Ilya Grigorik

Distinguished Engineer, @Shopify. On a mission to make commerce better for everyone.

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@tobi and I sat down to talk UCP and the art of protocol design. A couple of themes worth expanding on...

The hard part of good protocol design isn't the spec. It's the deep understanding of the problem you're solving and the humility to approach it at the right level. Commerce is infinitely complex and always evolving; it's hubris to pretend anyone can 'spec commerce'.

But wait — isn't UCP trying to do exactly that?

No, UCP doesn't 'spec commerce'. It models the rules of the bazaar that make commerce possible. The job of UCP is to build the boring parts: the small core of common and composable primitives, and the discovery and negotiation mechanisms that everything else runs on. Done right, this lets commerce thrive in the open, with merchants, agents, and buyers deciding what is advertised, supported, and adopted, not by fiat from a protocol committee. This is UCP. 👇🏻🧵

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@fnthawar Shhh, keep it quiet... One of N hell-yeah reasons to take the Shopify offer. Worst kept secret, and a great closer every time...

"Wait, you mean I can self direct my comp allocation and adjust on the fly? ... Yep... 🤯"

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@mir_nomer_nol Auto-decline all meetings. Make them fight for it.

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

AI made protecting maker time 10x more important.

Maker time was always about protecting wetware context. What changed is the magnitude: we can now take on problems with *much* larger scope, complexity, and moving parts. The context window has to carry more problem state, more connections, and more nuance than ever before.

A "quick sync" doesn’t just take 15 minutes; it evicts the cache... and our wetware has no instant snapshot restore; unlike silicon, we refill context at glacial speed.

Protect your 🧠 wetware cache / context window!

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@mcfazeli

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@rohitiwnl @tobi Fair feedback. All the in-spec examples should be correct and up to date. SDKs/samples need to catch up, I'll do a sweep with the team.

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@tobi and I sat down to talk UCP and the art of protocol design. A couple of themes worth expanding on...

The hard part of good protocol design isn't the spec. It's the deep understanding of the problem you're solving and the humility to approach it at the right level. Commerce is infinitely complex and always evolving; it's hubris to pretend anyone can 'spec commerce'.

But wait — isn't UCP trying to do exactly that?

No, UCP doesn't 'spec commerce'. It models the rules of the bazaar that make commerce possible. The job of UCP is to build the boring parts: the small core of common and composable primitives, and the discovery and negotiation mechanisms that everything else runs on. Done right, this lets commerce thrive in the open, with merchants, agents, and buyers deciding what is advertised, supported, and adopted, not by fiat from a protocol committee. This is UCP. 👇🏻🧵

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

https://t.co/Kyqq6Wu7Mn

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

https://t.co/pp0ijCqVmj

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

The beauty of the bazaar, once you get past the initial chaos, is the vibrancy and energy within. A thriving bazaar is merchants and customers choosing, day after day, to engage on its open terms. Every choice evolves it. Never static, never finished.

UCP is the bazaar. Come build with us:

• UCP Spec: https://t.co/mXQcRjiK9l
• Shopify Dev Docs: https://t.co/EHeQd5An12
• UCP CLI + skill: https://t.co/yeyjqjeitG

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@dale_neufeld Hmm, you're right, it's set too low on global catalog. Storefront cap is 250 (when you pass in --business target). We'll raise it... 🏗️

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

https://t.co/pp0ijCqVmj

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@mcfazeli @ecom_scaler You can change page size to increase the result set, and follow the cursor to traverse deeper!

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@SammyIsseyegh Fingers crossed, think this should fix it: https://t.co/EeS6F1UHEV

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@SammyIsseyegh That's odd. What does `ucp doctor` return? Ask your agent to debug it ;)

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@Principal_ADE Absolutely. No reason it can't or won't evolve and learn.. rivers shape their own paths and remodel continents.

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

River is a transformative AI unlock @ Shopify.

A perfect name too: life sustaining artery delivering nutrients (fixes, context, PRs), shaping shared context landscape, ..., enabling efficient knowledge transport.

[tobi lutke @tobi]

https://t.co/5MJ7u1VHwf

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@atomz_ai Different. Dreaming is synthesis and consolidation. River is an active and interactive partner for the dev.. and as Tobi highlights, engaging in public context.

[tobi lutke @tobi]

https://t.co/5MJ7u1VHwf

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@tamir_eden @Shopify Yup. You can search catalog of individual merchant, or across via global catalog.

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

Standards are words and talk is cheap. A standard's success is measured by adoption, which is earned by solving right problems, with the right primitives, and running code.

Universal Commerce Protocol has been a rocket ship. We chiseled it out of decades of shared experience running the world's largest commerce and consumer platforms, and it struck a chord, pulling contributors and adoption from across the agentic ecosystem. Case in point, the 04-08 release packed a punch. We landed support for: catalog for product discovery, cart building, post-order operations, context & intent for personalization, trust signals, and eligibility claims.

Today the 🚀 trajectory accelerates. We're welcoming @amazon, @Meta, @Microsoft, @salesforce, and @stripe to the UCP Tech Council 🎉, working alongside @Google, @Shopify, @Etsy, @Target, and @Wayfair. Combined, these platforms touch billions of users, millions of merchants, and trillions of dollars in annual transactions — all rallying behind UCP as the one open protocol for the agentic era.

Tech Council update: https://t.co/zBQpj2sdmW

[Ilya Grigorik @igrigorik]

@hunkybill All the gory details are on public display on GitHub. I think you'll find it shockingly collaborative and constructive -- truth seeking best design for each domain.