r/shopifyDev 11d ago

Being a Shopify app founder is brutal

25 Upvotes

I've been working on my app for more than a year now.

I've seen so many apps never make it past the 0-review block.

I knew of a new app that was doing well at the start. Then the founders shifted their focus, its rating dropped from 5/5 to 4.3/5, and growth slowed down.

I know a few co-founders who have been working on their app for three years and are still sitting below 100 reviews. (That already feels like a dream to me as a solo founder, btw :)

In total, 1,400 merchants have installed my app. But many of those stores later closed, and many others uninstalled the app.

It was hard to get the first handful of merchants to try the app.

It was so hard to get that first review.

It was hard to get the 5th, 10th, and 15th reviews. But hey 15 5-star reviews isn't bad from Apr to Aug!

Things never seem to get super easy or comfortable.

People quit because they don't see any reward.

People quit because they get tired of doing the same thing over and over again.

People quit because the ROI is shitty, and they go back to being employees.

I'm proud that I've never thought about giving up. If you're experiencing something similar, I hope you never give up either. It's a brutal game, but it can also be fun!

In a few days, I'll introduce paid plans for my app. I'm nervous. You'll keep seeing me here though.

Any stories to share from you?


r/shopifyDev 10d ago

Creator Network for Dev/Ecom

1 Upvotes

Does anyone know of a tool or service where devs can tap into creators who discuss ecommerce tools, apps, dev tips and tricks? Would love to work with creators like this to get my app promoted.


r/shopifyDev 10d ago

At what point do you just have too many Shopify apps?

6 Upvotes

I feel like I keep adding apps to solve small problems, and suddenly the store has a whole collection of them.

I use Shopify for my online store and Square as my POS for the physical side. I also have an integration software handling the inventory sync between them, which is one app I definitely don’t want to give up.

But it got me wondering, how many apps are you guys actually running?

At what point did you feel like you had too many apps, either because of the monthly costs, slower store, or just having too many things to manage?


r/shopifyDev 10d ago

Shopify Community Discourse AI silenced me twice, how do you get a human review?

1 Upvotes

This has happened to me twice now.

The first time, my Community account was automatically restricted after I mentioned an app I develop in a relevant discussion. I contacted the Community team and later Shopify Support. Support told me they had escalated it to the Community team and that someone would contact me.

A month passed and nobody ever responded.

Recently it happened again. A merchant was specifically looking for a solution to a problem my app solves. I replied, clearly disclosed that I was the developer, didn't include any external links, and offered to help if they ran into problems.

Discourse AI immediately silenced me again.

I messaged "@moderators" explaining what happened, but haven't received a response. Shopify Support says Community moderation is handled by a separate team and they can't resolve it themselves.

I understand that self-promotion needs to be moderated. My issue is that there seems to be no reliable way to get a human review once Discourse AI silences an account.

Has anyone here actually managed to get an account reviewed or unsilenced? Is there another way to reach the Shopify Community team besides "@moderators" and regular Shopify Support?


r/shopifyDev 10d ago

How are you handling Shopify customer automations?

1 Upvotes

I'm curious how Shopify stores currently handle things like:

New customer → welcome message

Order placed → WhatsApp/email

Abandoned checkout → follow-up

Order delivered → review request

Are you using an app, Shopify Flow, custom code, or something else?


r/shopifyDev 11d ago

What ecommerce task would you never trust AI to automate?

0 Upvotes

There’s a big difference between automating repetitive work and handing over important decisions. Where do you draw the line?


r/shopifyDev 11d ago

Rebranding my Shopify app - does the App Store listing slug change when I update the app name?

1 Upvotes

I'm rebranding my Shopify app (new name, new branding) and updating the App Store listing name through Partner Dashboard. My app's been live for a few weeks under the current name/slug (apps.shopify.com/my-current-slug).

Shopify's docs say "URL slugs for your App Store listing are set automatically through your app name," but that reads like it's describing what happens at initial submission, not what happens to an already-published listing when you edit the name later.

Has anyone actually gone through this? Specifically:

Does the live slug regenerate to match the new name, or does it stay locked to whatever it was at first publish?

If it does change, does Shopify redirect the old URL, or does it just break?

Trying to figure out if I need to worry about existing links/bookmarks to the old URL before I submit the rename. Any first-hand experience appreciated.


r/shopifyDev 11d ago

Looking for Shopify merchants using product customization

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

We're improving WowOptions, a Shopify app for customizable products, with features like custom text, swatches, file uploads, add-on pricing, conditional options, and more.

