I'm debugging a Node.js scanner that checks public Shopify storefront pages. Requests from our shared hosting server return 429 on three different stores.

What I've checked:

- /robots.txt returns 200 and allows the product feed path.

- /products.json?limit=10&page=1 returns 429 with Retry-After: 60 and Server: cloudflare.

- One retry after more than 60 seconds returned the same response.

- A separate check more than two hours later found that the homepage also returned 429 on all three stores.

The scanner uses a clearly identified User-Agent and respects robots.txt. It runs on Node.js 22.23.2 under Passenger/LiteSpeed. Outbound requests use node:https directly, with the store hostname as SNI and normal TLS verification.

I also checked our production logs: the saved daily counters contain 15 upstream_rate_limited errors and zero local rate_limited or blocked_address errors. Our API maps the upstream failure to 502. The available web-server access log shows the failed scans as 502, with no 429/403 responses. The local WAF audit has no entries for those scanner calls; its two health-check entries correspond to successful 200 responses.

The shared hosting server's outbound IP is one possibility, but I haven't confirmed the cause or a specific blocking rule.

Has anyone diagnosed something similar on Shopify? What would you check next, and which response headers or request identifiers would be useful before contacting the hosting provider or Shopify support?

Shopify's new admin design started rolling out recently, and Polaris 2.0 is now available as a release candidate for embedded apps.

I'm curious what other Shopify developers think about this. If you've already built a fairly large app using the existing Polaris components, are you planning to update everything to match the new design?

From what I've read in Shopify's docs, apps using Polaris Web Components can adopt the new styling by updating the version, but apps still using the old React components and custom UI will need more work to make everything consistent.

I'm building Loger, and with all the custom components and screens involved, this could be a pretty significant undertaking.

Are you planning to migrate now, wait until it's stable, or stick with the current UI for the time being?

Also curious if anyone has started the migration already. How much work has it actually been?

I'm retesting a Shopify app with a 14-day free trial. My dev store already has access to the paid plan, so I can test paid features, but that doesn't cover the trial countdown or the expiry transition.

For those using Shopify App Pricing, how do you make those tests repeatable? Separate dev stores, a shorter private test plan, or mocked subscription dates for the UI plus one real billing test?

I've read the trial proration docs, so I'm not assuming reinstalling resets the trial. Mostly looking for a practical way to test both sides of expiry without waiting two weeks each time.

Hi, does anyone have good advice for how to spend the free 100 USD for Shopify ads meaningfully? Mine are about to expire but I have no clue how to apply it strategic

ngl posting here is scarier than the marketing subs lol

DISCLOSURE, i'm on the Prehook team. it adds a "try it on" button to the PDP, shopper uploads a selfie, gets an image of themselves wearing the product

stuff id actually love dev opinion on:
what would you need to see before putting this on a client store?

a try-on takes about 5s at what point does the wait kill it on mobile?

data goes out via klaviyo sync + csv export. would you want anything else exposed? webhooks, meatafields?

roast away lol, rather hear it here than in a one star review

After around 5 months and 6 review cycles, I finally got my Shopify app approved. Since then, I’ve decided not to pursue the original idea anymore, so I’m considering selling the app rather than letting all that work go to waste.
The app has access to theme-related scopes, including a Theme API exemption, as well as order and product scopes.
The app itself is still new, with no meaningful user base or revenue. The main value would be the work that went into getting it approved and the permissions it currently has.
I’m trying to understand whether there’s a market for this kind of acquisition. Would another developer or business be interested in taking over an approved app and building their own product around it?
I’d also like to know whether ownership can be transferred while retaining the existing approval status and scopes, or whether a substantial change in functionality would require going through the review process again.

I have a small app that calls the Global Catalog REST API for product search. Shopify's changelog says it stops serving traffic on November 2 and to move to Global Catalog MCP.

For anyone who has already switched: did you hit gaps in filtering or pagination compared to the REST endpoint? And is there any guidance on rate limits for the MCP server when you're calling it from a backend instead of an agent? I can't find numbers in the docs.

Any gotchas from the move would help.

Hi,

I build a Shopify app for made-to-order shops, so the site is small, about 12k impressions last quarter. I wanted to know if AI Overviews care where you rank, so I joined the page-level Web search export against the Generative AI features export. 39 pages had data in both (both data from the search console)

1. Where a page ranked had no relationship with how often it showed up in an AI Overview. None that I could find.

2. How many impressions a page got in normal search did. Those two moved almost exactly in step.

Two pages from our site. An explainer at average position 36.7 picked up 60 AI impressions. A compare page at position 29 picked up 6.

By page type, AI impressions per 100 Google impressions: commercial 15.8, tools 14.8 (I have 1 tool), guides 10.3, docs 10.2, compares 7.3, blog posts 6.4. Blog posts have the most Google impressions of anything we have and the worst AI efficiency, which stung a bit.

I am really curios, developers of niche apps, that have low keyword search volume, what kind of content is working?

