeing everything else you buy.

Purchases made through an agent go into a dedicated Agent Profile, rolling out next month, which keeps the agent's transactions separate from your own. By default every agent purchase needs your approval, though you can instead set a spending limit, and profiles can be deleted at any time. No Walmart+ membership is required, and the system will cover Sam's Club as well.

Walmart has also published terms for agents: they must not act beyond what the shopper intends, cannot touch payment information, and only get the data needed for the task at hand. Non-compliant agents will be blocked. Notably, the retailer says its normal returns process applies even when an agent misbehaves, which should ease the worry of ending up stuck with unwanted goods.