App extensions

An app extension surfaces the functionality of your app where and when merchants need it most. App extensions are useful for apps that require quick, frequent actions from merchants.

For example, your app’s actions can appear as dropdown items in Shopify admin for orders, products, customers, and other resources. You can produce interfaces that easily mimic the Shopify look-and-feel, and make your app seamlessly appear in Shopify Point of Sale (POS).

Without an app extension, merchants interact directly with your app. Your app relays information to Shopify that gets surfaced back to the merchant through your app:

With an app extension, merchants interact with Shopify. Shopify relays information to your app that gets surfaced back to the merchant through your app extension in Shopify:

Some app extensions are built and managed using the Partner Dashboard, while others are built and managed using a combination of Shopify CLI and the Partner Dashboard.

App extensions built using Shopify CLI need to be deployed to the Partner Dashboard so they can be used as a part of your app. You might also need to deploy some types of app extensions before you can test them.

Some app extensions need to be reviewed and approved before they are made available in Shopify. Other app extensions are made available as soon you save them.

If an app extension needs to be reviewed, then the Submit for review button will display instead of Save or Create when you create the app extension.

Some app extensions are versioned, which allows control over when an extension is published, and a way to roll back changes if issues occur. Other app extensions are available immediately after they're deployed.

After you've tested a new version of your extension and are ready to release it to merchants, you can publish it. Publishing an app extension version replaces the current live version served to shops that have your app installed. If an app extension supports versioning, then you can preview a draft of the extension and create a version when you publish it.

If you need to revert changes to your extension, then you can publish a previous version. As a final course of action, you can also unpublish your extension, which makes the extension unavailable for merchants.

• Get started with app extensions by configuring admin links, bulk action links, and navigation links for your app.
• Consult the list of app extensions to determine which app extensions are versioned, which app extensions require reviews and approvals, where you manage the app extensions in Shopify, and more.