Walmart announced on October 21, 2026, a plan for AI shopping agents to use separate account profiles, with customer-set purchase approvals or spending limits. The company also outlined limits on agents’ access to payment and purchase-history information. Agent Profiles and the Walmart Agent Gateway are planned for a staged rollout, according to Walmart’s announcement.
What customers can control
Walmart says each authorized agent will have its own profile, letting customers view that agent’s purchases separately from their other orders. The planned controls cover when an agent can buy, how much it can spend and whether it can keep access to the account.
| Control | What Walmart says it means |
| Separate profile and orders | Each authorized agent gets a profile, with its purchases viewable separately from other account purchases. |
| Purchase approval | Customers can require approval for every purchase or allow purchases up to a spending limit. |
| Spending-limit examples | Walmart gives $50, $100 and $200 as examples, not as a complete range of available limits. |
| Additional approval | Walmart may require approval for a purchase even when it falls within the customer’s limit. |
| Remove or block access | Customers can delete an Agent Profile at any time; Walmart may block agents that violate its terms. |
A spending cap is not an automatic green light for every order: Walmart says it may still ask for approval within the limit. Separating an agent’s orders also gives customers a distinct view of that activity in their account.
What agents can access, and what stays with the shopper
Walmart says agents may access only information needed for a task and permitted by the customer. Its example is finding a customer’s usual items without sharing the person’s broader purchase history with the agent. Walmart’s terms also say agents do not receive payment-card details and cannot add or change payment methods.
Privacy responsibilities are split between the services involved. Walmart says the agent provider’s privacy policy governs information shared with its app, while Walmart handles information supplied by the agent under Walmart’s Privacy Notice. Customers remain responsible for purchases under Walmart’s returns process, including when an agent does not act as intended.
How the Gateway rollout is planned
Walmart said Agent Profiles were planned for the month after its October 21 announcement. The Walmart Agent Gateway is intended to provide agents with a faster, more reliable shopping route, and Walmart says it will begin with a beta for companies and developers. The announcement does not give a specific Gateway start date.
Walmart says a profile will be created when a customer first shops through the Gateway, then linked to the customer’s account after sign-in. The connection will use MCP, which Walmart calls “model text protocol.”
Amazon’s reported action involved Meta’s Muse
Amazon reportedly blocked Meta’s Muse from browsing and buying on Amazon. Amazon said Muse was not authorized to access customer accounts, scrape data or process transactions, and cited security and user-experience concerns. The reported action concerned Muse’s access to Amazon’s platform.
For background on Muse and Amazon, see NeoTeo’s earlier coverage.
