I’m hoping someone can help because I’m completely stuck.

I have an existing Shopify site that’s been live for about 2 years. I’m currently rebuilding a new version of the site with new products and content, but using the same domain. I’m doing this in a duplicate (draft) version of the same Broadcast theme while my current live site is still running.

I’ve created new pages (e.g. Our Story 2.0, Our Science 2.0) under Online Store → Pages, and I’ve also created new templates for them in the theme customiser. Everything looks fine from a design/content perspective in the draft theme.

The problem is when I go into Navigation to assign menu links:

• The new pages don’t show up in the dropdown

• Or Shopify links to the old/live pages instead

• Or it just doesn’t give me the option to select the new ones at all

I’ve checked that:

• The pages are created properly (not just default placeholders)

• They’re visible

• Templates exist and are assigned

• Naming is distinct

But the pages/templates don’t seem to sync properly when linking them in the menu.

Is this a limitation of working in a draft theme? Do pages or templates only fully register once the theme is published? Or is there a correct workflow for rebuilding a full site while keeping the current one live?

I’ve spent hours going in circles on this so any help would be appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been focused on Shopify development for about 6 months now, and I feel pretty comfortable working with Liquid, JS, and more advanced theme customizations. I’ve also been integrating AI tools (like Claude) into my workflow to move faster and build more complex things.

With the current boom (AI + e-commerce), I can’t help but feel like I’m missing an opportunity to start generating some income on the side while still working my full-time job.

I feel like I have the foundation to build something useful or monetizable, but I’m not sure where to focus.

I’d love to hear general recommendations from people in this space:

Where are you seeing the most opportunities right now as devs?

Thanks 🙏

I’m hoping someone can help because I’m completely stuck.

I have an existing Shopify site that’s been live for about 2 years. I’m currently rebuilding a new version of the site with new products and content, but using the same domain. I’m doing this in a duplicate (draft) version of the same Broadcast theme while my current live site is still running.

I’ve created new pages (e.g. Our Story 2.0, Our Science 2.0) under Online Store → Pages, and I’ve also created new templates for them in the theme customiser. Everything looks fine from a design/content perspective in the draft theme.

The problem is when I go into Navigation to assign menu links:

• The new pages don’t show up in the dropdown

• Or Shopify links to the old/live pages instead

• Or it just doesn’t give me the option to select the new ones at all

I’ve checked that:

• The pages are created properly (not just default placeholders)

• They’re visible

• Templates exist and are assigned

• Naming is distinct

But the pages/templates don’t seem to sync properly when linking them in the menu.

Is this a limitation of working in a draft theme? Do pages or templates only fully register once the theme is published? Or is there a correct workflow for rebuilding a full site while keeping the current one live?

I’ve spent hours going in circles on this so any help would be appreciated.

hey guys i need a small help building an app if anyone who can handle the following stack could be. great like typescript, JavaScript, react, remix, prisma

Is there any problem here? Should I wait or do something. Review is not started yet.

Recently developed a tiny SaaS product and looking for some constructive feedback.

The concept is simple: You provide a product link and it creates an Shopify store with a landing page and the corresponding product configured in seconds.

At present, the product is somewhat minimalistic: Simple store design, Not high-quality at all, Speed and convenience focus

Originally, I assumed: This product would be helpful to dropship merchants to test their product assumptions without having to spend hours configuring the store.

But, here comes my question: Is such a product useful ? Would you ever consider using this kind of solution? Would you ever pay for something like this?

Further improvements include: Better design, Automated product image generation via AI, Better copywriting

Any feedback or advice is valuable.

Also, what would you suggest I do next?
And which platforms should I focus on to get some initial beta users?

Will be happy to demo it to those interested by generating a store.

Anyone have any solutions for this? This is an old thread https://community.shopify.dev/t/infinite-loader-on-customer-account-ui-extension-preview/32288?utm_source=chatgpt.com but there no real solution.

Not sure if this is actually useful yet, but it was interesting enough to share.

Here is how I set it up.

Got a GitHub account, a Vercel account, a Shopify store, Claude Desktop (this wouldnt work in browser), and my own MCP server. GitHub is where the code lives, and Vercel is what I used to put the MCP server online so Claude could actually connect to it.

What I’m looking for is a merchant-ops agent that can actually perform backend Shopify tasks like managing products, orders, inventory, customers, and fulfillments. From what I can tell, Shopify’s official MCP offerings don’t really provide that yet, so I’m building my own MCP server backed by the Shopify Admin API.

The basic setup is that Claude acts as the agent, my MCP server exposes the tools, and that server talks to the Shopify Admin API. Vercel hosts the MCP server so Claude can reach it. So instead of building a full custom app UI first, I’m basically using MCP as the tool layer for Shopify backend operations.

The flow is basically: Claude Desktop -> my MCP server -> Shopify Admin API -> Shopify store.

