About Shopify APIs

Shopify offers a suite of APIs that allow developers to extend the platform’s built-in features. These APIs allow partners to read and write merchant data, interoperate with other systems and platforms, and add new functionality to Shopify.

Requirements for using Shopify APIs

Scopes and permissions

  • Some API features are only available to merchants on premium plans
  • Depending on the app type you’re creating, you may need to request certain permissions or access scopes when merchants install your app
  • With a few APIs, you’ll need to request access from Shopify and be approved before you can start making calls

Available APIs

Admin API

The Admin API is used to read and write data about merchant stores, products, orders, and more. You can use the Admin API to build apps that add features to the Shopify admin, the store management interface used by merchants. The Admin API is accessible using either GraphQL (recommended) or REST.

Learn more about the Admin API

Storefront API

The Storefront API is used to extend Shopify buying experiences into web, mobile, and gaming environments that go beyond Shopify's built-in sales channels such as the online store or Shopify POS. It allows developers to work with customer and product data, and to create custom storefronts. Sometimes you'll see this approach referred to as headless commerce.

The Storefront API is accessible using GraphQL. To access the Storefront API, apps need a storefront access token with the unauthenticated access scopes.

Learn more about the Storefront API

Liquid

The Liquid templating language is used to build Shopify themes. Liquid is an open-source language used by thousands of other projects to mix static HTML with dynamic Liquid tags. Liquid is based on the syntax of Ruby.

In addition to the standard templating functionality available in the open source version of Liquid, Shopify stores have access to an additional set of Liquid objects that function as an API for shop data. Shopify Liquid allows you to access a variety of dynamic Shopify-specific data within themes, such as product collections, discount codes, shipping methods, and more.

Learn more about Liquid

Ajax API

The Ajax API is used with Shopify themes to update a buyer’s shopping cart without having to refresh the browser. Examples include getting basic product information, adding a product to a shopping cart, or clearing the cart contents.

Learn more about the Ajax API

Analytics API

The Analytics API is accessed through the Admin API. It allows you to use a query language called ShopifyQL to get detailed metrics about a merchant’s store. It’s available only for merchants on the Advanced Shopify plan and up.

Learn more about the Analytics API

Deprecated APIs

Deprecated APIs remain available but are unsupported and can stop working at any time. Developers should migrate to supported alternatives as soon as possible.