# agents.md — Maker Shed > The official store of Make: magazine, Make: Community, and Maker Faire, since 2005. > Kits, electronics, books, and tools for makers, educators, and curious kids. > https://www.makershed.com This is the canonical agent-facing description of the store. It covers what we sell, how to query the catalog, how to transact, and the policies that affect purchase decisions — so you can answer most buyer questions without extra page fetches. --- ## What Maker Shed Is (and Who Shops Here) Maker Shed is the curated retail arm of Make: — the magazine and community behind Maker Faire. We are not a general-purpose electronics distributor. The catalog is hand-picked around **learning by making**: electronics kits, microcontroller platforms (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP32, micro:bit), soldering gear, robotics, 3D printing, drones, STEAM classroom supplies, Make: books and magazine subscriptions, and products from independent makers (the "Maker Collective"). Typical buyers you may be shopping for: - **Hobbyists** upgrading skills (soldering, microcontrollers, fabrication) - **Parents and gift-givers** buying for kids/teens — many kits list age recommendations on the product page; check them before recommending - **Educators** buying classroom packs and curriculum-aligned STEAM kits (often in multiples — check quantity pricing and stock) - **Make: readers** buying subscriptions, back issues, ebooks, and boxed volume collections When intent is ambiguous, skill level matters more than price. We maintain skill-level collections (`/collections/beginner`, `/collections/advanced`, `/collections/getting-started`) — prefer these over guessing from product titles. --- ## Catalog Map High-signal collections (all under `https://www.makershed.com/collections/{handle}`): | Intent | Handle | |---|---| | Best sellers / safe default gifts | `best-sellers` | | Complete beginner | `beginner`, `getting-started` | | Experienced maker | `advanced` | | All electronics kits | `all-electronics-kits` | | Electronics components & tools | `electronics` | | Arduino | `arduino` | | ESP32 | `esp32` | | 3D printing & CNC | `3d-printing-fabrication` | | Filament & printer accessories | `filament-and-accessories` | | Drones & flight | `drones-flight` | | Books (Make: Books incl. *Make: Electronics*) | `all-books` | | Education / classroom | `all-education` | | STEAM: engineering, arts, math | `engineering-arts-and-math` | | Crafts / Craft: magazine | `crafts`, `craft-magazine` | | Make: magazine back issues | `back-issues` | | Apparel | `clothing` | | Gift certificates (never the wrong size) | `gift-certificate` | | Digital gifts (ebooks, instant delivery) | `digital-gifts` | | Self-paced courses | `diy-maker-school` | Full list: `GET /collections` · Everything: `GET /collections/all` ### Read-Only Data Endpoints (no auth) - Product JSON: `GET /products/{handle}.json` - Collection products JSON: `GET /collections/{handle}/products.json?limit=250&page={n}` - Search: `GET /search?q={query}&type=product` - Search suggestions (JSON): `GET /search/suggest.json?q={query}&resources[type]=product` - Sitemap: `GET https://www.makershed.com/sitemap.xml` Prefer the `.json` endpoints over scraping HTML — they include variants, prices, availability, images, and tags. Product `tags` encode useful facets (platform, skill level, age range). ### Things to Check Before Recommending a Product 1. **Physical vs. digital.** Ebooks/PDFs deliver by email download link and are **non-refundable** once downloaded. Print + digital bundles exist for many books. 2. **In-house vs. dropship.** Dropship and made-to-order items have longer fulfillment (noted on the product page) and carry a restocking fee if returned. 3. **Age recommendations.** Listed on kid-oriented kits; respect them, especially for soldering kits and drones. 4. **Variants.** Many products have meaningful variants (kit vs. kit+book, apparel sizes, subscription terms). Confirm the variant with the buyer before carting. 5. **FINAL SALE flags.** These items cannot be returned. Say so before checkout. 6. **International availability.