TrueProfit - Shopify net profit tracking

TrueProfit profit analytics expert. Use this skill whenever working with TrueProfit MCP tools to analyze store performance, query profit data, orders, products, ad costs, or customer metrics. Trigger automatically when the user asks about profit, ROAS, COGS, net margin, orders, revenue, ad spend, shipping costs, or any e-commerce analytics question involving their TrueProfit store. Also use when the user connects a new MCP server at mcp.trueprofit.io.

TrueProfit MCP — Usage Guide

TrueProfit is a profit analytics platform for e-commerce merchants (Shopify, etc.). This skill teaches you how to use TrueProfit MCP tools effectively to answer business analytics questions.

Key Business Concepts

Profit Metrics

• Revenue: Gross sales before any deductions
• Net Revenue: Revenue after refunds and discounts
• COGS (Cost of Goods Sold): Product cost per unit — must be set manually or imported
• Gross Profit = Net Revenue − COGS
• Net Profit = Gross Profit − Ad Costs − Shipping − Transaction Fees − Custom Costs − Taxes
• Net Margin = Net Profit / Net Revenue × 100%
• Contribution Margin = Revenue − Variable Costs (excludes fixed overhead)

Advertising Metrics

• Ad Spend: Total spend across all connected platforms (Facebook, Google, TikTok, etc.)
• ROAS = Revenue / Ad Spend (per channel)
• Blended ROAS = Total Revenue / Total Ad Spend (all channels combined)
• MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) = Revenue / Total Marketing Cost

Key Ratios

• AOV (Average Order Value) = Revenue / Number of Orders
• Refund Rate = Refunded Amount / Gross Revenue × 100%
• CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) = Total Ad Spend / New Customers
• LTV (Lifetime Value) = AOV × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan
• Break-even ROAS = 1 / (1 − COGS%) where COGS% = COGS / Revenue

Workflow Patterns

Step 1: Always establish shop context

Most tools require a shop_id. Start every session with:

text

list_shops → identify the right shop → use shop_id for all subsequent calls

Single-shop users: list_shops returns one item — use its shop_id directly. Multi-shop / agency users: confirm with the user which shop before proceeding, or loop across all shops.

Step 2: Use the correct date range format

All dates use YYYY-MM-DD format in the shop's local timezone.

User says	date_from	date_to
"today"	today	today
"this month"	first day of current month	today
"last month"	first day of previous month	last day of previous month
"last 30 days"	today − 30	today
"last 7 days"	today − 7	today
"yesterday"	yesterday	yesterday
"Q1 2025"	2025-01-01	2025-03-31

Check the shop's timezone via get_shop_details if date precision matters.

Step 3: Pick the right tool

User question	Tool
"What's my profit this month?"	get_profit_summary
"Show daily profit trend / chart"	get_profit_by_date
"Which products make the most profit?"	get_profit_by_product
"Show my recent orders"	list_orders
"Find order #1234 / search orders"	list_orders with search param
"Details on a specific order"	get_order_insights
"Orders summary / total count"	get_orders_summary
"How much did I spend on ads?"	get_ad_costs
"ROAS by UTM / campaign / source"	get_revenue_by_utm
"What custom costs do I have?"	get_custom_costs
"Show my products and COGS"	list_products
"Details on a specific product"	get_product
"Update COGS for a product"	update_product_cogs
"Customer retention / total customers"	get_customer_overview
"Details on a specific customer"	get_customer_details
"Shipping cost for specific orders"	get_shipping_cost
"Which ad platforms are connected?"	get_connected_platforms
"What shop am I looking at?"	get_shop_details

Important Tool Parameters

These non-obvious parameters unlock significant functionality:

list_orders

• financial_status: filter by paid, pending, refunded, partially_refunded, authorized, partially_paid, unpaid, voided (comma-separated for multiple)
• search: find orders by name or number (e.g., "#1234")
• order_by: sort by created_at, total_price, or profit
• page / page_size: paginate large result sets (default page_size=20)

list_products

• search: filter by product title
• page / page_size: paginate large catalogs

update_product_cogs

• variant_id: omit or set to 0 to update all variants of a product at once
• zone_name: pricing zone, defaults to "global" — leave empty unless the shop uses regional COGS zones
• Changes take effect retroactively across all historical orders for that product

get_shipping_cost

• Requires specific order IDs (not a date range) — get them from list_orders first
• Max 100 order IDs per request

get_customer_details

• Requires a Shopify customer ID (numeric) — not name or email
• Get customer IDs from order data in list_orders or get_order_insights

Common Workflows

"How was my performance last month?"

1. list_shops → get shop_id
2. get_profit_summary with last month's date range
3. get_ad_costs for ad spend breakdown by platform
4. Present as: Revenue, Net Profit, Net Margin %, ROAS, AOV — with period-over-period change if available

"Which products should I focus on?"

