If you use ShipStation to fulfill and ship your orders, you can connect it directly to Rep AI. Your AI assistant then reads shipping details straight from ShipStation — so when a customer asks "where is my order?", the answer includes the carrier, the current shipping status, tracking details, and the delivery estimate, rather than the single fulfillment flag that Shopify carries.
Why Connect ShipStation
Shopify tracks an order as either unfulfilled or fulfilled. ShipStation tracks everything that happens in between — the label being created, the package being picked up, each carrier scan along the route, customs clearance, delivery exceptions, and the final delivery confirmation.
With ShipStation connected, your AI assistant can tell a customer:
The carrier handling the shipment and the current carrier-reported status
The tracking number and tracking link for the shipment
The estimated delivery date, or the confirmed delivery date once it arrives
Where the package was last scanned, so a customer waiting on a slow delivery can see it is moving
Whether there is a delivery exception or hold, and what it is
This means fewer "where is my order?" follow-ups reaching your support team, and calmer customers on the orders that take longer than expected.
What Your Customers Will See
Here is what your AI assistant can share at each stage of an order:
Order stage | With Shopify data alone | With ShipStation connected |
|---|---|---|
Order placed, not yet shipped | "Unfulfilled" | The order is in ShipStation and being prepared for shipment |
Label created and picked up | "Fulfilled" | Carrier name, tracking number, tracking link, and ship date |
In transit | "Fulfilled" — no further detail | The latest carrier scan, including the city the package moved through, plus the estimated delivery date |
Held or delayed | "Fulfilled" — no further detail | The exception or hold reported by the carrier, and the most recent progress before it |
Delivered | "Fulfilled" | Carrier delivery confirmation with the delivery date |
Before You Start
You will need:
An active ShipStation account
A ShipStation V2 API Key (steps below)
ShipStation connected to the same store your orders come from, so that order numbers match between the two systems
Get Your ShipStation V2 API Key
Log in to ShipStation
Go to Settings, then Account, then API Settings
Choose the V2 API option — the V1 key will not work with this integration
Click Generate API Key
Choose how long the key stays valid — ShipStation offers 3, 6, or 12 months
Copy the key
Keep a note of the expiry date you chose. When a ShipStation key expires, ShipStation stops accepting it, so you will want to generate a fresh key and reconnect at that point.
Connect ShipStation to Rep AI
In your Rep AI Console, go to Settings, then Integrations
Open the Shipping tab
Find the ShipStation card and click Connect
Paste your ShipStation V2 API Key into the API Key field
Click Connect
Rep AI checks the key with ShipStation before saving it. A valid key connects immediately and the card shows a Connected state. If the key is rejected, the connection is not saved — generate a new V2 key and try again.
The integration takes effect right away. The next time a customer asks about an order, your AI assistant will use ShipStation data in its answer.
How It Works Behind the Scenes
When a customer asks about an order, your AI assistant:
Retrieves the order from Shopify as usual
Looks up the matching shipment in ShipStation by order number
Finds the shipping label for that shipment and pulls its live tracking record — status, carrier, tracking link, delivery estimate, and the history of carrier scans
Combines both sources into one answer
If the order has not been labelled yet, your AI assistant uses the shipment record from ShipStation, which still tells the customer their order is in fulfillment and being prepared. If ShipStation cannot be reached, the answer is built from Shopify data alone — the customer always gets an answer, and never sees an error.
Renewing an Expired API Key
ShipStation API keys are issued with a fixed lifetime. When yours reaches its expiry date:
Generate a new V2 API Key in ShipStation
In Rep AI, go to Settings, then Integrations, then the Shipping tab
Open the ShipStation card, click Disconnect, then click Connect and paste the new key
While a key is expired, order answers are built from Shopify data alone, so customers still get a helpful reply — just without the carrier-level detail.
Disconnect ShipStation
Go to Settings, then Integrations, then the Shipping tab
Open the connected ShipStation card
Click Disconnect
Your stored API Key is removed and your AI assistant goes back to answering order questions from Shopify data.
Troubleshooting
My key was rejected when I tried to connect
Confirm you generated the key under the V2 API option in ShipStation, not V1
Confirm the key has not passed its expiry date
Copy the key again, making sure no extra spaces were included
Order answers still show only basic Shopify statuses
Check that the ShipStation card shows as Connected in Settings, then Integrations, then the Shipping tab
Confirm the order exists in ShipStation with the same order number it has in your store
Confirm the order has reached ShipStation — orders that have not synced across yet have no shipment for Rep AI to read
Customers are not getting tracking links
Tracking details become available once a shipping label has been created in ShipStation
Orders still awaiting a label have no carrier tracking yet, so your AI assistant shares the fulfillment progress instead
One order tracks correctly but another does not
Rep AI matches orders to ShipStation by order number. If an order was created in ShipStation manually, or arrived from a different sales channel, the numbers may not match and the enrichment will be skipped for that order