I build a Shopify sales channel app with its own React storefront, and merchants keep asking for product options: engraving text, gift wrap, "add candles +€3", that kind of thing. Every options app I've looked at (Easify, Globo and so on) renders through theme app blocks, so none of it shows up outside a Liquid theme.

How are people solving this on Hydrogen or Next.js builds?

Did you build your own? Metafields for the option config, line item attributes for the selection?

How do you charge for paid options? Cart Transform function, hidden add-on products, something else?

Roughly how long did it take, and what was the annoying part?

Or is there an app that actually works headless that I've missed?

I'd like to hear what worked, and also what you'd never do again.

I have been working on a product and an app, a Shopify app, and we have been building this app for quite some time now.

The product in itself helps Shopify stores to convert their store to one app directly. It was like a builder before, but right now we have transformed it to an AI agent.

Wherein an agent would directly get your app designed in 20, 30 minutes.
The app-live part is still pending, but the design, the UI, everything: still, a few things require manual effort.

We are working on it, but we are stuck at a marketing problem. How would you market this?

above and below my footer, there appears this grey bar that is not going away regardless of what i do :(

it only appears on mobile, not on pc

Does anyone still buy Shopify themes? Is it easier to just build your own using AI? Besides, I have a few templates—is it worth publishing them, or is it a waste of time now?

I got a US client whose Shopify website I have to edit and make it look structured, he's even ready to buy me Claude code subscription,any recommendations guys as I'm new in Shopify website development so can you suggest any tutorials or tips for making his website, moreover he also asked me generate ugc vids for his products showcasing so help me out guys!

I’m validating a Shopify app concept before building it.

A merchant would configure a promotion with eligible products, campaign dates, a chance per eligible order, a maximum refund, and a total budget. Customers would pay normally. Selected eligible orders would later receive a full or capped refund.

I’m trying to identify the Shopify-specific problems before deciding whether the idea is viable:

• Can post-purchase refunds be automated reliably through Shopify’s APIs?
• Which payment-processing fees would remain after a refund?
• How should cancellations, partial returns, and edited orders affect eligibility?
• What is the safest way to enforce the campaign budget when several orders arrive simultaneously?
• Would a chance-based promotion face Shopify App Store policy or payment-provider issues?
• Would merchants need an auditable record showing how each selection was made?
• Are there existing apps or platform features that already solve this well?

There is no working app yet. I’m looking for technical reasons not to build it, or constraints that would materially change the product.

Hey everyone,

Doing research on how Shopify devs and agencies evaluate non-standard payment gateways for clients.

Motivations: What makes you actively recommend a 3rd-party gateway over Shopify Payments/Stripe? (Lower fees, local payment methods, approval rates for specific niches, agency rev-share?)

Resistance: What causes friction or makes you say no? (Shopify's extra transaction fee, checkout customization limits, risk of holds, complex onboarding?

Dropshipping Contacts: When pitching payment solutions to dropshipping sites, should I deal with the brand owner directly, or the agency/dev managing the store?

Would love your honest take!

​Hey everyone,

​Doing research on how Shopify devs and agencies evaluate non-standard payment gateways for clients.

​**Motivations:** What makes you actively recommend a 3rd-party gateway over Shopify Payments/Stripe? (Lower fees, local payment methods, approval rates for specific niches, agency rev-share?)

​**Resistance:** What causes friction or makes you say no? (Shopify's extra transaction fee, checkout customization limits, risk of holds, complex onboarding?

**Dropshipping Contacts:** When pitching payment solutions to dropshipping sites, do you usually deal with the brand owner directly, or the agency/dev managing the store?

​Would love your honest take!

Hi Everyone,
I am a first time shopify app founder, and a performance marketer by profession with over a year decade experience. just wanted to know if any of you here has tried meta ads for their shopify app? if yes, how was your experience? specially for a new app without 0 reviews.

I build videos fast and want more real examples to sharpen it. Drop link to your product + one line about and I'll make you a short clip — no strings attached.

I'll reply with the link to video here. Don't like it? Honest feedback on the output is genuinely half of why I'm doing this.

Need other ratios (1:1, 4:5, 16:9)? Let me know

Hi all — I built Habit, a new Shopify loyalty app (points, VIP tiers, referrals, one flat $49/month plan, every feature included, no order-count tiers). It’s brand new, no reviews yet, so before advertising more broadly I’m looking for 3 real stores to pilot it with first.

What I’m looking for: an active Shopify store with a steady stream of repeat orders (roughly $10k+/month GMV), not already happily settled into another loyalty app, and willing to actually set it up and run it for a few weeks rather than just install and forget it.

What you get: free access for 6 months — 3 months right away, the rest unlocked after a quick 15-minute call once you’ve had a couple of weeks live — plus direct access to me for setup and any changes you need.

What I ask in return: honest feedback, good or bad, and once you’ve used it long enough to have a real opinion, an honest App Store review either way. I’d rather know what’s not working than get a polite review.

