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Collaborations

Collaborations are access relationships with merchant-owned stores. When you have collaborator access to a store, it appears in the Dev Dashboard's Stores list as a Collaboration. Unlike dev stores and client transfer stores, you don't own a collaboration store; the merchant does. You're working inside their live store.

Use collaborations when an existing merchant needs support, customization, or app development on their store.

Anchor to RequirementsRequirements

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • A Shopify Partner account.
  • The required permissions to manage collaborations in your organization.
  • A verified identity, if Shopify requires one of your organization. When it's required, the request page says so, and you can't send the request until you verify. Refer to Verifying your identity.

Anchor to Request collaborator accessRequest collaborator access

Info

In the legacy Partner Dashboard, this flow was called Send collaborator request. In the Dev Dashboard it's Request store access.

To request access to a merchant's store:

  1. Log in to the Dev Dashboard.
  2. Select Stores from the left sidebar.
  3. Select Request store access.
  4. Enter the store's permanent myshopify.com URL. Custom or secondary domains aren't supported.
  5. Enter the merchant's 4-digit collaborator request code. The merchant can find this in their Shopify admin under Settings > Users > Security. If they've never shared it before, they may need to locate and share it with you first.
  6. Select the permissions you need.
  7. Select Send request.

The merchant receives a request to grant your organization collaborator access. Once they approve it, the store appears in your Stores list with the status Active.

Anchor to Request access from an app's Installs pageRequest access from an app's Installs page

When a merchant reports a problem with your app, you can request access to their store without leaving the app you're debugging.

  1. Open the app in the Dev Dashboard and go to its Installs page.
  2. Find the merchant's store and open its Store actions menu.
  3. Select Request store access. The request form opens with the store's URL already filled in.
  4. Select the permissions you need, and then select Send request.

The menu only offers Request store access for a store you can't already reach. For a store your organization already has access to, it offers Log in instead.

Info

If your organization has an app installed on the merchant's store, you can request collaborator access without a collaborator request code.

Anchor to Collaboration statusesCollaboration statuses

You can track the status of your collaborations in the Status column of the Stores list, filtering by Type is Collaboration to see only these:

StatusMeaning
ActiveCollaborator access is active and within the agreed access period.
Request sentYour access request has been sent and is waiting for the merchant to approve. A renewal request on an expired collaboration shows this status too.
Access expiredYour collaborator access has expired. You no longer have access to the store.

Anchor to Renew expired accessRenew expired access

If your collaborator access has expired, you can send the merchant a new request directly from the Dev Dashboard.

  1. In the Stores list, filter by Type is Collaboration and find the store with Access expired status.
  2. Select the three-dot menu (⋯) on the store's row.
  3. Select Request renewal.

The merchant receives a new request to approve. Once they approve it, your access is restored and the status updates accordingly.

Anchor to LimitationsLimitations

As a collaborator, your access is granted and controlled by the merchant:

  • The merchant sets the scope of your permissions. You can only access the parts of the store they've granted you access to.
  • You can't transfer a collaboration store. If the merchant wants to hand off store ownership, that's a separate process they initiate.

Anchor to Next stepsNext steps

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