Amazon Seller Edition. Step-by-step guide for sellers who keep hearing about AI agents but haven't started. No coding required.
By Max Sigurdson-Scott & Rob Cosman
sellingfromthebeach.com
April 2026
Why This Guide Exists
You've been hearing about this for months.
Every week someone in a mastermind, a Facebook group, or a podcast says "I'm using AI agents to run my Amazon business." And every week you nod along while thinking: I have no idea where to start.
We get it. We were there. The term "AI agent" sounds like something from a movie. The technical setup looks intimidating. And most of the guides out there are written by developers for developers.
This is not that guide.
This is the "just show me exactly what to do" version. We're going to walk you through installing Claude Code, connecting it to your Seller Central account through SP-API, and building five tools that will change how you run your business. The whole setup takes about 30 minutes. The five builds take a few hours spread across your first month.
You don't need to know how to code. Claude Code writes the code for you. You just need to know what to ask for, and that's what this guide gives you: the exact prompts, the exact steps, and the exact mistakes to avoid.
Let's get into it.
01
Before You Start
What you need
Here's what this guide assumes you have. Steps 1 through 3 will walk you through getting everything you don't have yet.
Claude Pro account, $20/monthPro is fine to start. Max ($100/month) gives you higher usage limits but you won't need that on day one. Sign up at claude.ai.
A Professional Seller Central accountIndividual accounts cannot access SP-API. If you're on an Individual plan, upgrade to Professional first ($39.99/month).
VS Code (free)Step 1 covers this in full. Download from code.visualstudio.com — it runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
An AWS account (free tier)Step 3 covers the full setup. You need it for SP-API credentials. The free tier covers everything — you won't be charged.
About 30 minutes of uninterrupted timeThe SP-API setup has a few steps where you need to save credentials the moment they appear. Don't start that section if you're about to be pulled away.
One thing to understand upfront: Claude Code runs in a lot of places — terminal, desktop app, web browser. We prefer using it inside VS Code because you can see your files, your terminal, and your Claude conversation all in one place. That's the setup this guide walks you through.
02
Step 1
Install Claude Code in VS Code
If you already use VS Code (and you should), this is the fastest way to get started. The extension gives you Claude Code inside your editor with a visual interface. No terminal required.
1. Get VS Code (if you don't have it)
Download it free at code.visualstudio.com. It runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Even if you're not a developer, it's the best environment for working with Claude Code because you can see your files, your terminal, and your Claude conversation all in one place.
2. Install the Claude Code extension
Open VS Code
Press Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+X (Mac) to open the Extensions panel
Search for "Claude Code" by Anthropic
Click Install
3. Create your project folder
Claude Code needs a folder to work in. This is where all your scripts will live.
Create a new folder on your Desktop (or wherever you want). Call it "claude" — this will be your hub for everything, not just Amazon tools.
In VS Code, go to File > Open Folder and select the folder you just created
VS Code will ask if you trust the authors of this folder. Click "Yes, I trust the authors"
4. Open Claude and sign in
Look for the Claude logo in the top-right corner of VS Code — it says "Claude Code" next to it. Click it.
Claude will open a chat panel and ask you to sign in. It'll open your browser automatically.
Log in with your Claude account and authorize the connection
Switch back to VS Code. The chat panel is ready.
5. Verify it works
Type "hello" in the Claude chat panel and hit Enter. If Claude responds, you're good. If the panel doesn't appear, restart VS Code or press Ctrl+Shift+P and search for "Developer: Reload Window".
Where your scripts will live: Every script Claude builds for you will be saved in the folder you opened. Keep this folder organized. As you build more tools, you'll want subfolders. But for now, one folder is fine.
03
Step 2
Set up your CLAUDE.md file
This is the step most guides skip, and it's the one that makes the biggest difference. Understanding why starts with one question: what does Claude actually know about you when you start a new session?
By default: nothing. Every session is a clean slate. Claude doesn't know your account name, your ASINs, how you like data formatted, what's already been built, or what you tried last week that didn't work. Without context files, you're re-briefing a new hire every single time you open a chat.
Context files change that completely. They're plain markdown files that Claude reads automatically at the start of every session. The more you put in them, the more Claude already knows before you type your first prompt. Over time, it stops feeling like a tool you query and starts feeling like someone who knows your business.
The four files worth building
Start with CLAUDE.md. Add the others as your setup grows.
File 01
CLAUDE.md — your operating instructions
The master context file. Claude reads this first, every time. Think of it as your standing brief: who you are, what you sell, how you want things done, and what to never do.
File 02
lessons.md — what went wrong and why
A running log of mistakes, dead ends, and corrections. When Claude tries an approach that fails — wrong API endpoint, rate limit issue, data format that doesn't work — you add it here. Future sessions start already knowing to avoid it.
