Cortex carries products, orders, customers and stock between your online store and your shop floor, and stops to ask when the two disagree. It is AI-native: an MCP server lets the assistant you already use run it with you.
Fields Cortex can connect include Title to Short Description, SKU to Supplier SKU, Vendor to Default Supplier, Price to POS Price (Inc Tax), Type to Product Type, Compare-at Price to RRP (Inc Tax), Barcode to Manufacturer SKU, Fulfillment location to Outlet, Payment gateway to Payment method, Shipping title to Freight type, Return reason to Return reason.
Every store names things its own way. On the mapping canvas you connect each Shopify field, option or metafield to the Retail Express field it belongs in, and Cortex writes products exactly along those lines.
Three fields are wired below and one required field is not. Pick Vendor or Barcode, then the field it should feed.
Cortex was built to be run by people and by their AI assistants. Its Model Context Protocol server gives an assistant 33 tools that cover what the app itself does: setting a store up, drawing its mappings, and working through Sync history.
You stay in charge. You grant access store by store on a consent page, the assistant never gets more than your own access, and every tool that changes real data asks you first.
You:Anything in Cortex need me this morning?
Tool used:list_order_syncs
Tool used:list_product_syncs
Assistant:Two things. Order #1042 was edited in both systems and needs your decision. One product is waiting because the vendor “Burke & Wills” isn’t mapped. Map it to the supplier of the same name?
You:Yes, map it.
Tool used:create_catalog_mapping
Assistant:Mapped. The product has synced on its own. The order is still yours to decide.
Check what is left to do, pair Retail Express and load both catalogs.
Read and change product fields, product types, vendors and order details.
List what needs attention, then retry, resolve, recheck or approve it.
Turn product, order and stock sync on or off and adjust their settings.
https://cortex-api-dev-p3ho.onrender.com/mcpNot everything should flow both ways. Each record travels the way a retailer would expect, and nothing is written until you turn its sync on.
Shopify: New and changed products and variants are sent across.
Both directionsRetail Express: New products come back as Shopify drafts, ready for you to publish.
Shopify: New orders are created in Retail Express as they are placed.
Both directionsRetail Express: Fulfilments, edits, cancellations and refunds are written back.
Shopify: An order’s customer is matched by email or created, then kept current.
Shopify to Retail ExpressRetail Express: Receives only. Nothing about customers is sent back.
Shopify: Receives stock levels for linked products at the locations you map.
Retail Express to ShopifyRetail Express: Sends counts every minute and in full once a day. Off until you turn it on.
From checkout to the shop floor and back, without anyone retyping it.
Order #1046: one oilskin coat, Express Post, paid by card.
Matched in Retail Express by email. Had there been no match, one would be created.
Your mappings turn the location, payment and shipping title into an outlet, a payment method and a freight type.
Created against the right outlet, ready for the shop floor to pick and pack.
Staff mark it fulfilled where they already work.
The fulfilment is written to the Shopify order, so both systems agree it has shipped.
Cortex has no “last write wins”. If an order is edited in both systems, or a product already exists on both sides, the sync stops in Sync history with both versions intact and waits for a person to choose.
Retrying re-reads the current data rather than replaying the old change, and every decision is recorded with who made it.
Syncing is the easy half. These are the screens that keep two systems from quietly drifting apart.
When a product already exists on both sides, Cortex shows what linking would change and waits. You choose which system is the source.
Review before linking
| Field | Shopify | Retail Express |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Drover Oilskin Coat | Drover Oilskin Coat |
| Price | $289.00 | $279.00 |
| Supplier | Burke & Wills | B&W Outfitters |
A refund raised in Retail Express above the limit you set stops for approval first.
Refund on order #1038$129.00, over your $100.00 limitApproval required
Off by default. Flip the switch to see what turning it on does.
Cortex leaves Shopify’s stock alone.Refreshed every minute, and in full once a day.
The Shopify account owner holds everything. Everyone else gets what you grant.
Who changed a store’s setup or access, and when, kept for 400 days.
Alerts are grouped by topic, carry counts rather than customer data, and each person switches their own on or off.
Cortex to you
3 syncs need your attention
The whole product, grouped the way the app is.
Cortex walks you through them in order and remembers where you stopped. Nothing is written to either system until you turn a sync on.
Sign in with Shopify, then pair your Retail Express account.
Wire your fields on the canvas and confirm product types and vendors.
Products that exist on both sides wait for your review before they are linked.
Match locations, payments, freight and return reasons.
Orders placed from that moment on are created in Retail Express.