Shopify said in its developer changelog that the search_shop_policies_and_faqs tool on its Storefront MCP server is deprecated in favor of the ask_business tool on UCP MCP, which implements the UCP ask capability (dev.ucp.common.ask). Shopify describes ask_business as answering a buyer's question about a store's policies and services using the store's knowledge base and policies. It is exposed at a new endpoint, https://{shop-domain}/api/ucp/mcp.
The deprecated tool will be maintained until January 15, 2027, Shopify said, but all documentation will refer to Ask MCP. Developers are told to migrate calls to ask_business and update endpoints.
Every request must carry a meta object with ucp-agent.profile, and the agent profile must declare dev.ucp.common.ask. The question goes in ask.query, with optional buyer context such as country or preferred language in ask.context. Shopify notes that ask_business returns a written answer in result.structuredContent.answer.plain rather than raw knowledge base facts or full policy text, so code that parses the old response needs updating. Developers can call tools/list to check whether a store offers ask_business for their agent profile.