[tsazan]

You’ve identified the exact tension we are navigating.

I support platforms like Shopify and Wix because they empower 80% of independent merchants to exist online. But I oppose their move toward 'enterprise-only' data silos. When Shopify gates their catalog API for a few select partners, they aren't protecting the merchant. They are protecting their own rent-seeking position.

CommerceTXT is a way for a merchant on any platform to say: 'My data is mine, and I want it to be discoverable by any agent, not just the ones who paid the platform's entry fee'.

Regarding 'design smell': Every major shift in computing has required specialized protocols. We didn't use Gopher for the web, and we shouldn't use 2010-era REST APIs for 2025-era LLMs. Models have unique constraints-token costs and hallucination risks-that traditional APIs simply weren't built to handle.

We aren't building for the gatekeepers. We are building for the open commons.

[IgorPartola]

Eh. This is an arrogant and misguided take. Good luck.