# Piste FAQ: answers for Shopify merchants

> What merchants and app reviewers ask most about Piste, from what it costs to what it reads, what it changes in your store, who can use it and how to leave.

Source: https://www.usepiste.com/docs/faq

Piste is an AI agent for Shopify merchants. It answers from your live store data on the web, in Slack and over iMessage, runs automations, and asks a person before it changes anything in your store. Each answer below is short and links to the page that covers it in full.

## What is Piste?

Piste is one agent per workspace that answers questions about your store (sales, orders, products, stock, discounts) from Shopify's live data. It also runs [automations](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/automations) on a schedule and hands longer work to a coder that runs as a [job](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/jobs). A change to your store, an ad account or a connected app waits for a person, with the two exceptions below. See [How Piste works](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/how-piste-works).

## Who is Piste for?

Shopify merchants and the teams who run their stores. The owner signs up on the web and connects the store. Anyone who's a full member of the Slack workspace where Piste is installed can then ask Piste questions in Slack, without a Piste account of their own. See [Team and roles](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/team).

## How much does Piste cost?

Piste's sign-up page reads "First 30 days free, with no contract". See [Usage and billing](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/usage).

## How do I get started?

Sign up at https://app.usepiste.com/sign-up. Setup has three steps: tell Piste your name and your store's name, connect your Shopify store, then choose where to reach Piste: Slack, iMessage or just the web. The setup page says it's ready in about three minutes.

If you add Slack during setup, Piste messages you in Slack within about a minute, starting with what it found in your store. If you installed Piste in Shopify first, open it from your Shopify admin and choose `Connect to your Piste workspace`. See the [Quickstart](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/quickstart).

## Do I need Slack to use Piste?

No. The setup page says "Piste on the web always works." The owner can add [Slack](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack) or [iMessage](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/imessage) at any time on the Connections page, one of the small links at the foot of the web app's sidebar. See [Web app](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/web-app).

## What data does Piste read and store?

When you install it, Piste asks Shopify only to read your orders (the last 60 days), products, inventory, discounts, locations and marketing events. Each extra permission, such as reading sales reports or changing prices, is a separate button on Piste's page in your Shopify admin, and you grant only the ones you want.

Piste reads your store live. It doesn't import your orders and keeps no records of your customers. It stores your conversations, automations, [memory](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/memory), each variant's price (so it can notice a price change), and the [decision log](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/decision-log). Every token it keeps is encrypted with AES-256-GCM and bound to its own record. See [Security and privacy](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/security) and [Shopify](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/shopify).

## Is my data used to train AI models?

No. Piste's [privacy policy](https://www.usepiste.com/privacy) says: "We do not use data from your Shopify store, your ad accounts or your Google account to train AI models." It also says: "The content of a conversation, and the data the agent reads to answer it, is sent to the model provider to generate the reply. We use these providers under terms that do not allow them to train their models on it." See [Security and privacy](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/security).

## What can Piste change in my store, and how do I undo it?

Piste changes your products, discounts and orders only as a [store edit](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/store-edits) that a person applies from a card:

| Store edit | How it's undone |
|---|---|
| Limit a code discount to one use per customer, or set or remove a discount's end date | `Undo` |
| Change a variant's price or compare-at price, by at most 50% either way | `Undo` |
| Mark down a product that hasn't sold in 60 days | `Undo` |
| Raise a steady best seller's price by 5% for 14 days, as a price probe | `End it now`, or it ends by itself |
| Take orders past zero for a variant about to sell out (the owner only) | `Undo` |
| Hold a risky order's fulfilment | `Release it` |

A store edit nobody decides goes out of date after 7 days, or 24 hours for an order hold. Each kind needs Shopify's permission first, which you grant from Piste's page in your Shopify admin. Store edits have been tested only against a simulated Shopify store, not yet in a live one.

Piste also publishes landing content for its theme blocks on your storefront, once the owner or the person who asked approves it in a conversation. See [Shopify](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/shopify).

## Does Piste change anything without asking?

Not in your store, your ad accounts or your connected apps. Piste reads without asking, and every change waits for a person: a card's button, or an approval in a conversation. There are two exceptions:

- When a [price probe](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/store-edits) someone started comes to its end, Piste puts the price back to exactly what it replaced, and only if nobody has changed it since.
- The owner can switch on a [standing approval](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/standing-approvals) (early access) for one kind of change: exact-match negative keywords on a Google Ads campaign.