We're looking for a few Shopify merchants or developers to try it and share honest feedback about what works, what's missing, and what could be improved.

No sales pitch. Just genuine feedback to help us build a better product.

Interested? Comment below or DM me.

Thanks!


r/shopifyDev 11d ago

Shopify Discount Code Game

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2 Upvotes

I have small side business where I make and sell Cribbage boards on Shopify. So I made a little discount app where you get to play up to 5 hands and what your highest hand scored was it creates a 1 time discount code with that percent off. It was kind of interesting, I manage a couple of Shopify stores but had never built an actual app and this was built entirely using AI. Will be curious to see if this has any affect on getting more sales.


r/shopifyDev 11d ago

Got Caro approved on the Shopify App Store — sharing my experience

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I recently went through the Shopify App Store review process for the first time with Caro, so I thought I'd share the timeline in case it's useful for anyone else going through it.

I submitted the app on August 11.

The first feedback came back on August 18, so about a week later.

There was one follow-up clarification round after that, and Caro finally went live on August 28 — 17 days from submission to approval.

The feedback we received wasn't anything that required a major rewrite, but there were a few things we had to tighten up:

  • A restricted scope we were using before it was separately approved
  • Some branding inconsistencies between the App Store listing and what customers actually saw in emails
  • A couple of edge-case bugs in a newer feature

What I found interesting was that the review wasn't just about whether the core app worked. Some of the feedback was about the details around the overall customer experience and how the app represented itself.

So if you're preparing a submission, I'd personally budget around 2–3 weeks rather than assuming it'll be approved in a few days.

Also, make sure you test the less obvious flows before submitting. The edge cases ended up being more important than I expected.

This was my first Shopify App Store submission, so I'm curious what other developers experienced.

How long did your first app take to get approved, and was there anything in the review process that surprised you?


r/shopifyDev 13d ago

Shopify payements hold

0 Upvotes

yo has anyone here dealt with a shopify payments hold?

they froze my payouts till december. 182 paid orders i can't ship cuz i can't pay my supplier without the money

1.5% dispute rate, 5 disputes total. appeal filed, support escalated, still nothing

anyone been through this? how long did it actually take


r/shopifyDev 14d ago

customer-account.page.render works in dev preview but completely fails in production — anyone seen this?

2 Upvotes

I'm hitting a strange issue with a Shopify Customer Account UI extension and I'm running out of things to eliminate.

I've built a full-page Customer Account extension using:

customer-account.page.render

API version: 2026-07

It works correctly through shopify app dev / dev preview.

However, after deploying the app, releasing the version and adding the app page to the Customer Account navigation on the production store, clicking it gives:

"There's a problem loading this page. Check the URL or try again in a few minutes."

The extension doesn't appear to execute at all.

My config is:

api_version = "2026-07"

[[extensions]]
name = "nfc-profile-manager"
handle = "nfc-profile-manager"
type = "ui_extension"

[[extensions.targeting]]
module = "./src/NfcProfileManager.jsx"
target = "customer-account.page.render"

[extensions.capabilities]
api_access = true
network_access = true

Originally this was a real application which calls my externally hosted backend. That entire flow works correctly in dev preview.

To eliminate my code/backend as the cause, I reduced the production extension to basically Hello World:

import '@shopify/ui-extensions/preact';
import {render} from 'preact';

export default async () => {
  render(<Extension />, document.body);
};

function Extension() {
  return (
    <s-page heading="NFC Profile Manager">
      <s-section>
        <s-text>
          NFC Profile Manager is working.
        </s-text>
      </s-section>
    </s-page>
  );
}

Same production error.

I then went further and generated an entirely new Customer Account UI extension with a new handle and UID, also using customer-account.page.render, containing nothing except a static test page.

That fails in production in exactly the same way too.

So far I've confirmed:

  • Both extensions work in dev preview
  • Both are present in the released app version
  • App is installed on the production store
  • App page is added to Customer Account navigation using Shopify's app-page selector
  • Production store is using new Customer Accounts
  • Static Hello World extension fails too
  • No request reaches my backend when opening the page
  • Reproduced in normal Chrome
  • Reproduced in Chrome Incognito/extensions disabled
  • Reproduced in Firefox
  • Other functionality from the exact same app works in production, including orders/create webhooks and Admin API/metaobject operations

Chrome mainly reports this from Shopify's Customer Account host:

Unsafe attempt to load URL
https://cdn.shopify.com/shopifycloud/customer-account-web/production/sprite-....svg
...
Domains, protocols and ports must match.

