The Essential List of Resources for Shopify App Development

Part of the excitement of being a Shopify app developer is that there’s always a new merchant-need springing up, new APIs to test out, and new tools to build with. Along with this wealth of possibilities, there’s also an abundance of resources to guide you along your app building journey.

Whether you’re building a Shopify app for the first time, or you’re an experienced developer looking to grow your business, there are guides, blog posts, webinars, and documentation that can help you along the way.

Below is a list of recommended resources, starting with the basics of building Shopify apps, programming language toolkits and tutorials, how-tos on launching your app, and articles on supporting the merchants who will become your users. We’ve organized this list from the start of your app building process, all the way to building your app business, as well as keeping in the loop for new opportunities.

Shopify app building tutorials

Maybe this is your first Shopify app, or first app ever. To make your app building process as smooth as possible, there are webinars, guides, and newsletters from trusted Shopify Experts to help walk you through every step of the way.

• Shopify Partner Session Webinar: How to Build Your First Shopify App
• Building a Public Shopify App
• How to Build a Shopify App in One Week
• Gavin Ballard - Mastering Shopify Apps
• Build a Shopify App with Node and React

Getting started with APIs

Whether you’re making your first API call, or you’re an API expert who just wants to keep on top of changes and check responses times, the links you need are below.

• Building a Public Shopify Application
• Supported Libraries
• Shopify's API Changelog
• Shopify’s Status Page (includes a graph of the average API response time)
• Introducing API Versioning at Shopify

You might also like: 8 Merchant-Driven Ideas For Your Next Shopify App.

Development and testing

When interacting with an API, it’s crucial to ensure you’ve set up your API calls correctly and that your webhooks are fully functional for different traffic volumes. Below are some recommended tools for testing.

• NGROK - Secure Tunneling
• Postman (a tool for sending HTTP requests to Shopify API endpoints)
• Hurl It (to send HTTP requests to Shopify API endpoints)
• Request Bin (to view webhooks)
• Making API calls with Paw
• Handling Shopify Webhooks Without a Server
• The Shopify GraphQL Learning Kit
• Research 101: How to Conduct Market Research for Your App

Encryption

Secure sockets layer, or SSL, is a requirement for all Shopify apps and therefore encryption is a mandatory step.

• Free SSL Certificates for Your Shopify App

App hosting

Now that you know what you want to build and how you want to build it, you’re going to need to a place to host it. Here are some great options to choose from.

• Heroku
• Digital Ocean
• AWS Free Tier

You might also like: The Essential List of Resources for Shopify Theme Development.

Front end development

After the backend is built, it’s time to make sure that the front end provides a great merchant experience. Even if you’re not an experienced front end developer, there are plenty of stylesheets, frameworks, and cheat sheets to assist your build.

• Polaris - Shopify’s Official Design System and UI Kit
• Shopify’s Liquid Cheat Sheet
• Verify (app that helps you get feedback on your design work)

Submitting your app to the Shopify App Store

Think your app is just about ready to submit to the Shopify App Store? In our submission documentation, we guide you through everything you need to know, to get your app prepared and submitted.

• Shopify App Submission Guidelines
• A Step-by-Step Guide on How we Optimized our App Listing in the Shopify App Store
• Guidelines and Resources for Getting Listed in the Shopify App Store

Launching and marketing your Shopify app

You built your app, tested it, submitted it, and now it’s been listed in the Shopify App Store. It may seem like you’ve reached the finish line, but you haven’t reached the podium until you’ve attracted and retained happy users. Browse through the following resources to learn the basics of marketing your app.

• Getting Paid: An Overview of Shopify App Billing Cycles
• How to be Successful on the New Shopify App Store
• How to Brand Your Shopify App to Earn More in the App Store
• Essential App Marketing: 11 Ways to Successfully Promote Your App
• AdRoll (a tool that places retargeting pixels on your app store listing)

Customer service and analytics

Part of retaining happy users is having a good onboarding flow, a strategy for merchant support, and tools that keep you proactive in understanding your audience and possible pain points.

• How To Improve Your Shopify App’s Onboarding Flow
• Expert Advice on How to 10x App Support
• How to Build an Effective and Friendly App Support Process
• Customer Service Strategy: How to Build, Augment, and Scale Your Support Offering
• What App Developers Need to Know About GDPR
• Build and Improve Apps Using App Analytics
• 4 Ways to Provide Great Customer Service Immediately After Your App is Downloaded
• Replying to Reviews in the Shopify App Store
• How We Built Out Our Reporting Dashboard with Shopify Polaris

Shopify updates and connecting with other developers

Congratulations! You’ve built your app, had it listed, and now have several happy merchants as users. At this point, you probably want to stay on top of any updates that will allow you to improve your app; or maybe you’ve got the app building bug, and you’re ready to develop some more. The links below will help you stay in the know on Shopify updates, and will also help you connect with Shopify’s app development network.

• Shopify's Recent Updates
• eCommTalk (Shopify Slack community with lots of PHP developers in the #development channel)
• Shopify’s APIs and SDKs forum
• Shopify on Stack Overflow
• 5 Ways to Stay Informed as a Shopify App Developer