A few small things run without asking: a change only inside Piste itself, such as saving a memory or creating an automation the owner asked for; a paid [data tools](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/data-tools) call of $0.50 or less, within your allowance; and a call to an [MCP server](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/mcp-servers) you added that's judged to only read or make a small change that can be reversed. Each of these decisions, with why it ran without asking, is in the [decision log](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/decision-log) on the Activity page. See [Approvals](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals).

## What does Piste do on its own?

It runs [automations](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/automations): standing instructions such as a morning sales briefing, a weekly trading report or a stock watch, on a schedule or when something happens in your store, such as a big order. Each run posts what it found to Slack, iMessage or the web. A run never waits for an approval. A change it wants becomes a [proposal](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/proposals) on a card, and a person decides it. The one store change a run makes itself is putting a price probe's price back when the probe ends. See [Templates](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/automations/templates).

## Who on my team can use Piste?

| Who | How they use Piste |
|---|---|
| The owner | Signs in on the web, and can use Slack and iMessage too |
| Your team | Any full member of the Slack workspace where Piste is installed can DM or mention it, with no Piste account |
| Slack guests, deactivated accounts, people from other organisations | Can't talk to Piste |

Only the owner changes connections and automations, runs coder jobs and reads the decision log on the Activity page. Someone else who signs up on the web gets a workspace of their own. See [Team and roles](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/team).

## Who can approve a change?

- **In a conversation:** the workspace owner, or the person who started that conversation.
- **A card under an automation's post:** any full member of the Slack workspace where Piste is installed. Guests can't.
- **A card raised in a conversation:** the owner alone.
- **Switching on a pre-order, creating a Gmail draft, and standing approvals (early access):** the owner alone, wherever the card is.

See [Approvals](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals) and [Proposals and cards](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/proposals).

## Should I use Piste on the web, in Slack or over iMessage?

It's the same Piste everywhere, with one memory for the workspace.

| Where | Best for |
|---|---|
| [Web app](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/web-app) | Always on. Home, your chats, Needs you and your connections. Most approvals and cards can be decided here. |
| [Slack](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack) | Your team. Automations post in channels, and anyone who's a full member can decide their cards |
| [iMessage](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/imessage) | The owner, texting from their phone. Approvals open in the web app, and changes wait in Needs you |

## Can I connect more than one Shopify store?

Yes. On the Connections page, press `Add another store` and connect it. Each store can belong to one Piste workspace. A report covers every store, each on its own days and in its own currency, with a total only when every store sells in the same currency; Piste never converts currencies. For a lookup or a change, Piste asks which store you mean. See [Several stores](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/shopify/several-stores).

## Does Piste work with Google Ads and Meta?

Google Ads and Meta connections are in early access and aren't available to every workspace yet. Where they are, Piste reads each campaign's daily spend and results, checks the account against your Shopify orders, and proposes [ad changes](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/ad-changes) it can undo, which a person applies from a card. See [Google Ads and Meta](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/google-ads-and-meta).

## Can I use Piste from ChatGPT or Claude?

Yes. Copy the MCP server URL, https://app.usepiste.com/mcp, from the Connections page, under Assistants. Add it as a custom connector in Claude, or as a connector in ChatGPT, then sign in with your Piste account.

The assistant reads your workspace's ad measurement, can start a study and can propose a budget change that waits for approval in Piste. It can't approve or change anything. It needs a Google Ads or Meta account (early access), so until one is connected it has nothing to measure. See [ChatGPT and Claude](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/chatgpt-and-claude).

## How do I uninstall Piste?

| What | How |
|---|---|
| A Shopify store | Uninstall Piste from your Shopify admin. Piste has no Disconnect button for Shopify. |
| Slack | `Disconnect` on the Connections page, or remove the app in Slack |
| iMessage | `Disconnect` on the Connections page |
| A connected app | `Disconnect` on the Apps page |

When you uninstall from Shopify, Piste clears the store's tokens at once and the store leaves your workspace. Shopify asks for the store's data to be erased 48 hours later, and Piste then deletes the store's record, unless you've installed Piste again. Disconnecting Slack removes Piste from that Slack workspace, and everyone there stops reaching it. See [Shopify](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/shopify) and [Security and privacy](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/security).

## How do I delete my data?

There's no delete button for your account in the app. Email support@usepiste.com from the address on your account. Piste's privacy policy says it deletes your workspace's data within 30 days, except where the law requires it to keep something.

You can also delete entries on the Memory page yourself, and ask Piste to delete a [report page](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/report-pages). Deleting a chat removes it from your chats, but doesn't erase the conversation's history. See [Security and privacy](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/security).

