Shopify App API Patterns

Use this skill when building frontend features that communicate with your app's backend in a Shopify Remix app.

When to Use

• Adding new pages that fetch data from Shopify or your database
• Creating forms that submit data (mutations)
• Using useFetcher for client-side data operations
• Handling authenticated sessions in routes
• Building APIs for app extensions or external services

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Shopify Admin                             │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │              Your App (iframe)                       │    │
│  │                                                      │    │
│  │  ┌──────────────┐       ┌──────────────────────┐   │    │
│  │  │   Frontend   │ ───── │   Remix Backend      │   │    │
│  │  │   (React)    │       │   (loaders/actions)  │   │    │
│  │  └──────────────┘       └──────────────────────┘   │    │
│  │                                    │                │    │
│  └────────────────────────────────────│────────────────┘    │
│                                       │                      │
└───────────────────────────────────────│──────────────────────┘
                                        │
                           ┌────────────┴────────────┐
                           │                         │
                    ┌──────▼──────┐          ┌──────▼──────┐
                    │   Prisma    │          │  Shopify    │
                    │   (your DB) │          │  Admin API  │
                    └─────────────┘          └─────────────┘

Data Fetching with Loaders

Basic Loader Pattern

// app/routes/app.dashboard.tsx
import { json, type LoaderFunctionArgs } from "@remix-run/node";
import { useLoaderData } from "@remix-run/react";
import { authenticate } from "../shopify.server";
import db from "../db.server";

export const loader = async ({ request }: LoaderFunctionArgs) => {
  // Authenticate and get admin API access
  const { session, admin } = await authenticate.admin(request);
  
  // Fetch from Shopify
  const shopResponse = await admin.graphql(`
    query { shop { name myshopifyDomain } }
  `);
  const { data: shopData } = await shopResponse.json();
  
  // Fetch from your database
  const settings = await db.appSettings.findUnique({
    where: { shop: session.shop }
  });
  
  return json({
    shop: shopData.shop,
    settings
  });
};

export default function Dashboard() {
  const { shop, settings } = useLoaderData<typeof loader>();
  
  return (
    <Page title={`Dashboard - ${shop.name}`}>
      {/* Your UI */}
    </Page>
  );
}

Loader with URL Parameters

// app/routes/app.campaigns.$id.tsx
export const loader = async ({ request, params }: LoaderFunctionArgs) => {
  const { session } = await authenticate.admin(request);
  const { id } = params;
  
  const campaign = await db.campaign.findFirst({
    where: { 
      id,
      shop: session.shop 
    }
  });
  
  if (!campaign) {
    throw new Response("Not found", { status: 404 });
  }
  
  return json({ campaign });
};

Data Mutations with Actions

Form Submission Pattern

// app/routes/app.settings.tsx
import { json, type ActionFunctionArgs } from "@remix-run/node";
import { Form, useActionData, useNavigation } from "@remix-run/react";
import { authenticate } from "../shopify.server";

export const action = async ({ request }: ActionFunctionArgs) => {
  const { session } = await authenticate.admin(request);
  const formData = await request.formData();
  
  const intent = formData.get("intent");
  
  if (intent === "updateSettings") {
    const enabled = formData.get("enabled") === "true";
    const message = formData.get("message") as string;
    
    await db.appSettings.upsert({
      where: { shop: session.shop },
      create: { shop: session.shop, enabled, message },
      update: { enabled, message }
    });
    
    return json({ success: true });
  }
  
  return json({ error: "Unknown action" }, { status: 400 });
};

export default function Settings() {
  const actionData = useActionData<typeof action>();
  const navigation = useNavigation();
  const isSubmitting = navigation.state === "submitting";
  
  return (
    <Form method="post">
      <input type="hidden" name="intent" value="updateSettings" />
      {/* Form fields */}
      <Button submit loading={isSubmitting}>
        Save
      </Button>
    </Form>
  );
}

