Introduction

The Documentation MCP gives AI coding assistants and agents read-only access to the Intershop Knowledge Base through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Developers find Intershop documentation and fixed issues from the tools they already use, without leaving their development environment.

This concept explains the purpose of the Documentation MCP, the content it provides, how AI assistants use it, and its boundaries. It addresses developers, solution architects, and project leads at Intershop partners and customers, as well as IT and security teams who assess the service. This concept does not describe how to connect a client. For the setup, see Guide - Documentation MCP.

You should be familiar with AI coding assistants such as GitHub Copilot or Claude Code. Knowledge of MCP is helpful but not required.

Glossary

References

• Guide - Documentation MCP

• Model Context Protocol | What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?

Product Overview

Business Purpose

Intershop is a feature-rich platform with many products and versions. Many development teams use AI coding assistants. These assistants know general programming well but have little reliable knowledge of Intershop concepts, extension points, versions, and fixed issues. Without this knowledge, they tend to produce answers and code that look plausible but are incorrect.

The Documentation MCP closes this gap. It provides the official Intershop documentation to the AI assistant at the moment the assistant needs it. This helps teams to:

• Find the matching cookbook, guideline, or concept faster

• Check whether an error is a fixed issue before they invest time in debugging

• Write code that follows the documented extension points of the target version

• Onboard new team members faster with answers that link to official sources

• Work from the same official documentation across all team members

Product Boundaries

The Documentation MCP provides documentation content. It does not generate answers, change code, or connect to commerce environments. The AI model of the MCP client writes the answer or the code, based on the retrieved content. Partners and customers choose the client and the AI model they use.

Content

The Documentation MCP provides the public, non-archived content of the Intershop Knowledge Base:

The content covers Intershop Commerce Management (ICM), Intershop Order Management (IOM), the Intershop Progressive Web App (PWA), the Intershop Commerce Platform (ICP), SPARQUE.AI, and further extensions.

Intershop updates the content weekly. New and changed articles of the Intershop Knowledge Base become available without any action on the client side.

Documentation MCP Workflow

The Documentation MCP connects the MCP client with the Intershop Knowledge Base. A typical interaction runs as follows:

1. A developer gives the AI assistant a task or asks a question, for example, in GitHub Copilot or Claude Code.

2. The AI assistant calls a tool of the Documentation MCP, for example, to search for a cookbook or a guide.

3. The Documentation MCP returns matching passages, each with a link to the source article.

4. If needed, the AI assistant retrieves the complete article.

5. The AI model of the client writes the answer or the code and includes links to the sources.

The Documentation MCP describes its tools to the AI assistant. Based on these descriptions, coding agents consult the documentation on their own, for example, before they implement or debug Intershop-related code. Teams can make this behavior consistent with a project instruction, as described in Guide - Documentation MCP.

Capabilities

The Documentation MCP offers five tools:

Searches can be limited to a product and version, for example, ICM 14, and to a document type, for example, cookbooks. Every result contains a link to the article on knowledge.intershop.com, so that users can verify the source.

Typical Use Cases

Implementation

A coding agent receives a task, for example, to add a custom shipping condition to an ICM 14 project. The agent searches the matching cookbook, reads the complete article, and writes the code along the documented extension points. The developer reviews the result.

Troubleshooting

A developer passes an error message to the AI assistant. The assistant searches the fixed issues for the affected product and version and reports whether the problem is already documented and whether a fix is available.

Planning and Upgrades

A solution architect or project lead asks about changes in a release or about the concepts behind a feature. The assistant summarizes the relevant release notes and concepts and links to the sources.

Access and Data Protection

• Access: The Documentation MCP is available at no additional cost to customers with an Intershop support contract and to partners with an Intershop partner support contract. Users sign in with their Intershop Customer Service Portal login.

• Read-only access: The Documentation MCP only searches and reads the Intershop Knowledge Base. It has no access to the code, files, or systems of partners and customers, and it cannot change any data.

• Data received: The Documentation MCP receives only the search queries and document requests that the AI assistant sends to it. The AI assistant formulates these queries. Configure your AI assistant according to the data protection policies of your organization.

• AI model: The Documentation MCP does not generate text. Partners and customers decide which AI model processes the content.

• Operation: Intershop hosts and operates the Documentation MCP.

Responsibilities

Limitations

• The content is technical. User manuals for business users and support tickets are not part of the content.

• The Documentation MCP does not write answers. The quality of answers and code depends on the AI model and the MCP client.

• Answers can only be as complete as the documentation. If no matching document exists, the AI assistant cannot rely on official sources for the answer.

• The MCP client must support remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP and OAuth sign-in. Intershop has tested the connection with GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code, Claude Code, and Claude. Other MCP clients may work as well.