File 03
skills/ folder — reusable playbooks
As you build workflows that work, you can turn them into skills: markdown files that describe a repeatable task in full. "Pull last week's PPC report, flag keywords above 50% ACoS, format as CSV." Drop it in the skills folder and Claude can run it on demand, any session, without you re-explaining it.
File 04
memory/ — things to remember forever
Persistent facts that don't change: your marketplace IDs, your preferred data formats, which ASINs are bundled versus standalone, how your VA's email is formatted. Anything you'd otherwise have to repeat.
Not sure how to set any of this up? Just ask Claude. Paste this into the chat: "Help me set up my context files from scratch — interview me and create CLAUDE.md, lessons.md, a skills folder, and a memory folder." It'll do the whole thing interactively.
The compounding effect is real. A session with no context files requires you to explain everything from scratch. A session with good context files starts three steps ahead. After a month of building out these files, Claude knows your business well enough that most sessions start with just a task — no backstory required.
Create your CLAUDE.md now
Open Claude Code in your project folder and use this prompt. The key addition: have it interview you first so the output is actually good.
Your First Prompt
Generate a CLAUDE.md file
I need to create a CLAUDE.md file for my Amazon seller project. Before writing anything, interview me in depth — ask me questions one at a time about my business, my preferences, my setup, and how I like to work. When you have enough to write a thorough file, create CLAUDE.md in the root of this project folder. It should include: who I am and what I sell, my marketplace and account details, where my credentials are stored, my preferences for how scripts should work, and standing rules for how you should behave in every session. Don't rush the interview — a better CLAUDE.md now means less re-explaining forever.
Claude will ask you questions before writing anything. Answer honestly — the more specific you are, the more useful the file will be. You can always edit it later as your needs evolve.
What to add over time: As you build scripts and workflows, add notes to your CLAUDE.md about what works and what doesn't. "The inventory API is rate-limited to 2 calls per second." "We prefer Slack notifications over email." "Our VA handles restock orders, so format restock reports for forwarding." The more context Claude has, the less you have to repeat yourself.
04
Step 3
Connect to SP-API
If this looks overwhelming: Copy this entire page and paste it into Claude Code. Tell it "help me set up SP-API for my seller account." It will walk you through every step interactively and tell you exactly what to click. You don't have to do this alone.
This is the part that scares people. We're not going to lie, it's the most tedious step. But it's not hard. It's just a lot of clicking through forms and saving credentials. Budget 20 minutes.
SP-API is Amazon's official data pipeline. It's how you pull sales, inventory, catalog data, and orders directly from your account. The "private developer" route means you're building tools for your own account only. No app store listing. No approval process beyond a basic profile. Free.
Register as a Private Developer
Sign in to Seller Central
Go to Apps and Services > Develop Apps
Click "Proceed to Developer Profile"
Select "Private Developer: I build applications that integrate my own company with Amazon Services APIs"
Fill out your contact info. For the use case, write something like: "Internal reporting and inventory management for my own seller account"
Answer the security questions (basic stuff about how you store data)
Submit and wait for approval. Sometimes same-day, sometimes a few days.
Set Up AWS IAM (the credentials part)
This is where most people's eyes glaze over. Stay with me. You're creating a set of keys that let your scripts talk to Amazon securely.
Create a free AWS account at aws.amazon.com if you don't have one
Go to the IAM console (search "IAM" in the AWS search bar)
Create an IAM User with Programmatic access
Immediately save the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key. You will not see the secret key again.
Note the User ARN (looks like arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/yourname)
Create an IAM Policy: use the JSON editor, allow the action execute-api:Invoke on resource *
Create an IAM Role: select "Another AWS account", enter your own 12-digit account ID, and attach the policy you just made
Save the Role ARN
Go back to your IAM User, add an inline policy for STS > AssumeRole, and point it at your Role ARN
Register Your Application
Back in Seller Central, go to Develop Apps > Add new app client
For API Type, select SP API
Paste in the IAM Role ARN from Step 2
Leave it in draft status. Private apps don't need to be published.
Self-Authorize
In Develop Apps, find your new application and click "Authorize app"
Save the refresh token. This is the key that lets your scripts access your seller data.
You now have six credentials. Store them in a .env file in a secure folder:
Now the fun part. Open a terminal, navigate to a folder where you want your scripts to live, and type claude to start a session. Then paste in these prompts. Claude Code will write the code, create the files, and walk you through running them.
Build 01
Morning Health Check
Pulls yesterday's sales, inventory alerts, and ad spend into a single summary you can read with your coffee.