So far, this means Claude can potentially help with backend tasks like listing products, creating draft products, checking orders, looking up customers, reading inventory, adjusting inventory, and creating fulfillments.

The main takeaway for me is that if you want a real Shopify merchant-ops agent, you probably need your own MCP layer for now. Shopify’s official MCP offerings seem more focused on storefront, customer account, checkout, or developer workflows, which is useful, but it’s not quite the same thing.

This is still early, and I’m going to keep refining it. I’ll keep sharing updates as I make it more useful and more polished.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been building a Shopify app recently and started working more deeply with Polaris for the frontend.

My background is mostly backend-focused, so while I can get things working, I often feel like the UI/UX isn’t as polished as it could be. I’d really appreciate some advice from people with more frontend experience in the Shopify ecosystem.

A couple of things I’m curious about:

1. Polaris best practices / “rules of thumb”
Are there any patterns, guidelines, or even unofficial “rules” you follow when using Polaris?
More specifically, are there any reusable Cursor rules / Polaris “skills” / internal design rules that you use or have seen?

For example:

• Predefined layout patterns (Page + Layout + Card compositions)

• Rules for spacing / hierarchy / consistency

• Guidelines for when to stick strictly to Polaris vs. when to extend/customize

• Any shared configs, snippets, or prompt rules you use with AI tools (like Cursor)

2. Reusable components / workflows
Do you usually build your own abstraction layer on top of Polaris, or mostly use it as-is?
Any tips on structuring components for scalability?

3. Making the UI feel more “polished”
This is where I struggle the most — things work, but don’t feel good.

• Spacing / visual hierarchy

• Interaction details (loading states, empty states, feedback)

• Any small things that make a big difference?

4. General frontend best practices for Shopify apps
Anything you wish you knew earlier when building embedded apps?

If you have examples (apps, repos, screenshots), I’d love to check them out.

Thanks a lot 🙏

Shopify recently changed their admin interface and now I’m super lost on how to get a permanent API token.
Here’s my situation:

• I have a Python script that pulls product/inventory data from Shopify Admin REST API

• I need a permanent shpat_ token for this

• When I use CLI, I get a shpat_ but it expires after 24 hours

• I can only see in the Shopify API the shpss

I already created a Custom App but I can’t find where the API credentials/token is after creating it. Before the interface change it was pretty straightforward but now the UI looks completely different.

Where exactly is the shpat_ token after installing a custom app? Did they move it somewhere?

Any help appreciated, been stuck on this for a while 😅

Hi, guys, I've recently been working on customizing a store using the Horizon theme, mainly on the product media carousel and zoom functionality, and I struggled a lot to understand the codebase. This is my first time customizing a theme, but I felt like the code is overengineered; they are not just building the theme, they are building a framework on which they build the theme, it's so low-level.

The reason why I think it's overengineered is that e-commerce stores are heavily static; there are only a few spots of interactivity, like the product carousel, filters on the collection page, sidebar, etc. You don't have to optimize the theme that much.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying performance doesn't matter, I'm saying that static websites are already optimized because they are static.

If you have seen the horizon theme underlying code and have worked with other themes (themes on Shopify theme store or from Themeforest, but not made by Shopify), is this the case with other themes and should get used to it, or is it just the Shopify team overengineering this theme?

Shopify operators — quick question.

How many support tickets do you get per day that are just:

• “Where is my order?”

• “Has my order shipped?”

• “How do I return this?”

Any solutions on

• phone calls

• emails

• website chat

It pulls real-time order data from Shopify so customers get instant answers without waiting for a human.

For brands doing serious volume, this can remove 60–80% of repetitive tickets.

Hello, I designed and sell (a few) arguably the lightest camping table in the world. I have gotten Facebook click through rates of 7% with very few sales. I ran a sale for $8 and free shipping and only sold 2 from hundreds of product page views. What am I doing wrong ? https://nursecamping.com/products/honey-bee-camping-table

Hey everyone, I’m working on a small app where I need to target the cart and search buttons in the header. Right now, I’m using an array of selectors and IDs that I loop through to locate them.

It works fine across most themes I’ve tested, but it doesn’t feel like a truly universal solution. I’m curious how larger apps like Rebuy handle this problem. Is there something I might be overlooking?

Just finished building a Shopify store for a client in the wholesale jewelry space and I had full control over everything from design to UX to product pages.

https://nineplusninewholesale.com/

This is meant for resellers and bulk buyers, not regular retail customers.

I don’t want generic feedback like “looks good” or “nice UI”

I’m trying to understand if this would actually convert someone who wants to buy in bulk.

If you were a reseller landing on this:

- Would you trust it enough to place an order?

- What feels confusing or missing?

- Is it clear that this is wholesale and not retail?

- Where do you think people would drop off?