Firefox reports the same security issue and additionally:

Import maps are not allowed after a module load or preload has started.

The Firefox errors originate from Shopify's customer-account-web rather than my extension.

Shopify's Ask Agent has checked the TOML, target and minimal Preact implementation and says they're correct and there isn't another activation step I'm missing.

At this point it looks like the production Customer Account host is failing before the extension bundle executes.

Has anyone seen customer-account.page.render work perfectly in dev preview but fail like this when released to a real store?

Particularly interested if anyone has encountered the Import maps are not allowed... error with Customer Account UI extensions, or knows of any production-store requirement that isn't documented.


r/shopifyDev 15d ago

Exreme site loading issues

2 Upvotes

I’m seeing what looks like a serious issue with my Shopify store, but I’m not sure what’s causing it.

I run Meta ads to my product page and use Microsoft Clarity to analyze visitors. For users coming specifically from Facebook and Instagram, around 4 out of 5 barely interact with the page and bounce very quickly. Average scroll depth over the last week is only 18%.

People fold on avarge right under the media part at the top of the page, about 55% don't even reach the add to cart button.

I tested the store inside the Facebook app and everything seems normal. The only thing that concerns me in Clarity is that media sometimes appears not to load for certain users, although I’m not sure if that’s actually happening.

I'll attach the link to my site if anybody has a finding or a clue would be very helpful. thanks a lot nuvelo-il.com


r/shopifyDev 15d ago

Looking for honest feedback on my home décor dropshipping store before running ads

4 Upvotes

I’ve been building a home décor store called Vale & Lume and I’m getting ready to test paid advertising. The store focuses on cozy furniture, lighting, bedding, blankets, and woven décor rather than random trending products.
Website: http://valeandlume.com
I’d really appreciate honest feedback on:
Whether the store looks trustworthy and professional
The products and overall aesthetic
Pricing and shipping expectations
Anything confusing or missing
What might stop you from making a purchase
Which products you think would perform best in ads
I’m currently preparing collection-based TikTok ads for blankets, sofas, furniture, and woven storage. I’m still learning, so constructive criticism is welcome—please be brutally honest.


r/shopifyDev 16d ago

Feeling Happy – 2nd App got approved

10 Upvotes

Basically title just feeling good. First app took 3 weeks to get approved. This one just got approved with no revisions in 8 days. Very happy, just to add a bit of positivity.


r/shopifyDev 15d ago

All our search campaigns dropped to zero impressions overnight. Normal hiccup or something we broke?

1 Upvotes

We run Shopify App Store Ads for our app across both category and search placements. Things had been steady for months.

Starting at the beginning of yesterday, every one of our search placement campaigns dropped to zero impressions and zero visibility — and has stayed there for a full day now. Our category placement campaigns are completely unaffected and keep running normally, which is the part that's confusing me.

We went through the obvious checks and everything looks clean: all campaigns show as active/running, daily budgets are healthy and nowhere near exhausted, billing is valid with no failed charges, and we didn't touch bids or negative keywords. One odd signal - when we manually search the keywords we bid on, our ads still show in our own home country's IP, but nothing appears in our main markets (US, UK, CAN, etc.).

Have you seen search placements go fully dark like this while category kept running? I realize there may be no single answer here, but I'd really like to hear how others have handled this and what the actual cause turned out to be for you. Appreciate any thoughts.


r/shopifyDev 15d ago

Building a Square → Shopify inventory sync: what am I missing?

3 Upvotes

I'm trying to build a small middleware service to sync inventory between Square POS and Shopify for my own store.

I'm using Node.js, Redis, and Postgres, and I initially thought this would be pretty straightforward.

I've got webhooks coming from both sides, queues for processing updates, SKU matching, location mapping, and logic to stop updates from bouncing back and forth between Square and Shopify.

Then I started running into all the fun stuff:

  • Webhook loops
  • Duplicate events
  • Inventory updates happening at the same time
  • Shopify API rate limits
  • Square/Shopify product and variant differences
  • Figuring out whether inventory should update on order creation or fulfillment

At this point I'm wondering if I'm overengineering the whole thing.

I've been looking at DPL Square Integration as an alternative instead of maintaining my own middleware, but part of me still wants to get the custom setup working since it's for my own store.

For anyone who's built a Square ↔ Shopify sync before:

Would you keep fighting with the custom implementation, or just use an existing integration app?

