# Afterburner

> Afterburner is a Shopify app for affiliate programs. One program can span several Shopify stores; affiliates get a referral link and a commission rate for each store, plus a checkout code. Afterburner tracks referred orders, adjusts commissions for refunds and records payments the merchant sends. It never moves money. Merchants and affiliates can use it from an AI assistant over MCP or a REST API.

If a person pasted this page or https://afterburnerapp.com/help/agents and asked you to connect Afterburner, follow "Connect" below.

## Connect

1. The person creates a key. Merchants: open Afterburner in the Shopify admin, go to Settings, "API and MCP access", and create a key. Affiliates: sign in to the affiliate dashboard at https://afterburnerapp.com/, open "Your details" and create a key at the bottom. Keys start with ab_ and are shown once.
2. Add Afterburner as a remote MCP server: URL https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp, Streamable HTTP transport (stateless, POST only), header "Authorization: Bearer <key>". Prefer an environment variable over writing the key into a shared file.
3. Call the whoami tool to confirm the connection.

ChatGPT, the Claude app and Grok add tools only by signing in (OAuth), which Afterburner does not offer yet. Tell the person to use an assistant that accepts a header, or the REST API.

### Setup by assistant

#### Claude Code

Run in a terminal:

```
claude mcp add --transport http afterburner https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ab_your_key"
```

#### Codex

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml, then set AFTERBURNER_KEY to your key in your environment:

```
[mcp_servers.afterburner]
url = "https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "AFTERBURNER_KEY"
```

#### Gemini CLI

Add to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "afterburner": {
      "httpUrl": "https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ab_your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

#### Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "afterburner": {
      "url": "https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ab_your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

#### VS Code with GitHub Copilot

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

```
{
  "servers": {
    "afterburner": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ab_your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

#### OpenClaw

Add under mcp.servers in your OpenClaw configuration:

```
{
  mcp: {
    servers: {
      afterburner: {
        url: "https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp",
        transport: "streamable-http",
        headers: { Authorization: "Bearer ab_your_key" },
      },
    },
  },
}
```

#### Hermes Agent

Add to ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

```
mcp_servers:
  afterburner:
    url: "https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp"
    headers:
      Authorization: "Bearer ab_your_key"
```

#### Claude for Team or Enterprise

An organization admin adds a custom connector with this URL and a fixed request header:

```
https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp
Authorization: Bearer ab_your_key
```

#### Any other MCP client

Add a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP) with this URL and header. Meta’s Muse Code and most coding agents work this way:

```
https://afterburnerapp.com/mcp
Authorization: Bearer ab_your_key
```

## Tools

The MCP tools and REST endpoints are the same operations. REST base URL: https://afterburnerapp.com/api/v1, same bearer header, JSON bodies. Money fields ending in _cents are integer US cents. Limit: 300 requests per key every 15 minutes.

- whoami (merchant and affiliate keys; GET /me): Identify the key: the program it belongs to and, for an affiliate key, the affiliate.
- list_affiliates (merchant keys; GET /affiliates): List every affiliate with status, default rate, referred sales, commission earned, balances and clicks in the last 30 days.
- get_affiliate (merchant keys; GET /affiliates/:id): One affiliate with balances, per-store rates and clicks in the last 30 days.
- invite_affiliate (merchant keys; POST /affiliates): Create an affiliate and send their private invitation email. Their code (used in the referral link and at checkout) is generated from their first name when omitted.
- list_commissions (merchant and affiliate keys; GET /commissions): Commissions (referred orders) newest first. Merchants see every affiliate; affiliates see only their own.
- list_payouts (merchant and affiliate keys; GET /payouts): Recorded payments, newest first. Affiliates see only their own.
- record_payout (merchant keys; POST /payouts): Record that you paid an affiliate their full approved balance outside Afterburner. Fails if the balance is blocked, the amount changed, or the affiliate is in an open PayPal file (record that file in Afterburner instead).
- list_stores (merchant keys; GET /stores): Stores in the program with tracking status and last order update.
- my_links (affiliate keys; GET /links): Your referral link and commission rate for each store, plus your code, which also works at checkout.
- my_balance (affiliate keys; GET /balance): Your commission earned, pending, approved balance and paid to date.
- clicks (merchant and affiliate keys; GET /clicks): Referral link visits per day for the last 30 days (only visits where the shopper allowed marketing tracking are counted). Affiliates see only their own.

## Paying affiliates

Afterburner never sends money. If the person's payment provider offers tools you can use, you may pay affiliates there and then record each payment:

1. list_affiliates: each affiliate has an approved balance, payout details (method and address) and payment, which is "ready" or the reason they can't be paid yet.
2. Send exactly the approved balance to the affiliate's payout address with the payment provider's own tools. Show the person the list and wait for their OK before sending anything.
3. record_payout with the affiliate_id, the provider's transaction ID as reference and expected_amount_cents equal to the approved balance you paid. It fails if the balance changed, the affiliate can't be paid yet, or the affiliate is in an open PayPal file.

The person is responsible for every payment sent. Every change made with a key is written to the program's audit log.

## More

- [Run Afterburner from your AI assistant](https://afterburnerapp.com/help/agents): the setup guide for people
- [API and MCP reference](https://afterburnerapp.com/api/docs)
- [Privacy and support](https://afterburnerapp.com/privacy)
- [Afterburner on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/afterburner)