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Dev stores

Dev stores are testing environments that you own and control. They let you build and test your apps in a realistic Shopify environment without affecting any live store. You can connect directly to a dev store from Shopify CLI using the shopify app dev command, which previews your changes without deploying a new version to production.

Anchor to RequirementsRequirements

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • A Shopify Partner account or a merchant store with developer permissions.
  • The required permissions to create dev stores in your organization.

Anchor to Create a dev storeCreate a dev store

You can create a dev store with Shopify CLI or in the Dev Dashboard.

Anchor to Use Shopify CLIUse Shopify CLI

The Shopify CLI store create dev command creates new dev stores in your organization. The command will prompt you for required values, or you can configure the store via flags:

FlagDescription
--nameThe name for the store. This name is used to identify the store and create the store's myshopify.com URL.
--planThe Shopify plan to use: basic, grow, advanced, or plus.
--demo-dataPopulates the store with demo data so you're not testing against an empty store.
--feature-previewThe handle of a feature preview to enable on the store.
--countryThe store's two-letter ISO country code, such as US, CA, or GB.

For example, the following command creates a Plus plan store in Canada, populated with demo data:

Terminal

shopify store create dev --name "Checkout testing" --plan plus --demo-data --country CA

Anchor to Use the Dev DashboardUse the Dev Dashboard

  1. Log in to the Dev Dashboard.
  2. Select Stores from the left sidebar.
  3. Select Create store.
  4. Select Dev as the store type.
  5. Enter a name for your dev store. This name is used to identify the store in the Dev Dashboard.
  6. Select a plan for your dev store:
    • Basic: Includes core Shopify features for small businesses.
    • Grow: Includes additional reporting and staff accounts for growing businesses.
    • Advanced: Includes advanced reporting, lower transaction fees, and third-party calculated shipping rates.
    • Plus: Includes enterprise-level features like Shopify Flow, LaunchPad, and dedicated support.
  7. Optional: Select Test a feature preview to test capabilities that aren't available to all stores yet.
  8. Select Create store. Your store is created with the selected plan.
  9. Log in to your dev store.

Anchor to Store accessStore access

When you create a dev store, you're automatically designated as the store's owner. Shopify CLI and Dev Dashboard display dev stores that you have access to.

Additional users must be added to the store as staff members.

When a feature preview is enabled on a dev store, you don't have access to domains.

Anchor to Clean up dev storesClean up dev stores

Organizations are limited to 250 dev stores. You can use Shopify CLI to list dev stores in your organization, and delete stores you no longer need.

  1. List the stores in your organization using the shopify store list command:

    Terminal

    shopify store list

  2. To delete a store, pass its myshopify.com domain to the shopify store delete command:

    Terminal

    shopify store delete --store my-dev-store.myshopify.com

Anchor to Example: Delete stores older than two yearsExample: Delete stores older than two years

By using the --json flag with shopify store list, you can filter and script the command output. Each entry includes store, type, and createdAt, so the following deletes every dev store created more than two years ago:

Terminal

shopify store list --json \
| jq -r '.stores[]
| select(.type == "dev" and (.createdAt | fromdateiso8601) < (now - 2*365*86400))
| .store' \
| xargs -I{} shopify store delete --store {} --force

In this example:

  • The filter keeps only stores whose type is dev, so nothing else in the organization can be selected.
  • createdAt is when the store was created, not when it was last opened.
Caution

Deleting a dev store is permanent. The store and its data are purged, and can't be restored.

Anchor to LimitationsLimitations

Dev stores are intended for development and testing only. They can't be used for production and can't process real transactions:

  • For apps that use App Pricing, you can select any available plan for an app that belongs to your Partner organization at no charge. For apps from another Partner organization, you can select free plans or any plan the Partner has marked as free to test.
  • For an app that uses manual pricing, use a Billing API test charge to test your own app. To make the app available on other Partners' dev stores, set up free testing.
  • You can test orders using the Bogus test gateway or by activating test mode for your payment provider. Real transactions through active payment providers, Store Credit, and Gift Cards aren't supported.
  • You can't remove the password page or show a custom password page. You can still customize and preview it.
  • Dev stores can't be converted to production stores.
  • Dev stores can't be transferred to a client. If you're building a store for a merchant, use a client transfer store instead.

Anchor to Next stepsNext steps

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