Shopify Admin GraphQL

A comprehensive skill for interacting with Shopify’s GraphQL Admin API. This skill enables Claude to query and manage all aspects of Shopify store data including products, orders, customers, inventory, marketing, discounts, translations, fulfillments, and more.

Prerequisites

• A Shopify store with Admin API access
• An Admin API access token with appropriate scopes
• Environment variables configured:
  • SHOPIFY_STORE_URL – Your store URL (e.g., my-store.myshopify.com)
  • SHOPIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN – Admin API access token

Quick Start

Basic Product Query

query {
  products(first: 10) {
    nodes {
      id
      title
      status
    }
  }
}

Create a Product

mutation CreateProduct($product: ProductCreateInput!) {
  productCreate(product: $product) {
    product {
      id
      title
    }
    userErrors {
      field
      message
    }
  }
}

Variables:

{
  "product": {
    "title": "New Product",
    "status": "DRAFT"
  }
}

Instructions

When working with Shopify GraphQL:

1. Always use the shopify_graphql tool to execute queries and mutations
2. Check for errors in responses:
   • errors array indicates GraphQL/syntax issues
   • userErrors in mutations indicate validation/business logic issues
3. Use pagination for large result sets with first/after cursors
4. Format IDs correctly – All Shopify IDs are global: gid://shopify/Resource/123

Critical Operations & Permissions

IMPORTANT: Before executing any of the following operations, you MUST ask for explicit user permission. These operations are irreversible or have significant business impact.

Immediately Dangerous Operations

• Refunds: Create refunds (permanent financial transactions, cannot be undone)
• Order Cancellations: Cancel orders (may trigger automatic refunds)
• Gift Card Deactivation: Permanently disable gift cards (irreversible)
• Gift Card Balance Changes: Credit or debit gift card balances (affects customer funds)
• Inventory Adjustments: Modify stock levels (affects product availability)

State-Changing Operations

• Activate/Deactivate Discounts: Change discount status (immediately affects customer pricing)
• Product Status Changes: Publish products (makes them visible to customers)
• Complete Draft Orders: Convert draft orders to real orders (commits the transaction)
• Fulfillment Creation: Create fulfillments (triggers shipping notifications to customers)
• Fulfillment Cancellation: Cancel fulfillments (may confuse customers)
• Hold/Release Fulfillment Orders: Pause or resume order processing

Deletion Operations

• Delete Products/Variants: Permanent removal (cannot be recovered)
• Delete Discounts: Permanent removal (customers can no longer use codes)
• Delete Draft Orders: Permanent removal
• Delete Webhooks: Stops event notifications (may break integrations)
• Bulk Delete Operations: Delete multiple items at once (high-impact)

Permission Protocol

When Claude encounters any critical operation:

1. Describe the operation and its specific impact
2. Show what will be changed/deleted (IDs, names, values)
3. Wait for explicit user confirmation before proceeding
4. Only proceed after receiving “yes”, “confirm”, “proceed”, or equivalent affirmative response
5. Never assume permission even if the user’s request seems clear

Example:

WARNING: This will permanently deactivate gift card gid://shopify/GiftCard/123 
with a balance of $50.00. This action cannot be undone.

Do you want to proceed? (yes/no)

Capabilities

This skill provides comprehensive patterns for all major Shopify domains:

Core Commerce

Marketing & Promotions

International

Content & Storefront

Fulfillment & Shipping

Financial

Store Management

Common Patterns

ID Format

All Shopify GraphQL IDs are globally unique:

gid://shopify/Product/123
gid://shopify/Order/456
gid://shopify/Customer/789

Pagination

Use cursor-based pagination for large datasets:

query($first: Int!, $after: String) {
  products(first: $first, after: $after) {
    pageInfo {
      hasNextPage
      endCursor
    }
    nodes {
      id
      title
    }
  }
}

Money Fields

Prices return as MoneyV2 objects:

totalPriceSet {
  shopMoney {
    amount
    currencyCode
  }
}

Mutations Always Return userErrors

Always request and check userErrors:

mutation {
  productCreate(product: $product) {
    product { id }
    userErrors {
      field
      message
    }
  }
}

Search Syntax

Filter queries use Shopify’s search syntax:

products(first: 10, query: "title:*shirt* AND status:ACTIVE")

API Scopes Required

Core Scopes

• read_products, write_products – Products and variants
• read_orders, write_orders – Orders and fulfillments
• read_customers, write_customers – Customer data
• read_inventory, write_inventory – Inventory levels

Marketing & Discounts

• read_discounts, write_discounts – Discount codes
• read_marketing_events, write_marketing_events – Marketing activities

Content

• read_content, write_content – Pages, blogs, articles
• read_online_store_navigation, write_online_store_navigation – Menus
• read_files, write_files – File uploads
• read_metafields, write_metafields – Metafields
• read_metaobjects, write_metaobjects – Metaobjects

International

• read_translations, write_translations – Translations
• read_markets, write_markets – Markets
• read_locales, write_locales – Locales

Fulfillment

• read_shipping, write_shipping – Shipping settings
• read_locations – Location data
• read_assigned_fulfillment_orders, write_assigned_fulfillment_orders – For fulfillment services

Financial

• read_draft_orders, write_draft_orders – Draft orders
• read_gift_cards, write_gift_cards – Gift cards
• read_own_subscription_contracts, write_own_subscription_contracts – Subscriptions

Troubleshooting

Examples

List Recent Orders with Customer Info

query RecentOrders {
  orders(first: 10, sortKey: CREATED_AT, reverse: true) {
    nodes {
      id
      name
      createdAt
      displayFinancialStatus
      totalPriceSet {
        shopMoney {
          amount
          currencyCode
        }
      }
      customer {
        displayName
        defaultEmailAddress {
          emailAddress
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Search Products by Title

query SearchProducts($query: String!) {
  products(first: 20, query: $query) {
    nodes {
      id
      title
      status
      vendor
    }
  }
}

Variables: { "query": "title:*shirt* AND status:ACTIVE" }

Update Inventory

mutation AdjustInventory($input: InventoryAdjustQuantitiesInput!) {
  inventoryAdjustQuantities(input: $input) {
    inventoryAdjustmentGroup {
      reason
      changes {
        name
        delta
      }
    }
    userErrors {
      field
      message
    }
  }
}

Create Discount Code

mutation CreateDiscount($basicCodeDiscount: DiscountCodeBasicInput!) {
  discountCodeBasicCreate(basicCodeDiscount: $basicCodeDiscount) {
    codeDiscountNode {
      id
    }
    userErrors {
      field
      message
    }
  }
}

Best Practices

1. Use bulk operations for large data exports/imports
2. Implement pagination for lists that may grow
3. Check userErrors in all mutation responses
4. Request only needed fields to optimize response size
5. Use webhooks instead of polling for real-time updates
6. Cache when appropriate to reduce API calls
7. Handle rate limits with exponential backoff