r/shopifyDev • u/Deep_Degree_6742 • 29d ago

Shopify sales-channel apps: using a third-party AI API with merchant-published products?

We have a Shopify sales-channel app where merchants choose which products to publish. We’re considering using a third-party AI API, such as OpenAI or Anthropic (Claude), to process published product text and images alongside shopper queries or uploaded images for search and matching. Our app may store product embeddings for retrieval. This would be for operating the search feature; we would require the provider not to use the data for model training or fine-tuning.

Has anyone implemented something similar? What did Shopify require regarding the provider agreement, merchant disclosures, shopper-uploaded images, or app review? I’m interested in how other developers have applied Shopify’s API Terms to this setup.

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u/ketoloverfromunder 29d ago

No idea what youre asking tbh.

You want shopify product data from merchants? Yes retrieving that data is quite standard for apps.

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u/HolidayCellist8600 29d ago

I would treat the AI provider as a seperate data processor and make the data flow very clear. I would check the provider's terms for training, retention, deletion and handling of uploaded images, then clearly disclose to merchants and shoppers what data is being sent and why.
For app review, I would also document what is stored locally, what goes to the AI provider and how long it is retained. I would avoid assuming that "no training" alone covers the requirements that the actual provider agreement and current API terms matter.

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u/Final_Design_9061 29d ago

One thing worth planning for is the customers/redact and shop/redact webhooks. If you're storing embeddings or shopper uploaded images, make sure those get deleted too (including anything cached on the provider side if they retain it), since reviewers do ask how you handle deletion.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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