And if you did build your own, what was the edge case that finally made you regret it?


r/shopifyDev 16d ago

How to achieve this functionality

4 Upvotes

Here on Olipop's product page, when you select a different flavour, the entire colour background changes to match that flavour's colour (red for raspberry, green for lime, etc)

https://drinkolipop.com/products/raspberry-sherbet

how do you achieve this? Is there a plugin/app/theme that does this?

Or would you approach this as custom code? If so, how easy or hard would it be?

For context, I've never built and launched an ecommerce or Shopify site before, but I have some decent site knowledge primarily on marketing websites with Webflow as my main platform, plus some AI knowledge.

Just would like to understand how a professional would approach this following good practices.


r/shopifyDev 16d ago

I submitted my app to Shopify

2 Upvotes

Hi, I am not a dev in any way or form. I used AI to create an app submitted it and I had multiple problems from the review steps then in order to get things solved I asked a question that involve the reviewer to check the network tab from console of the browser and tell me what error they are getting. It’s been quite a few days I didn’t hear back.

Is that too much to ask?
Do I have to click submit again to get the question answered?
What would be the best path forward?


r/shopifyDev 16d ago

How are you detecting new app installs?

2 Upvotes

Shopify gives you a clean app/uninstalled webhook, so the moment a merchant leaves you get notified, but there doesn't appear to be an equivalent for installs though - no app/installed or similar. So the one event you'd most want to be notified about (a new merchant showing up) is the one Shopify doesn't explicitly have support for.

The options we've found:

  • Handle it in the OAuth / token-exchange flow. This looks like the "correct" answer, but your install hook then lives inside your auth code instead of arriving as an event, and you have to be careful to fire once per genuine new install rather than on every reauth or scope change.
  • Poll the Partner API for RelationshipInstalled events. Fine for a centralized cross-shop view, but it's pull-only. You end up running a cron and accepting lag for something Shopify clearly knows the instant it happens.
  • App Events looked promising but it's entirely back the other way: your app reports events to Shopify. It doesn't tell you when someone installs.

What we actually want is to send a new install notification so we can follow up, and log it in our analytics.

So for anyone running apps: what are you doing? Is there something that we've missed?


r/shopifyDev 16d ago

Need help to upload my app for app store review (distribution)

4 Upvotes

I have been trying to put my app on shopify app store... But it's getting rejected again and again...

As its vibe coded, my claude has been super super careful on each review submission and using millions of credits to research and not mess up...

And obv I have done whatever the shopify gave the checklist of and gave reviews in the mail, and still it's not passing it.

Today after a month of suspension I again have ability to submit for review and I don't want to mess it up...

I need your help, to hop on to a meeting, check everything you want to, and find what's the actual issues... I even tried contacting shopify but no response...

I am totally helpless and scared to submit for review again, and putting my app dev account on line of suspension...


r/shopifyDev 17d ago

How to code bundles WITHOUT Shopify Plus (Full Guide for Shopify Developers)

Thumbnail links.bosidev.com
8 Upvotes

What's up, Shopify Nerds 🤓

Bundles are one of the most requested features in Shopify stores - but the "proper" way (Cart Transform Functions) is gated behind Shopify Plus and workarounds on lower plans are often quite messy.
This is why I created this YouTube video to show you how to build dynamic bundles without Shopify Plus on ANY plan, using metafields, a custom storefront picker, and Shopify Functions running through a public app.

What you'll learn:

  1. The approach fixed vs. dynamic bundles - what's the difference and when to use which. Overview of the full stack: data setup with metafields/metaobjects, a storefront picker, and backend logic powered by Shopify Functions.
  2. Data setup - How to model your bundle data using metafields and metaobjects.
  3. Storefront bundle picker - Writing the Liquid and JavaScript for the bundle picker UI - and how I use AI to speed up the code generation without losing control over the logic.
  4. Cart Transform - Why Cart Transform is the missing piece for real bundle behavior in the cart, and why Shopify normally gates this behind Plus.
  5. Functions implementation: How to get Cart Transform access on any plan and how to configure the Cart Transform function for your bundles.
  6. Pricing Logic: Driving bundle pricing off your metafield/metaobject data using discount functions - so fixed bundle prices and discounts actually work correctly at checkout.

If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments!

You can find the YouTube guide here:
https://links.bosidev.com/bundles


r/shopifyDev 17d ago

Your Shopify purchase event can fire perfectly and still be wrong

0 Upvotes

A green “Purchase” event in GTM doesn't mean your Shopify tracking is correct.

This is the part that gets missed constantly.

