Your AI built a WooCommerce shop. Here's what to check before the first real order
Disclosure: I build ShipPress, the Mac app in the example near the end. The checks work on any WooCommerce site your AI agent touched, with or without it. I asked an AI agent to switch a demo shop to Japanese yen and put a copper pan on sale. It did both and gave me a neat table of the new prices. Then I opened the Shop page and every card still showed the old euro prices. Nothing was broken. The…
When an AI agent builds a WooCommerce shop, there are several crucial checks to ensure the store operates correctly. The first step is to verify if the product cards are live or just static text. Starter themes and AI-generated pages often display a product grid, but it's actually plain content until a live product list is integrated.
To confirm, change one price in WooCommerce and reload the page. If the price remains unchanged, the cards are text-based. Alternatively, search the page content for hard-coded prices using commands like `wp post list --post_type=page --fields=ID,post_title wp post get 12 --field=post_content | grep -nE €|£|¥|\$ [0-9]`. If prices are found, replace the section with a block that pulls data directly from the store, such as the "Product Collection" block.
Next, ensure the currency has changed across the entire store. Changing the WooCommerce currency setting (`wp option update woocommerce_currency JPY`) only switches the display currency; it doesn't convert existing prices. After setting the new currency, confirm the decimal places (e.g., 0 for yen) in the WooCommerce settings.
Agents are efficient at bulk edits, but it's essential to manually verify the results. Check that sale prices are lower than regular prices, stock levels are correctly managed, new products are published rather than drafts, and each product has the appropriate category and image.
Another critical aspect is ensuring a payment method is enabled. A fresh WooCommerce installation starts with no payment gateways active, which can lead to checkout errors. Use the command `wp wc payment_gateway list --user=1 --fields=id,title,enabled` to list active payment methods and `wp wc payment_gateway update cod --enabled=true --user=1` to enable cash on delivery as a test option. Before going live, configure your real payment gateway in sandbox mode.
Finally, place a test order to verify the entire process works end-to-end. Add items to the cart, check the total uses the correct sale price, complete the checkout process, and confirm the order appears in WooCommerce → Orders with the right total and status. If you have email notifications set up, verify these emails are received as well. Remember, a WooCommerce shop requires a live WordPress host with PHP and a database to function correctly, unlike a static copy.
For those looking to streamline this process, ShipPress offers a free Mac app that lets you use your AI coding tool (like Claude Code or Codex) to build a real WordPress site directly on your Mac. You can install WooCommerce with sample products, modify them using AI, and then transition to live hosting. More information and the full workflow are available at [ShipPress](https://shippress.codotx.com/docs-woocommerce-store?ref=devto-en).
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