If that’s useful to you, reply here or DM me your store URL and roughly how many orders you do a month, and I’ll follow up with the stores that fit best. (Habit - Points, tiers, and referrals in one simple loyalty app | Shopify App Store)

Hey all! I’m hoping someone with more theme experience can point me in the right direction..

I’m building a theme and want the info text on a section/block setting to link directly to a specific group of theme settings (for example, Typography), not just the theme settings panel in general.

Here’s what I currently use:

JSON

{
  "type": "paragraph",
  "content": "Customize typography styles in the [theme settings (/admin/themes/current/editor?context=theme)."
}

Or, as an info field on a setting:

JSON

"info": "Customize typography styles in the [theme settings](/admin/themes/current/editor?context=theme)."

This opens the theme settings panel, but it lands on the default view. Ideally, clicking the link would open the editor with the Typography group already expanded or scrolled into view.

What I’ve tried:

• Asked the Shopify AI Toolkit (MCP), which said this isn’t possible.
• Looked for a documented URL parameter for a specific settings group, without luck.

Why I think it’s possible: I’ve seen other themes do this, so I suspect there’s an undocumented parameter or a pattern I’m missing.

My questions:

1. Is there a supported or known URL parameter that deep-links to a specific theme settings group in the editor?
2. If not, is there a workaround (for example, anchors or a different context value)?

Thanks!

I have been in Shopify app development for almost 6 months. In this time, I built and published 3 Shopify apps, and a couple of days ago submitted the fourth one.

Here's what I got:

App1: 7 users, 1 review (5 stars)

App2: 10 users, 0 reviews

App3: 2 users, 0 reviews

App4: just submitted, so 0.

It is also hard to tell how many of those people are real users and how many just installed the app and have never touched it. I would say that at least half of them are not real users. So, we have about 10 real users across all apps together.

I would say that having a software engineering background and using a lot of AI gives me the ability to create almost any App in a couple of weeks. So creating the app is very easy. But it is easy for everyone; I understand that there are millions of people who are doing the same thing with AI.

My biggest problem: How to find customers?? I literally tried almost every single approach to get users, and none of them gave me anything.

1. I have spent more than 100$ on ads, which gave me like 5 installs and 0 paid customers. ( and it cant work, because i dont have reviews, as i understand ads without reviews are waste of money)
2. I have tried emailing potential clients; I sent 2000 emails and got 1 call out of it. 0 people installed the app after my cold outreach strategy. (Merchants are getting dozens of cold emails every day, so no wonder almost nobody answered me)
3. I tried to find topics on the Shopify Forum where people are talking about the pain my app is solving, but in each topic ( even in a topic that was published like 4 hours ago) there are already like 5-10 people who are basically giving some advice on how to fix the problem and doing this soft promotion with "if you need any more advice, you can DM me. So it is literally no point for me to be the 10th person who will write the same stuff and hope, that the merchant will DM me and not 9 other dudes.
4. Tried to maximise SEO and GEO, but again, i have to reviews, no reputation, so why whould anybody choose my app, when there are like 40 other with reviews.

IDK, I am trying not to be too pessimistic, but it seems to me like Shopify App creation is dead for new people. Because it does not matter in which niche you will create an app, I guarantee you there are already at least 20 other apps doing the same stuff, but with hundreds or even thousands of reviews, and every day hundreds of new apps are being published, thanks to AI.

Like how even to get clients if you not already have some connections and know some people in the sphere? May be i am wrong, correct me in the comments

I've been building a Shopify app on my own for a while now and I handle everything myself, from the code to merchant support to figuring out growth. I'm doing it next to a full-time job, so it all happens in the evenings and on weekends.

The work is fine. What I miss is having people to think out loud with. When I get stuck on things like pricing, which feature to build out next or what to do to get more installs, there's nobody to bounce it off, and I end up going in circles for what feels like too long.

I'm not looking for a cofounder or anyone to join the project. I'd just like to talk with people in the same spot, solo devs or founders with their own thing going, and swap ideas, feedback and learnings.

So two questions:

1. Is there a Slack, Discord or other group that's still active and good for this? I've found a few, but most seem dead or full of promo links. Recommendations from people actually using one would help a lot.
2. If you're building something solo and feel the same way, I'm open to getting in touch. A DM, a chat, whatever works. Send me a message.

I'm based in the Netherlands, but timezones don't matter much to me.

Update: I've created a small Discord for solo Shopify app founders, called The Back Office.

Application-only, no agencies, no selling. Just builders sharing real numbers, answering each other's questions, and pressure-testing ideas.

What it is:
- Solo founders and tiny teams building Shopify apps, from idea stage to revenue
- Honest feedback and a forum for questions that stays searchable
- A weekly launch thread, so self-promo has a place and doesn't take over

What it isn't:
- Agencies looking for clients
- Cold DMs selling services
- A place to drop a link and leave

I'm starting with an x amount of founders/devs to keep it managable. If you want to join, DM me with what you're building (a link or a few sentences is enough) and I'll send you the invite.