## How do I contact support?

Email support@usepiste.com. For a request about your account or your data, write from the address on your account. When something goes wrong in the app, [Troubleshooting](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/troubleshooting) lists each message Piste shows and what to do.

## Questions

### What is Piste?

Piste is an AI agent for Shopify merchants. It answers questions from your live store data on the web, in Slack and over iMessage, runs automations, and hands longer work to a coder that runs as a job. A change to your store waits for a person to approve it.

### Who is Piste for?

Shopify merchants and the teams who run their stores. The owner sets Piste up on the web, and anyone who's a full member of the Slack workspace where Piste is installed can then ask it questions in Slack.

### How much does Piste cost?

Piste's sign-up page reads "First 30 days free, with no contract".

### How do I get started with Piste?

Sign up at app.usepiste.com, connect your Shopify store, then choose whether to reach Piste in Slack, over iMessage or only on the web. Setup takes about three minutes, and if you add Slack during setup, Piste messages you there within about a minute.

### Do I need Slack to use Piste?

No. Piste on the web always works, and the owner can add Slack or iMessage later on the Connections page of the web app.

### What data does Piste read and store?

Piste reads your Shopify store live through Shopify's Admin API. It doesn't import your orders and keeps no records of your customers. It stores your conversations, automations, memory and a log of its decisions, and encrypts every token it keeps with AES-256-GCM.

### Does Piste use my data to train AI models?

No. Piste's privacy policy says "We do not use data from your Shopify store, your ad accounts or your Google account to train AI models." Of the AI model providers it uses, it says "We use these providers under terms that do not allow them to train their models on it."

### What can Piste change in my Shopify store?

Only what a person approves. Store edits are applied from a card, such as a discount's limit or end date, a price, a clearance markdown, a price probe, a pre-order or a hold on a risky order, and each can be undone. Landing content for Piste's theme blocks is published after an approval in a conversation. Each kind of change needs your Shopify permission first.

### Does Piste change anything without asking?

Not in your store, your ad accounts or your connected apps, with two exceptions. When a price probe someone started comes to its end, Piste puts the price back to exactly what it was, and the owner can give a standing approval for one kind of Google Ads change, which is in early access.

### What does Piste do on its own?

It runs automations, such as a morning sales briefing or a stock watch, on a schedule or when something happens in your store, and posts what it finds to Slack, iMessage or the web. A change a run wants waits on a card for a person to decide. The one store change a run makes itself is putting a price probe's price back when the probe ends.

### Who on my team can use Piste?

The owner signs in on the web. Anyone who's a full member of the Slack workspace where Piste is installed can message it in Slack without a Piste account, but Slack guests and people from other organisations can't.

### Who can approve a change Piste proposes?

In a conversation, the workspace owner or the person who started it. A card under an automation's post can be decided by any full member of your Slack workspace, while cards raised in a conversation, pre-orders and Gmail drafts are the owner's alone.

### Should I use Piste on the web, in Slack or over iMessage?

It's the same Piste, with the same memory, everywhere. The web app always works and holds Needs you and your connections, Slack is where your team can use it and decide changes from cards, and iMessage lets the owner text it, with approvals opening in the web app.

### Can I connect more than one Shopify store?

Yes. Add each store on the Connections page in the web app, with Add another store. Piste reports each store in its own currency, gives a total only when every store sells in the same currency, and never converts between currencies.

### Does Piste work with Google Ads and Meta?

Google Ads and Meta connections are in early access and aren't available to every workspace yet. Where they are, Piste reads each campaign's daily spend and proposes ad changes it can undo, which a person applies from a card.

### Can I use Piste from ChatGPT or Claude?

Yes, by adding Piste's MCP server, https://app.usepiste.com/mcp, as a connector and signing in with your Piste account. It reads your ad measurement, so it needs a Google Ads or Meta account, which is in early access, and it can't approve or change anything.

### How do I uninstall Piste?

Uninstall Piste from your Shopify admin to disconnect a store. Slack and iMessage each have a Disconnect button on the Connections page, and apps on the Apps page. When you uninstall from Shopify, Piste clears the store's tokens at once and deletes the store's record 48 hours later.

### How do I delete my Piste account and data?

Email support@usepiste.com from the address on your account. Piste's privacy policy says it deletes your workspace's data within 30 days, except where the law requires it to keep something.

### How do I contact Piste support?

Email support@usepiste.com. For a request about your account or your data, write from the address on your account.