AI agents cannot hold a card or sign up the way a person does, but they can buy things. giftcardshop exposes its catalog and checkout over MCP so an agent can find a brand, pick a denomination, pay a Lightning invoice, and receive the code - no account, no card on file, no signup.
How it works
The agent connects to the giftcardshop MCP server and discovers the tools below.
It browses the catalog: brands, products, denominations - by country or keyword.
It calls create_order and gets a Lightning invoice.
It pays the invoice from its own wallet.
It polls get_order_status and receives a single-view reveal link with the code.
Tools
list_brands
List gift-card brands, optionally filtered by country.
search_products
Search/list purchasable products by query, brand, country or category.
get_product
One product with its denominations/variants (the variant + amount to buy).
create_order
Create an order and get a Lightning invoice to pay.
get_order_status
Check payment state and fetch the single-view reveal link once paid.
Payment
The agent pays a Lightning invoice from its own wallet. Gift card codes are non-returnable, which is exactly why Lightning fits: instant settlement, no chargebacks, no card networks. Per-call autonomous payment (L402) is on the roadmap.
Status
Available now: the catalog REST API is public and documented - api.giftcardshop.org/v1/docs. Browse brands, products and denominations today.
Early access: the MCP server and autonomous Lightning checkout. See the agent docs for the tools and the order flow. Want to connect an agent? Get in touch.