Client-Side Fetching with useFetcher

For operations that shouldn't cause navigation (inline updates, toggles, etc.):

import { useFetcher } from "@remix-run/react";

function CampaignRow({ campaign }) {
  const fetcher = useFetcher();
  const isUpdating = fetcher.state !== "idle";
  
  const toggleStatus = () => {
    fetcher.submit(
      { 
        intent: "toggleStatus",
        campaignId: campaign.id,
        enabled: String(!campaign.enabled)
      },
      { method: "post", action: "/app/campaigns" }
    );
  };
  
  return (
    <ResourceItem id={campaign.id}>
      <Text>{campaign.name}</Text>
      <Button 
        onClick={toggleStatus} 
        loading={isUpdating}
      >
        {campaign.enabled ? "Disable" : "Enable"}
      </Button>
    </ResourceItem>
  );
}

API Routes for Extensions/External Services

Authenticated API Endpoint

// app/routes/api.widget-config.tsx
import { json, type LoaderFunctionArgs } from "@remix-run/node";
import { authenticate } from "../shopify.server";

export const loader = async ({ request }: LoaderFunctionArgs) => {
  // For app proxy requests or authenticated API calls
  const { session } = await authenticate.admin(request);
  
  const config = await db.widgetConfig.findUnique({
    where: { shop: session.shop }
  });
  
  return json(config);
};

export const action = async ({ request }: ActionFunctionArgs) => {
  const { session } = await authenticate.admin(request);
  const body = await request.json();
  
  // Whitelist allowed fields - never pass raw body to database
  const { theme, position, welcomeMessage } = body;
  
  const updated = await db.widgetConfig.update({
    where: { shop: session.shop },
    data: { theme, position, welcomeMessage }
  });
  
  return json(updated);
};

Public API (Webhooks, Callbacks)

// app/routes/webhooks.tsx
import { type ActionFunctionArgs } from "@remix-run/node";
import { authenticate } from "../shopify.server";

export const action = async ({ request }: ActionFunctionArgs) => {
  const { topic, shop, payload } = await authenticate.webhook(request);
  
  switch (topic) {
    case "ORDERS_CREATE":
      await handleOrderCreated(shop, payload);
      break;
    case "APP_UNINSTALLED":
      await handleAppUninstalled(shop);
      break;
  }
  
  return new Response();
};

Session Handling

Getting Session in Any Route

// Session is available after authenticate.admin()
const { session, admin } = await authenticate.admin(request);

// session contains:
// - session.shop: "store.myshopify.com"
// - session.accessToken: OAuth token
// - session.scope: granted scopes

Checking Scopes

export const loader = async ({ request }: LoaderFunctionArgs) => {
  const { session } = await authenticate.admin(request);
  
  const hasOrdersScope = session.scope?.includes("read_orders");
  
  if (!hasOrdersScope) {
    // Redirect to re-auth or show error
    throw new Response("Missing required scope", { status: 403 });
  }
  
  // Continue...
};

File Structure Convention

app/
├── routes/
│   ├── app._index.tsx          # /app (dashboard)
│   ├── app.settings.tsx        # /app/settings
│   ├── app.campaigns._index.tsx # /app/campaigns (list)
│   ├── app.campaigns.$id.tsx   # /app/campaigns/:id (detail)
│   ├── app.campaigns.new.tsx   # /app/campaigns/new (create)
│   ├── api.widget-config.tsx   # /api/widget-config
│   └── webhooks.tsx            # /webhooks
├── components/
│   └── ...
├── shopify.server.ts           # Shopify app config
└── db.server.ts                # Prisma client

Best Practices

1. Always authenticate - Use authenticate.admin(request) for all app routes
2. Validate ownership - When fetching by ID, always filter by session.shop
3. Use actions for mutations - Don't mutate in loaders
4. Handle loading states - Use navigation.state or fetcher.state
5. Return proper HTTP codes - 404 for not found, 400 for bad requests
6. Type your data - Use useLoaderData<typeof loader>() for type safety
7. Validate and sanitize input - Never trust user input; validate format and whitelist allowed fields
8. Avoid mass assignment - Never pass raw request body directly to database; explicitly select allowed fields

References

• Remix Data Loading
• Remix Data Mutations
• @shopify/shopify-app-remix Authentication
• Shopify App Proxy