Why do AI orders show up as Direct in WooCommerce?
The referrer was stripped. WooCommerce then files the session as Direct. The order is real. The source line is empty.
Why the report stays empty
WooCommerce’s source is the referrer. Chat apps, in-app browsers, and privacy tools often send none, so the session is filed as Direct. That is a missing header. It is not a verdict that a person typed your address. A theme pixel also misses any agent that never runs JavaScript. Looking at sessions by referrer and finding nothing does not mean no agent came.
What the order can still show
The stamp is written at checkout from the request your server received: the user-agent, and the signature when one was sent. It does not read an analytics report. An agent that never loads the theme still gets a line on the order.
Direct in the report and ChatGPT (declared) on the order can both be true. Order #14 was a ChatGPT-User checkout with no signature. The Buyer column is where that name sits, including when the source line is empty. Open the order.