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Search brands that don't sell on Shopify in the Catalog API (beta)

You can now return products from brands that don't sell on Shopify when you search the beta Catalog API. Add the new sources parameter to search_catalog to include external products in the same response as products from Shopify merchants. If you omit sources, results stay limited to Shopify merchant products and you don't need to change any existing calls.

What changed

The Catalog API beta now supports a sources parameter on search_catalog that controls which products you return:

  • Shopify merchant products only: omit sources, or set ["shopify"]
  • Both Shopify merchant and external products: ["shopify", "external"]
  • Brands that don't sell on Shopify only: ["external"]

The sources parameter works on the existing search_catalog method, with no new endpoint to call. The get_product method returns an external product when you pass its ID, and lookup_catalog support is coming later.

External products always return eligible.native_checkout: false, so shoppers can't buy them through Shopify checkout and these products don't earn Promoted Placements commission. Each external product includes a description, an image, a price, and a link to the brand's product page so the shopper completes the purchase on the brand's own site.

Who’s affected

This change affects apps that use the Catalog API to power on-site search or recommendations and want to include products from brands that don't sell on Shopify.

During the beta, external product data comes from each brand's website, and external products only return when the shopper is in the United States. Searches for shoppers in other countries continue to return Shopify merchant products only.

What to do

No action is required if you only want to keep returning products from Shopify merchants. Your existing search_catalog calls work without changes.

If you want to include external products, update your search_catalog requests to set the sources parameter to ["shopify", "external"], or to ["external"] if you only want brands that don't sell on Shopify. If you surface links to product detail pages, make sure you handle external product URLs correctly so shoppers land on the brand’s own site when they select an external product.

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