---
title: "How It Works"
description: "How CognitiveCart connects your WooCommerce store to AI agents: UCP manifest discovery, Abilities API, optional Stripe checkout, and Pulse Concierge."
url: "https://docs.cognitivecartplugin.com/getting-started/how-it-works/"
---
## Overview

CognitiveCart sits between your WooCommerce store and the agentic AI economy. It does three things: **discovery** (so agents can find your store), **capabilities** (so they can list products, manage cart, and get checkout), and **optional checkout** (so they can complete purchases when you’ve connected Stripe).

## Discovery

AI crawlers and agents look for a UCP manifest at a well-known URL on your domain:

```
/.well-known/ucp
```

CognitiveCart registers this URL and serves a JSON manifest that includes:

*   **abilitiesEndpoint** — The REST API base where agents can list abilities (list-products, add-to-cart, get-checkout-url, etc.).
*   When Stripe is connected: **checkoutCreateSessionEndpoint** and **checkoutCompleteUrlTemplate** so agents can create Stripe Checkout sessions and complete payments.

No API keys or configuration are required for discovery. Once the plugin is active and permalinks are flushed, the manifest is live.

## Abilities API

Agents call the Abilities API (exposed under `/wp-json/cognitive-cart/v1/...`) to:

*   List products (with optional product ID filter)
*   Get cart summary
*   Add items to cart, update quantity, remove items
*   Apply or remove coupon codes
*   Get a checkout URL (when Stripe is connected: creates a Stripe Checkout session and returns the URL)

These endpoints are documented in the [Abilities API](../../features/abilities-api/) section. The UCP manifest points agents to the abilities endpoint so they know what the store supports.

## Checkout (optional)

When you connect Stripe via **CognitiveCart → Connectivity**, the plugin can create Stripe Checkout sessions. The agent (or your chat UI) calls the create-session endpoint with the current cart; the API returns a Stripe Checkout URL. The user completes payment in their browser; Stripe redirects back to your site where CognitiveCart completes the order and marks it as paid.

Until Stripe is connected, the manifest and abilities still work for discovery and cart operations; only the checkout step is unavailable.

## Pulse Concierge

Separately from agents, **Pulse Concierge** runs on your storefront (shop, product, cart, checkout pages). It detects behavioral intent (e.g. variant cycling, cart stall, coupon hover) and can surface AI-generated nudges to increase conversions. Pulse respects the [Kill-Switch](../../features/kill-switch/): when the Kill-Switch is on, Pulse is also disabled.

Your store → /.well-known/ucp → Abilities API → Cart / Checkout