# Give the bird a shopping list.

A saved shopper tells the bird what to shop on your site and how far to go. Monitoring runs it on a schedule.

Each shopper has a name, the departments it shops, whether it submits inquiries or looks only, how often it runs, its day of check, and areas of focus: anything particular you want it to try. You change it in the app or by asking your assistant.

## What each setting does

| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Name | What you call it. Left empty, it is named by its departments and how far it goes, such as Service and parts · looks only. |
| Departments | New vehicles, Used vehicles, Service and Parts. Pick one to four. |
| Submits inquiries or looks only | Submits: Sends test inquiries and books appointments under a name that says it is an automated Dr. Canary site test. Test inquiries count toward your monthly allowance. Looks only: Stops at the last step before any inquiry, booking, order or message is sent, and records what the site shows there. |
| Frequency | Follows your plan, or runs on its own: monthly, biweekly (every 14 days) or weekly. |
| Day of check | A day of the week for a weekly or biweekly schedule, or a day of the month for a monthly one, in a named time zone. |
| Pause | Stops scheduled checks until you resume them. A check you ask for can still run it. There is no automatic resume date. |
| Areas of focus | Optional. Add things for this shopper to try. Each has what to do, an optional start page, an optional statement of what counts as done, and whether it runs one time or going forward. |

## Areas of focus, in depth

| Field | Limit |
| --- | --- |
| What to do | 12 to 600 characters |
| Start page (optional) | a full web address |
| What counts as done (optional) | up to 300 characters |
| Runs | one time or going forward |

- Runs one time: on the next check only. It leaves the list once that check has been taken up.
- Runs going forward: on every check, until you remove it.
- A shopper can carry more than one area of focus. The same one listed twice is kept once.

Things a customer might ask for:

- Value a trade-in from the home page and record the offer the tool shows.
- Book a tire rotation for next week and check that the confirmation names the right day.
- Find a used SUV in stock and ask whether it is still available.
- Compare what the site requests before a cookie choice, after Reject all, after Accept all, after withdrawing and on return.

- [The consent comparison, in depth](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/consent-testing/)

## More than one shopper

A site can have more than one saved shopper: for example, a sales shopper for new and used vehicles that submits inquiries, and a service shopper that looks only. Each keeps its own settings, frequency and day of check.

A re-check you ask for runs the first saved shopper that has not been retired, including a paused one. It is not necessarily the shopper you changed last.

## Pausing and retiring

|  | What stops | What stays |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pause | Scheduled checks, until you resume. | The shopper and its settings. A check you ask for can still run it. |
| Retire | Future scheduled checks. It leaves the active list. | Its recorded checks. |

- In the app, retiring is called Delete. The shopper goes and its checks stay.
- A pause has no automatic resume date.
- If every shopper is retired, nothing runs until one is added.

## What needs monitoring

- Monitoring runs a secret shopper on a schedule.
- Changing a saved shopper and asking for a re-check need monitoring. A one-time checkup does not include them.
- Test inquiries belong to monitoring, with a monthly allowance set by your plan. A checkup sends none.
- Only an owner or admin of the site changes what is shopped.

- [Compare plans](https://www.drcanary.com/pricing/)

## What it does not do

- There is no way to run one chosen shopper on demand. A re-check runs the first saved shopper that has not been retired.
- There is no way to run a single area of focus by itself. It runs as part of the shopper’s check.
- A re-check is requested for your connected site, not for a web address.
- Saving a shopper never starts a check.
- A pause has no automatic resume date.
- Current settings use dealership departments: New vehicles, Used vehicles, Service and Parts.

## Ask your assistant

- “Show my saved shoppers and their settings.” Uses `list_assignments`.
- “Create a service shopper named Service check that looks only, follows the plan and starts paused. Do not run a check.” Uses `list_assignments`, `save_assignment`. Saving does not start a check.
- “Move my sales shopper’s day of check to Tuesdays, Chicago time.” Uses `list_assignments`, `set_assignment_calendar`.
- “Retire the parts shopper and keep its history.” Uses `list_assignments`, `retire_assignment`. Its recorded checks stay. For a break, ask to pause it instead.

More examples: https://www.drcanary.com/mcp/examples/

## Questions

### What is a secret shopper here?

A saved set of instructions for the bird: which departments to shop on your site, whether to submit inquiries or look only, how often, on which day, and anything particular to try. Monitoring runs it on a schedule, and each check lands as a report.

### Can I tell it exactly what to try?

Yes, with areas of focus. Write what to do in 12 to 600 characters, add a start page and what counts as done if you want, and choose whether it runs one time or going forward.

### What happens when I pause it?

Scheduled checks stop until you resume them. A check you ask for can still run the paused shopper. There is no automatic resume date.

### Can it stop before sending anything?

Yes. Set it to looks only. It stops at the last step before any inquiry, booking, order or message is sent, and records what the site shows there.

### Will the store know an inquiry is a test?

Yes, if they read the name. The inquiry names itself as an automated Dr. Canary site test.

### Does saving start a check?

No. Saving changes what the next check does. To run one now, ask for a re-check, which runs the first saved shopper that has not been retired.

### Can my assistant change it?

Yes, through the Dr. Canary connection, with the same permissions and monitoring requirements as the app. It reads the shopper first and keeps every setting you did not ask to change.

## Related

- [Capabilities](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/) · [markdown](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities.md)
- [Consent](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/consent-testing/) · [markdown](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/consent-testing.md)
- https://www.drcanary.com/pricing/

https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/secret-shoppers/ · updated 2026-11-11