1. get_profit_by_product for a meaningful date range (e.g., last 30 days)
2. Sort by net profit (not revenue) — high-revenue products can have negative profit
3. Flag products with COGS = 0 — profit data is unreliable until COGS is set
4. Recommend: double down on high-margin, investigate high-volume low-margin

"Find a specific order"

1. list_orders with search="#1234" (order name/number) and a date range
2. Or filter by financial_status="refunded" to find refunded orders
3. Then get_order_insights with the order ID for full line-item breakdown

"Why did my profit drop this week?"

1. get_profit_by_date → find which specific day(s) caused the drop
2. get_ad_costs → check for ad spend spike or platform attribution issues
3. list_orders with financial_status="refunded" → look for refund spike
4. get_connected_platforms → verify all ad platforms still connected

"Set up COGS for my products"

1. list_products → identify products with COGS = 0 or null
2. Ask user to confirm cost per product/variant
3. update_product_cogs — use variant_id=0 to update all variants at once if cost is the same
4. get_product → verify the update was applied
5. Note: this retroactively recalculates profit for all past orders

"Show shipping costs for my orders"

1. list_orders → get order IDs for the date range (up to 100 at a time)
2. Extract the order IDs
3. get_shipping_cost with the order ID list

"Compare my shops" (multi-shop / agency)

1. list_shops → get all shop IDs
2. For each shop: get_profit_summary with same date range
3. Build comparison: Revenue, Net Profit, Net Margin, ROAS per shop
4. Note: currencies may differ — confirm before converting

"How many customers do I have?"

• get_customer_overview → total customers, new customers (no date range needed — shop-level metric)
• For individual customer history: need their Shopify customer ID from order data

Presenting Results to Users

When sharing analytics data, lead with the most actionable insight:

• Profit summary: Revenue → Net Profit → Net Margin % → ROAS → AOV (in that order)
• Product analysis: present as a ranked table with Revenue, Profit, Margin columns
• Date trends: describe the trend direction first, then call out notable peaks/drops
• Ad costs: show spend by platform + total ROAS, flag platforms with low ROAS
• COGS gaps: prominently warn if products have COGS = 0 before showing profit numbers

Formulas Reference

text

Net Profit = Revenue - COGS - Ad Spend - Shipping - Transaction Fees - Refunds - Custom Costs
ROAS = Ad Revenue / Ad Spend
Blended ROAS = Total Revenue / Total Ad Spend
Net Margin % = (Net Profit / Revenue) × 100
AOV = Revenue / Number of Orders
CAC = Total Ad Spend / New Customers
LTV = AOV × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan
Refund Rate = Refunded Amount / Gross Revenue × 100
Break-even ROAS = 1 / (1 - COGS%) where COGS% = COGS / Revenue

Tips & Gotchas

1. COGS = 0 means unreliable profit: If any products lack COGS, net profit is overstated for those products. Always warn the user before presenting profit data.

2. Ad platform reporting lag: Facebook, Google, and TikTok can have 1–3 day attribution delay. For very recent dates, ad costs may appear lower than actual spend.

3. Currency per shop: Each shop reports in its own currency. Never mix currencies across shops without explicit user confirmation and conversion.

4. UTM data is incomplete by nature: get_revenue_by_utm only captures orders where UTM parameters were tracked. Direct/organic traffic won't appear — always note this caveat.

5. get_customer_overview has no date range: It returns shop-level lifetime totals, not a filtered period. Don't pass date params to this tool.

6. get_shipping_cost needs order IDs, not dates: First use list_orders to get IDs, then pass them to get_shipping_cost (max 100 per call).

7. COGS updates are retroactive: Updating COGS via update_product_cogs recalculates profit for all historical orders — confirm with the user before bulk updates.

8. Auth is automatic: This MCP uses Account-level OAuth. The server automatically exchanges it for a Shop token when needed — don't try to manage tokens manually.

9. Refunds inflate cost ratios: A refund spike makes ad spend look higher as % of revenue. Check list_orders with financial_status="refunded" to assess refund impact.

Connected Ad Platforms

Check which platforms are active via get_connected_platforms:

Platform	Notes
Facebook Ads	Most common, 1-3 day attribution delay
Google Ads	Includes Shopping, Search, YouTube
TikTok Ads
Snapchat Ads
Pinterest Ads

Disconnected platforms = spend tracked as custom costs, or not tracked at all.

Keeping the Skill Up to Date

TrueProfit MCP is actively developed — new tools and workflows are added regularly. To get the latest version of this skill, call the get_skill tool from the TrueProfit MCP server:

text

get_skill → copy the returned SKILL.md content → overwrite ~/.claude/skills/trueprofit/SKILL.md

Do this periodically (e.g., once a month) or whenever you notice a tool behaving differently than documented here.

MCP Server Info

• Server URL: https://mcp.trueprofit.io/mcp
• Auth: OAuth 2.0 — sign in with your TrueProfit Account at app.trueprofit.io
• Tools: 20 tools covering profit, orders, products, ads, customers, shipping
• Download skill: https://mcp.trueprofit.io/skill