Brand Founder Academy Lesson resource · The Store Setup Checklist Download PDF
Brand Founder Academy

The Store Setup Checklist.

The 4 things to set up before you run The Store Builder: a Shopify store, one folder with your files, the Claude desktop app open on that folder, and the Shopify plugin. About 20 minutes, start to finish.
The one thing to understand first: you do this in the Claude desktop app. The Claude desktop app has a tab called Code. In that tab, Claude can read the files in one folder on your computer and build your store from them. You type in plain English. You do not need to know how to code.

Start here

What you need before you start

The order

  1. Start your Shopify store (section 1). About 5 minutes.
  2. Make your store folder (section 2). About 5 minutes.
  3. Open the folder in the Claude desktop app (section 3). About 5 minutes.
  4. Add the Shopify plugin (section 4). About 2 minutes.
  5. Run The Store Builder (section 5). It checks all 4 before it builds anything.

Section 1

Start your Shopify store

You only need the account today. The Store Builder builds the pages.
  1. Open the Shopify link below the lesson video and start a store. Sign up with your brand Gmail.
  2. Shopify asks a few questions about your business. You can skip them.
  3. Find your store address. In Shopify, click Settings, then Domains. It is the address that ends in .myshopify.com, like [yourbrand.myshopify.com]. Write it down. The Store Builder asks for it.
  4. Check that the password page is on. In Shopify, click Online Store, then Preferences, and look for the password setting. A new store has it on. Leave it on.

Do not do these yet.

Do not buy a theme. Do not connect your domain. Do not add products by hand. The Store Builder does the products and the pages with you, and your domain gets connected on launch day.

What the password page is.

It is a page that asks for a password before anyone can see your store. While it is on, you can build and nobody can walk in.

Section 2

Make your store folder

Everything The Store Builder reads has to be in one folder.
  1. On your computer, make a new folder on your Desktop. Name it store-build.
  2. Put your brand-case-file.md in it. If you do not have it on your computer, open your brand project in Claude, open the file, and download it.
  3. Put your store-build-brief.md in it. It is in the chat where you ran The Store Inspiration Finder. Download it from there.
  4. Inside store-build, make a folder called photos. Put your logo, your product photos or mockups, and any videos in it.
  5. Give each photo a plain name that says what it is, like [logo.png] or [bag-front.jpg].
01 store-build 02 brand-case-file.md 03 store-build-brief.md 04 photos 05 logo.png 06 bag-front.jpg 07 bag-in-use.jpg

No store build brief?

Go back one lesson and run The Store Inspiration Finder first. It takes about 15 minutes. The brief is what tells The Store Builder what a good store looks like for your brand.

Section 3

Open the folder in the Claude desktop app

This is the same Claude you already use. The Code tab is the part that can work with files on your computer.
  1. If you do not have the desktop app, download it from claude.com/download and install it. Open it and sign in.
  2. Click the Code tab at the top of the app.
  3. Choose Local. That means Claude works with the files on your computer.
  4. Click Select folder and pick your store-build folder.
  5. Next to the send button there is a mode selector. Choose Accept edits. Claude can then change files inside your folder without asking each time. It still asks you before it runs a command.

What you will see while it works.

Claude asks before it runs a command. A box shows what it wants to do. Read the line and click to allow it. If you are not sure what a line does, type: [What does that command do?] and it tells you in plain English.

Section 4

Add the Shopify plugin

The plugin is called the Shopify AI Toolkit. Shopify made it. It is what lets Claude work with your store.
  1. In the Code tab, click the + button next to the message box.
  2. Click Plugins, then Add plugin.
  3. Search for Shopify. Pick Shopify AI Toolkit and install it.

Cannot find it? Skip this section.

The Store Builder checks for the plugin before it builds. If it is missing, it installs it with you.

Section 5

Run The Store Builder

  1. Copy The Store Builder prompt. It is below the lesson video.
  2. Paste it into the message box in the Code tab and press Enter.
  3. It reads your 2 files and shows you a card called WHAT I THINK I KNOW. Read it and fix anything that is off.
  4. It asks you a short list of questions. Answer what you can. If you have not decided something, say not sure.
  5. It logs in to your store. A page opens in your browser and asks if you allow access. Click to approve it.
  6. It builds your pages on a copy of your theme. After each part it gives you a link. Open the link, look, and tell it what to change.
  7. It walks you through payments, shipping, sales tax and a test order, 1 at a time.
  8. At the end it saves a file called store-status.md in your folder. Add a copy to your brand project. The next lesson starts from it.

If Claude asks to install Node.js or Shopify CLI, say yes.

These are free tools the plugin needs to talk to Shopify. Claude installs them for you and asks before each step.

Section 6

The 3 things you do yourself

The Store Builder tells you when. It cannot do these for you.
Turn on payments
Shopify asks for your bank details and your ID. You type these into Shopify yourself.
Register for sales tax
If your state has a sales tax, you register for a seller's permit on your state's official website. A seller's permit is the registration that lets you collect sales tax.
Place the test order
You buy your own product with your own card, check the confirmation email arrives, then refund yourself.

Ready to run the prompt when

I have a Shopify store and I know its .myshopify.com address
The password page is on
My store-build folder has my brand file and my store build brief
My logo and photos are in the photos folder
The Claude desktop app is open on the Code tab
My store-build folder is selected
The Shopify plugin is added, or I skipped it

Section 7

If something does not work

The Code tab asks me to upgrade
The Code tab needs a paid Claude plan.
I cannot find the Shopify plugin
Skip it and run The Store Builder. It installs the plugin with you.
Claude says it cannot find my files
The wrong folder is selected. Start a new session in the Code tab, click Select folder, and pick store-build.
The login page did not open
Tell Claude: [The login page did not open. Try again.]
Claude says it cannot do a step
It gives you the same step as clicks to follow in Shopify. Do the clicks, then tell it you are done.
I had to stop halfway
Open the Code tab on the same folder and type: [keep building my store]. It reads store-status.md and starts from where you stopped.

Section 8

Three rules

01
Keep the password page on until launch day.The store is being built. Nobody should be able to buy from it yet.
02
Never type bank details, card numbers or passwords into Claude.You type those into Shopify yourself. The Store Builder never needs them.
03
No made-up reviews.Your store opens with no reviews shown. The reviews go on after people buy.

Not tax advice. Sales tax rules differ by state. Talk to a CPA about sales tax in your state. The Shopify link below the lesson video is an affiliate link. It costs you nothing extra. Shopify and Claude change their menus from time to time. If a button has moved, search for it by name.