Build me a Python script that connects to Amazon SP-API and pulls: yesterday's ordered revenue and units from the Sales API, any ASINs with fewer than 14 days of inventory from FBA Inventory Planning, and my top 5 campaigns by spend from yesterday using the Amazon Ads API. Output a clean summary to the terminal. Read my credentials from a .env file in the same directory.
What you'll get: a single script you run each morning with one command. Takes about 10 seconds to execute.
Build 02
Listing Quality Scraper
Checks your entire catalog for suppressed or incomplete listings and flags the problems.
Build a script that pulls catalog data for all my active ASINs using SP-API's Catalog Items API. For each ASIN, check if the title, bullet points, description, and main image exist. Flag any listing that's missing content or has a title under 80 characters. Output as a CSV file.
Build 03
Review Analyzer
Pulls recent reviews and groups negative ones by complaint theme so you can spot product issues before they tank your rating.
Build a script that pulls my last 90 days of customer reviews across all ASINs. Group negative reviews (1-3 stars) by common complaint themes. Tell me which ASINs have the worst sentiment and what customers are actually saying. Output a summary report to the terminal and save the raw data as a CSV.
This one may use web scraping since the Reviews API has limitations. Claude will figure out the best approach and tell you if there are restrictions.
Build 04
PPC Bid Checker
Identifies wasted ad spend: keywords burning money with no conversions, and keywords with ACoS through the roof.
Build a script that connects to Amazon Ads API and pulls all active Sponsored Products campaigns. Find any keywords spending more than $20 with zero sales in the last 14 days. Also find any keywords with ACoS above 50%. Output two lists: keywords to consider negating, and keywords to consider lowering bids on. Save as a CSV.
Build 05
Keyword Rank Tracker
Monitors where your ASINs show up organically for your key search terms. Tracks movement over time.
Build a script that takes a list of ASINs and search terms from a CSV file, then checks where each ASIN ranks organically for each term on Amazon. Store results in a local SQLite database so I can track changes over time. Output a comparison vs. last week showing which keywords moved up, down, or stayed flat.
Organic rank tracking requires scraping or a third-party data source. Claude will advise on the best approach and flag any terms of service considerations.
06
What Goes Wrong
Common mistakes and what to do when it breaks
Everything breaks sometimes. Here's what trips people up and how to fix it.
Mistake 01
Not saving your AWS credentials before closing the window. When you create an IAM User, you get one chance to see the Secret Access Key. If you close that window without copying it, you have to delete the user and create a new one. Save it immediately. Put it in your .env file right then and there.
Mistake 02
Forgetting to self-authorize the app. You can register the application and get a Client ID and Client Secret, but if you skip the self-authorization step, you won't have a refresh token. Without the refresh token, nothing works. Go to Develop Apps and click "Authorize app."
Mistake 03
Hammering the API. SP-API has rate limits. If you're pulling data for 200 ASINs, don't blast all 200 requests at once. Claude Code usually builds in delays automatically, but if you see throttling errors, ask it to add a 1-2 second pause between calls.
Mistake 04
Expecting Claude Code to know where your credentials are. It doesn't read your mind. When you start a session, tell it: "My SP-API credentials are in a .env file at [path]." It'll take it from there.
When something breaks: Paste the error message directly into Claude Code. Don't try to interpret it. Just paste the whole thing. Nine times out of ten, it'll identify the problem and fix it. If it keeps failing on the same thing, type: "Stop. Let's try a different approach." It'll reset and come at it from another angle. This is the whole point of the tool.
07
What's Next
What month 2 looks like
Once you're comfortable with the first five builds and you've been running them for a few weeks, here's where things get interesting. These are the projects that start compounding your time back.
Automated restock alerts via Slack or email. Instead of running the health check manually, set it to run on a schedule and ping you when inventory gets low.
Competitor price monitoring. Track competitor pricing on your key ASINs and get alerted when someone undercuts you or raises prices.
Auto-generated weekly business reports. Revenue, ad spend, TACOS, inventory health, review velocity, all in one report delivered to your inbox every Monday morning.
PPC dayparting analysis. Figure out which hours of the day your ads perform best and which hours are burning money. Adjust bid schedules accordingly.
Listing A/B test tracking. If you're running Manage Your Experiments, pull the data automatically and get notified when a test reaches statistical significance.
The pattern is always the same: identify something you do manually and repeatedly, describe it to Claude Code in plain English, and let it build the automation. The more specific you are about what you want, the better the output.
You're not learning to code. You're learning to describe what you need clearly. That's it. And you're already good at that. You describe products to customers, processes to VAs, and strategies to partners every day. This is the same skill pointed at a different tool.
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Max Sigurdson-Scott & Rob Cosman Selling From the Beach sellingfromthebeach.com