Shopify does not let you read your server logs or run code in the request path from the theme, so the only reliable way to count AI agents on a Shopify store is to sit in front of it at the edge. Rankly does this with a Cloudflare edge layer on your own domain. Your store keeps working exactly as before; we see every request.
This is the recommended path for Shopify. It captures crawlers that never run JavaScript, which a theme tag would miss entirely.

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What you will do

  1. Put your domain on Cloudflare (a free account).
  2. Point your domain at your Shopify store through Cloudflare.
  3. Let Rankly deploy the edge worker for you.
  4. Confirm your first agent.

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Step 1: Add your domain to Cloudflare

1

Create a free Cloudflare account

Sign up at cloudflare.com. The free plan is enough to start.
2

Add your site

In Cloudflare, choose Add a site and enter your domain. Cloudflare scans your existing DNS and imports it, so your email and other records carry over.
3

Change your nameservers

At your registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Hostinger, wherever you bought the domain), replace the nameservers with the two Cloudflare gives you. This is the one unavoidable step for a Shopify apex domain.
4

Wait for Active

Cloudflare emails you when the domain status turns Active. This usually takes a few minutes to a couple of hours.
Why the nameserver change is required. A Shopify apex domain (yourstore.com) cannot use a plain CNAME, and only Cloudflare-as-nameserver can flatten that record so traffic reaches the edge. Without it, your apex would point straight at Shopify and Rankly would never see the request. A fresh domain makes this painless: there is no existing email or traffic to preserve.

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Step 2: Connect Cloudflare to Rankly

You have two ways to let Rankly set up the edge worker on your domain. Both keep control in your hands. Rankly then, on your domain:
  • Points yourstore.com and www.yourstore.com at your Shopify store (proxied through Cloudflare).
  • Deploys the Rankly edge worker and binds it to both routes.

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Step 3: Set your primary domain in Shopify

In your Shopify admin, under Settings -> Domains, make sure your custom domain is set as the primary domain so shoppers and crawlers use it. If you use Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control, set it to Allow so crawlers still reach your store; Rankly measures them, it does not block them.

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Step 4: Confirm your first agent

Send a test request and watch it land: 
curl -A "GPTBot/1.2" https://www.yourstore.com/
You can also confirm the edge is active by checking the response headers: 
curl -sI https://www.yourstore.com/ -H "User-Agent: GPTBot/1.2" | grep -i x-rankly
# x-rankly-served: bot-training
# x-rankly-classified: openai/GPTBot

Confirm your first event

What you should see in the dashboard, and how to read it.

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Good to know

No. The worker proxies the request to Shopify and reports the event in the background. Shoppers see the same response as before.
Yes. Because your domain stays the host, Shopify sets cookies on your domain natively and the worker passes them through untouched.
Cloudflare’s free Workers plan covers 100,000 requests per day. High-traffic stores should add Cloudflare’s Workers Paid plan ($5/mo) in their own account.