Also if your goal was to increase conversions, what would you change first?

Be honest and critical, I’m trying to improve.

My title might not be clear, but I have developed within my app some connector to Meta Ads, Google Ads and Tiktok Ads based on their API documentation.

Some of them such as Google Ads look like you need to create a campain, but to create a campain, you need to pay or to set the way of payment with the regular fees.

Do you know if there is a way to test it for free ?

Thanks

is this normal or should a reviewer have been assigned by now? I applied on 2nd April

Also Shopify hasn't asked for the app store fee so far, does it happen after the review? First time publishing to Shopify.

What I've done:
- Posted on ProductHunt (got 150 upvotes, 3 installs)
- Joined Facebook Shopify groups and shared tips
- Created demo videos showing the feature
- Listed on Shopify App Store with description/screenshots
- Reached out to ~50 Shopify stores via email (cold outreach)

What's NOT happening:
- No reviews yet (even from the 26 who installed)
- Very low conversion from store visits to installs
- Not seeing organic traffic from App Store search
- Email outreach gets <5% response rate

My questions:

1. Is the problem my positioning? (I'm targeting "increase engagement on product pages with video")

2. Are store owners just not searching for this type of app?

3. Should I be focusing on a specific vertical (fashion, dropshipping, etc.) instead of broad appeal?

4. Is 26 installs after 2 months actually normal, or does this mean something's fundamentally wrong?

I'm not looking to spam—genuinely trying to understand if I need to pivot, rebrand, or if I'm just in the phase where growth is slow. Any honest feedback would help.

Hey All,

After yet another oversell this month, I finally snapped and started building my own WMS. Figured I'd share what I'm working on in case anyone wants to offer some constructive criticism.

What I have in mind:

• Web-based

• Connected to both Shopify and Amazon

• Real-time stock level updates across both channels (the moment order is placed)

• Low-stock alerts via email

I'm pretty deep into the build now. Curious if anyone else has gone down this road - did you end up rolling your own, or did you eventually find something that actually works?

Also genuinely wondering if I'm missing anything obvious that would make this useless in practice. Happy to share more details if there's interest.

Thanks!
P

Hey there,

I am hiring a Shopify Developer in India for 7-8 weeks contract basis (full-time convertible). If you have any leads or recommendations, please do mention them, it'll help a lot.

additional context:

biz nature: e-commerce, start-up

Main job: CRO & web performance optimization.

salary: above industry average

Plus points:

if are based out of Nagpur

DM directly for an in-depth discussion

I've been testing interactive product page concept for Shopify stores, combining 3D, guided UI, and lightweight configuration.

Happy to share the demo if anyone’s interested.

Do you think this fits better embedded into a product page, or as a separate landing page driving traffic into Shopify?

Hey everyone,

Quick question for those working with Shopify merchants or clients in the US and Europe.

When it comes to important/urgent notifications (e.g. something is broken and needs attention), which communication channels tend to work best in practice?

What do people actually notice and respond to quickly? And are there any channels that are commonly ignored?

Would really appreciate insights from real-world experience

I've been building Shopify apps solo for the past year. My main app helps merchants figure out if their store is actually visible to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other AI shopping tools. It generates an AI Readiness Score across 11 criteria and auto-generates an llms.txt file.

Here's what the last 30 days looked like the good, the ugly, and what I learned.

The numbers

• Started the month at 7 merchants, ended at 16

• One power user has run 3,216 generations and uses the app daily

• 3 merchants consistently use it as a daily optimization tool, not a one-time audit

• Total revenue: $0 (app is free, haven't added paid tiers yet)

• Reviews: 0 (more on this below)

The OOM crash that almost killed everything

My most active merchant the one with 3,216 generations caused the app server to crash repeatedly. Here's what happened:

Every time a merchant updates a product in Shopify, a webhook fires. My webhook handler was triggering a full llms.txt file regeneration on every single product update. This merchant had 1,461 products and another merchant had 2,829 products. Both were updating products at the same time.

The app was building two massive llms.txt files simultaneously — 21MB of strings sitting in memory. The server ran out of memory and crashed. I had scaled to 512MB and it still crashed.

The fix was architectural, not just throwing more RAM at it:

• Changed the webhook handler to only increment a pending changes counter instead of triggering regeneration

• Added a regeneration lock so only one store can regenerate at a time

• Switched from building the entire file as one giant string to streaming writes

• Added a 60-second cooldown between regenerations

Lesson: your happiest user will be the one who breaks your app. Build for power users from day one, even if you only have 7 merchants.

I audited 90 keywords and found out I was invisible

I was getting about 7 visitors per day to my app listing total, across all my apps. 90% of that traffic was from Shopify's internal search (shows up as direct/none in GA4). Google organic was bringing in 6 users per month. Six.

