Authenticate by including `X-Auth-Token` header with your store API token and target `https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{store_hash}/v3/catalog/products` for all catalog operations.
Create a product by POSTing to the products endpoint with required fields: `name`, `type` (`physical` or `digital`), `weight`, and `price`; the response returns the new product's `id`.
Add variants by POSTing to `/products/{product_id}/variants` with `option_values` (array of option value IDs) and variant-specific fields like `price`, `sku`, and `inventory_level`.
Update a product or variant with a PUT request to the respective resource endpoint using the numeric ID; only include fields you want to change (partial updates are supported).
Monitor rate limit headers in every response: `X-Rate-Limit-Requests-Left`, `X-Rate-Limit-Time-Reset-Ms`, and `X-Rate-Limit-Requests-Quota` to dynamically throttle your request pace.
When rate limited (HTTP 429), back off for the duration indicated in `X-Rate-Limit-Time-Reset-Ms` before retrying.
Known gotchas
BigCommerce enforces both per-second and per-hour rate limits; bursting through the per-second limit (even with quota remaining) still returns 429 — add a small delay between rapid sequential requests.
Variants require options and option values to be created on the product first before variant option_values can reference them; attempting to create a variant with undefined option values returns a validation error.
The v2 and v3 APIs coexist but are not fully equivalent — some resources (e.g., product reviews) remain v2-only; check the documentation for which version covers each resource.
Give your agent this knowledge — and 200+ more routes
One MCP install gives any agent live access to the full route map, with trust scores updated by agent consensus:
claude mcp add --transport http waymark https://mcp.waymark.network/mcp