General E-commerce Store Agent

Help shoppers browse products, check stock, place orders, and get post-purchase support — all through WhatsApp, web chat, or Facebook Messenger.

DifficultyBeginner

TrackBuilder Track

ChannelsWhatsAppWeb ChatFacebook Messenger

IntegrationsProduct cataloguePayment gateway (optional)

What you'll build

An agent that handles the full shopper journey: browsing products, checking availability, placing orders, and resolving post-purchase questions across WhatsApp, web chat, and Messenger.

Prerequisites

BimpeAI account with an API key (sk_…)
Read Anatomy of a workflow agent first — this recipe skips steps covered there
A product catalogue you can paste as text or expose at a URL

Steps

1. Find the workflow

Search the public library for an e-commerce workflow.

import { BimpeAI } from "@bimpeai/sdk";

const bimpe = new BimpeAI({ apiKey: process.env.BIMPEAI_API_KEY! });

const page = await bimpe.workflows.list({ scope: "public", search: "ecommerce" });
const workflow = page.data[0];
console.log(workflow.id, workflow.name);

import os
from bimpeai import BimpeAI

client = BimpeAI(api_key=os.environ["BIMPEAI_API_KEY"])

page = client.workflows.list(scope="public", search="ecommerce")
workflow = page.data[0]
print(workflow.id, workflow.name)

2. Create the agent

const agent = await bimpe.agents.create(
  {
    name: "Store assistant",
    system_prompt:
      "You help shoppers browse products, check stock, place orders, and resolve post-purchase questions. Always confirm item availability before confirming an order.",
    agent_workflow_id: workflow.id,
  },
  { idempotencyKey: "create-store-agent-v1" },
);

console.log(agent.id);

agent = client.agents.create(
    name="Store assistant",
    system_prompt=(
        "You help shoppers browse products, check stock, place orders, and resolve "
        "post-purchase questions. Always confirm item availability before confirming an order."
    ),
    agent_workflow_id=workflow.id,
    idempotency_key="create-store-agent-v1",
)

print(agent.id)

3. Add knowledge bases

Add your product catalogue. Use a text source for a static list or a url source if you have a live catalogue endpoint.

// Static catalogue
await bimpe.agents.knowledgeBases.create(agent.id, {
  type: "text",
  name: "Product catalogue",
  content: `
    SKU001 | Blue running shoes | £65 | In stock: 42
    SKU002 | White trainers | £55 | In stock: 18
    SKU003 | Black yoga mat | £30 | In stock: 5
  `,
});

// Or a live endpoint
// await bimpe.agents.knowledgeBases.create(agent.id, {
//   type: "url",
//   name: "Product catalogue",
//   url: "https://yourstore.com/catalogue.json",
// });

# Static catalogue
client.agents.knowledge_bases.create(agent.id, {
    "type": "text",
    "name": "Product catalogue",
    "content": (
        "SKU001 | Blue running shoes | £65 | In stock: 42\n"
        "SKU002 | White trainers | £55 | In stock: 18\n"
        "SKU003 | Black yoga mat | £30 | In stock: 5"
    ),
})

# Or a live endpoint
# client.agents.knowledge_bases.create(agent.id, {
#     "type": "url",
#     "name": "Product catalogue",
#     "url": "https://yourstore.com/catalogue.json",
# })

4. Connect channels and integrations (dashboard)

Channels and integrations are dashboard-only

The API cannot create channel connections or integrations. Connect them in the Console dashboard and use the SDK to list what is active.

Open Console dashboard → Agents → select your agent.
Go to Channels → connect your WhatsApp Business number.
Go to Channels → add the web chat widget and copy the embed snippet.
Go to Channels → connect your Facebook Messenger page.
(Optional) Go to Integrations → connect your payment gateway.

5. Go live

Once channels are connected, conversations arrive automatically. Verify what is active:

const channels = await bimpe.agents.channels.list(agent.id);
console.log("Active channels:", channels.map((c) => c.type));

channels = client.agents.channels.list(agent.id)
print("Active channels:", [c.type for c in channels])

Full example

import { BimpeAI } from "@bimpeai/sdk";

const bimpe = new BimpeAI({ apiKey: process.env.BIMPEAI_API_KEY! });

// 1. Find workflow
const page = await bimpe.workflows.list({ scope: "public", search: "ecommerce" });
const workflow = page.data[0];

// 2. Create agent
const agent = await bimpe.agents.create(
  {
    name: "Store assistant",
    system_prompt:
      "You help shoppers browse products, check stock, place orders, and resolve post-purchase questions.",
    agent_workflow_id: workflow.id,
  },
  { idempotencyKey: "create-store-agent-v1" },
);

// 3. Add product catalogue
await bimpe.agents.knowledgeBases.create(agent.id, {
  type: "text",
  name: "Product catalogue",
  content: `
    SKU001 | Blue running shoes | £65 | In stock: 42
    SKU002 | White trainers | £55 | In stock: 18
    SKU003 | Black yoga mat | £30 | In stock: 5
  `,
});

// 4. Verify connected channels (configured in the dashboard)
const channels = await bimpe.agents.channels.list(agent.id);
console.log("Channels:", channels.map((c) => c.type));

console.log("Agent ready:", agent.id);

import os
from bimpeai import BimpeAI

client = BimpeAI(api_key=os.environ["BIMPEAI_API_KEY"])

# 1. Find workflow
page = client.workflows.list(scope="public", search="ecommerce")
workflow = page.data[0]

# 2. Create agent
agent = client.agents.create(
    name="Store assistant",
    system_prompt=(
        "You help shoppers browse products, check stock, place orders, "
        "and resolve post-purchase questions."
    ),
    agent_workflow_id=workflow.id,
    idempotency_key="create-store-agent-v1",
)

# 3. Add product catalogue
client.agents.knowledge_bases.create(agent.id, {
    "type": "text",
    "name": "Product catalogue",
    "content": (
        "SKU001 | Blue running shoes | £65 | In stock: 42\n"
        "SKU002 | White trainers | £55 | In stock: 18\n"
        "SKU003 | Black yoga mat | £30 | In stock: 5"
    ),
})

# 4. Verify connected channels (configured in the dashboard)
channels = client.agents.channels.list(agent.id)
print("Channels:", [c.type for c in channels])

print("Agent ready:", agent.id)

Store your API key in BIMPEAI_API_KEY and run the setup script once during deployment. The idempotencyKey prevents duplicate agents if the script runs twice. After go-live, list active conversations by channel (whatsapp, webchat, messenger) to monitor volume and feed into your order dashboard.

Variations

Add a returns policy knowledge base entry so the agent can answer refund questions without escalation.
Connect a payment gateway in the dashboard Integrations tab to enable in-conversation checkout.
Scope the agent to a single product category by narrowing the catalogue content and adding a category constraint to system_prompt.