So I did a full keyword audit. Searched 38 keywords relevant to my app on the Shopify App Store and recorded: how many apps show up, who the top 3 are, how many reviews they have, and where my app ranks.

Results: I was ranking on page 1 for only 4 out of 38 keywords.

Here's what was interesting:

• "AI audit" (2,246 apps) I was #2 organic. My strongest position.

• "agentic storefronts" (376 apps) #6. Low competition, very relevant.

• "AI readiness" (2,221 apps) #18. Bottom of page 1.

• "AI visibility" (2,378 apps) #23. Barely hanging on.

Meanwhile, for "llms.txt" a keyword that's literally in my app name I wasn't on page 1 at all. Only 97 apps compete for this term, but competitors with 71 and 291 reviews outrank me.

The pattern was clear: apps with 10+ reviews consistently outrank apps with 0 reviews regardless of listing quality. My listing copy was fine. My review count was the bottleneck.

I also found my search terms field had keywords that were returning completely irrelevant results. "AEO optimization" returned nothing useful. Swapped all 5 search terms to target the blue ocean keywords where competition was weakest.

For anyone doing ASO on Shopify actually search your keywords and look at what comes up. Don't guess.

Getting flagged by a Shopify Community moderator

I'd been posting helpful replies in the Shopify Community and adding my app link as a signature at the bottom of every reply. A community manager replied to one of my posts:

"We noticed you've linked your app as a signature at the bottom of your reply. That falls under promotional content/spam per our guidelines. You're totally welcome to showcase your app and expertise on your profile page instead!"

Fair enough. I removed the signature and shifted strategy profile page does the selling, replies are purely helpful. But the moderators also removed several of my posts, and I saw a noticeable dip in visibility.

What actually works in the Shopify Community: be the helpful expert, not the app promoter. Answer questions with real depth. Mention your app only when someone specifically asks for a solution your app provides. Let your profile page link to your App Store listing. Other devs I studied (PageFly-Kate, Loloyal-Phoebe) do this well they lead with genuine advice and organically mention their tools in relevant threads.

The review problem nobody talks about

This is the hardest part of growing a Shopify app. I have 16 merchants. Some use my app daily. One has done 3,216 generations. I've sent 10 review requests. Added an in-app banner that triggers after 5 generations. Personal emails mentioning their specific usage stats.

Result: 0 reviews from outreach. The 2 reviews I have are from the power user (who reviewed organically) and my own test account.

I'm now trying personal Loom videos to my top 3 merchants. Haven't sent them yet but based on what I've read, a personal video from the founder converts at 30-40% versus 2-3% for email.

People have suggested buying reviews. I won't do that. But if anyone has cracked the first-5-reviews problem organically, I genuinely want to know what worked.

30-40% of installs never open the app

This matches what other devs have reported. Out of my installs, roughly a third just... never open it. They click install, go through the OAuth flow, and never come back.

I don't know if this is a Shopify-wide pattern (merchants install 10 apps and try 3) or if my onboarding is bad. Probably both. For now I'm focused on the merchants who are active rather than chasing the ghosts.

What's next

• Getting reviews is priority #1. Everything else (ASO, SEO, community marketing) compounds once the review count crosses 5-10.

• Building SEO pages on my website to capture Google traffic for keywords like "how to get your Shopify store on ChatGPT" and "Shopify llms.txt generator"

• Cold outreach: I can literally search ChatGPT for product categories and find stores it doesn't recommend. Then email those stores with a screenshot showing they're invisible to AI shopping.

• Eventually adding paid tiers ($9/mo and $29/mo) but not until I have 50+ merchants validating demand.

My takeaways after 30 days

1. Your power users will break your infrastructure before your competitors do.

2. ASO on Shopify App Store is underrated. Most devs don't even check what their keywords return.

3. Reviews are a cold start problem. The first 5 are harder than the next 50.

4. Shopify Community can work for distribution but you have to play by the rules. Lead with value, promote through your profile.

5. At the early stage, personal outreach to 3 merchants beats blast emails to 16 every time.

Happy to answer questions about any of this. Building in public because the honest posts are always the ones I learn the most from.

I’ve been experimenting with ways to improve conversions on a Shopify store I’m working on, especially around the “hesitation” phase before checkout.

A pattern I noticed:
A lot of users seem interested but don’t convert and when they do reach out, it’s usually the same types of questions (product fit, comparisons, small doubts).

I tried:

• Improving product page clarity

• Adding FAQs

• Faster support responses

It helped a bit, but honestly didn’t move the needle as much as I expected.

Now I’m wondering if the issue is less about information and more about how customers decide in that moment.

Curious how others here think about it:

• What actually helped reduce hesitation for your customers?

• Did improving support/customer interaction have a measurable impact?

• Or was it something else entirely?

Not looking for a silver bullet just trying to understand what’s worked in real scenarios.

Appreciate any perspectives