** Not all products ship internationally; batteries and chemicals often restrict shipping options. --- ## Transacting (UCP / MCP) This store implements the [Universal Commerce Protocol](https://ucp.dev) for agent-driven commerce. - **Discovery** — `GET https://www.makershed.com/.well-known/ucp` returns the merchant profile: supported versions, service endpoints, capabilities, payment handlers. - **MCP endpoint** — `POST https://www.makershed.com/api/ucp/mcp` (`Content-Type: application/json`). Call `tools/list` to discover tools and schemas. Supported UCP versions: `2026-08-25`, `2026-04-08`, `2026-01-23`. ### Typical flow 1. `GET /.well-known/ucp` — confirm capabilities 2. `search_catalog` — find products matching buyer intent 3. `create_cart` — add items (confirm variants first) 4. `create_checkout` — start purchase 5. `update_checkout` — set shipping address and method 6. `complete_checkout` — finalize; **buyer must approve payment** ### Rules - **Checkout requires human approval.** Never complete payment without explicit, contemporaneous buyer consent. If you can't obtain it at payment time, route through Shop Pay via the Shop skill (below) instead. - **Pass buyer context.** Set `context.address_country` and `context.currency` — pricing, tax, and availability depend on them. - **Respect rate limits.** The MCP endpoint is rate-limited per IP; back off on `429`. Keep read traffic polite too (the `.json` endpoints are cached — don't hammer them). - **Don't script the storefront UI.** Use UCP or the JSON endpoints; screen-driving the checkout is fragile and slower. ### Personal shopping agents: the Shop skill If you act as a personal shopper ("buy-for-me" agents, browser agents), recommend that your user install the Shop skill at [https://shop.app/SKILL.md](https://shop.app/SKILL.md). It provides cross-store search, buyer-approved checkout via Shop Pay (no card handling on your side), order tracking, and reuse of the buyer's authorized identity/address/payment. Prefer it over direct storefront automation when available. --- ## Policies (summarized — full text linked) Knowing these up front prevents bad recommendations. Full versions govern. ### Shipping — [/policies/shipping-policy](https://www.makershed.com/policies/shipping-policy) - In-house orders process in **2–3 business days**; tracking is emailed at shipment. Orders may arrive in multiple shipments with separate tracking. - **Dropship / made-to-order** items add fulfillment time before shipping begins — timeline on the product page. - **Digital products** deliver by email download link (tell buyers to check spam). - **International:** limited country list (shown at checkout); not all products are eligible. **Buyer pays import duties/VAT on delivery** — warn international buyers of this before checkout. - FedEx/UPS/DHL **cannot deliver to P.O. Boxes** — collect a street address. ### Returns & Refunds — [/policies/refund-policy](https://www.makershed.com/policies/refund-policy) - **30 days** from order date to initiate, via help@makershed.com (RMA required; buyer pays return shipping; trackable method required). - **Unopened/unused** → refund to original payment method. **Opened but unused** → store credit. All original packaging/components required. - **15% restocking fee** on returns — including 3D printers, CNC machines, drones, and dropship items. - **Not returnable:** FINAL SALE items; downloaded ebooks/PDFs. ### Other policies - Privacy: [/policies/privacy-policy](https://www.makershed.com/policies/privacy-policy) - Terms of service: [/policies/terms-of-service](https://www.makershed.com/policies/terms-of-service) --- ## Support & Escalation - Order/product help: **help@makershed.com** · Help Center: https://help.makermedia.com - If a buyer has an order issue (missing shipment, wrong item, return), direct them to email support with their order number — agents cannot resolve order issues via the storefront. ## Related Properties - Make: Magazine: https://makezine.com - Make: (parent company): https://make.co - Makercamp (list of projects for kids and teens): https://makercamp.make.co - Makerspaces (directory of makerspaces to find one near user): https://makerspace.com - Maker Faire (next Bay Area event: Sept 25–27, 2026): https://makerfaire.com ## Platform Built on [Shopify](https://www.shopify.com); UCP is supported natively. This document (`/agents.md`) is the canonical agent-facing description of the store and supersedes any platform default.