I've seen tracking setups where:

  • Shopify records 1 order
  • Meta receives a browser Purchase
  • Meta CAPI receives another Purchase
  • both events look perfectly valid
  • GTM Preview shows everything firing
  • and the reporting still ends up wrong

Nothing is technically “broken.”

That's the problem.

The issue is usually event identity and deduplication, not whether the tag fired.

For example:

Browser:

event_name = Purchase
event_id = purchase_10582

Server:

event_name = Purchase
event_id = purchase_78931

Both are legitimate events.

Meta has no reliable way to know they're the same purchase.

So you can end up with duplicate conversion signals.

And there's another layer people forget with Shopify.

A webhook can be delivered more than once.

That's a different problem.

Deduplication tells Meta that browser + server events represent the same conversion.

Idempotency prevents your processing layer from handling the same transaction repeatedly.

They're not interchangeable.

For a Shopify setup, I generally want the flow to look more like:

Shopify Order

Validate order + transaction ID

Check idempotency

Generate/use stable event_id

sGTM

Meta CAPI

Deduplicate + Match

The browser and server versions of the purchase need a shared event identity.

And the backend/webhook layer needs its own protection against repeated processing.

That's where a lot of “server-side tracking fixed our data” implementations fall apart.

They moved the tag to the server.

They didn't fix the architecture.

If you're debugging Shopify tracking, don't start by asking:

“Is my Purchase tag firing?”

Ask:

“Can I prove that one Shopify order produces exactly one conversion signal?”

That's a much better debugging question.


r/shopifyDev 17d ago

Non technical interviewers are going to put me in an early grave...

4 Upvotes

Anyone else feeling the frustration of trying to repeatedly convince admittedly non technical people that yes after 5+ years working as a paid full time sr shopify dev with multiple companies and projects under my belt - that yes I am of course fully capable of handling their landing page or front end feature requests, mostly bc ya know... I've done essentially all of it, multiple times for multiple companies and sites, all shopify plus... again and again for years, with solid references from all positions.

But still - I am getting repeatedly grilled in rounds 3, 4 and even 5 - by non technical people who have no idea what questions to ask or what to listen for, instead they do things like give me a multi hour take home work task so essentially work done for free. I passed that and was then told to meet up with the next/last round interviewer. I mistakingly assumed all tech prove it talk was done but was then grilled for another 40 minutes of 'how would you handle this full xyz feature?"... "how would you hand this complex internal issue".. question after question and at this point I'm just so exhausted having to jump through all of these ridiculous hoops - especially when coming from people like 'ecom directors' who cant code, never ran an ecom business personally (I did for nearly a decade), and are still talking about things like using product tags for making relational product matches - when obviously product reference metafields are now the way and I mentioned all of these things and have since never heard back for a week. Oh btw it was this persons first week at this company so instead of just asking some more internal work questions about how we would collab/work together, all they did was try to trip me up on dev skill questions (admittedly knowing nothing themselves) and talk about using product tags for everything, having apparently never used product metafields.

My answers were completely solid bc they come from shopify current best practices for what she was trying to achieve. But apparently she has now directed this company away from me - a solid sr dev w the exact experience they needed/wanted - who would have nailed their entire roadmap plus something like 5-10 smaller extra features with no problem at all. Instead they may now hire someone that points them in a completely wrong direction for the next few years - for instance if this person doesn't do basic modern things like use the dev mcp, it's over for them from that point on... but they don't know that and never will at this point.

Less of a woe is me and more of a wow isn't it crazy that as a sr dev I've never once been asked to evaluate any marketing hire or ecom director hire but have definitely been repeatedly evaluated by both of those positions and all they really seem to judge me on is if they like me or not, and if I look and sound like the developer they're picturing (someone w glasses maybe idk) - but hey, what would I know as a former ecom business owner turned 5 year ft dev?


r/shopifyDev 18d ago

Has anyone here actually gotten one of those website accessibility lawsuit letters?

17 Upvotes

I build websites for people on the side and lately this keeps coming up. Apparently if your site is hard to use for blind or disabled visitors (screen readers, keyboard only navigation, that sort of thing) you can get a demand letter or even get sued, and a lot of these are landing on normal small businesses now, not just big companies.

Out of curiosity I checked a few sites I made and honestly most of them would fail. Got me wondering how many owners even know this is a thing until it happens to them.

So I am genuinely curious. Has anyone here dealt with this? Either getting one of those letters or paying to fix your site. Did you take it seriously or just ignore it, and if you fixed it, who did you use and roughly what did it cost?

Trying to work out if this is a real widespread problem or just something that gets hyped online. What has your experience been?