Shopify App Template - React Router

This is a template for building a Shopify app using React Router. It was forked from the Shopify Remix app template and converted to React Router.

Rather than cloning this repo, follow the Quick Start steps.

Visit the shopify.dev documentation for more details on the React Router app package.

Upgrading from Remix

If you have an existing Remix app that you want to upgrade to React Router, please follow the upgrade guide. Otherwise, please follow the quick start guide below.

Quick start

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you'll need to download and install the Shopify CLI if you haven't already.

Setup

shopify app init --template=https://github.com/Shopify/shopify-app-template-react-router

Local Development

shopify app dev

Press P to open the URL to your app. Once you click install, you can start development.

Local development is powered by the Shopify CLI. It logs into your account, connects to an app, provides environment variables, updates remote config, creates a tunnel and provides commands to generate extensions.

Authenticating and querying data

To authenticate and query data you can use the shopify const that is exported from /app/shopify.server.js:

export async function loader({ request }) {
  const { admin } = await shopify.authenticate.admin(request);

  const response = await admin.graphql(`
    {
      products(first: 25) {
        nodes {
          title
          description
        }
      }
    }`);

  const {
    data: {
      products: { nodes },
    },
  } = await response.json();

  return nodes;
}

This template comes pre-configured with examples of:

1. Setting up your Shopify app in /app/shopify.server.ts
2. Querying data using Graphql. Please see: /app/routes/app._index.tsx.
3. Responding to webhooks. Please see /app/routes/webhooks.tsx.
4. Using metafields, metaobjects, and declarative custom data definitions. Please see /app/routes/app._index.tsx and shopify.app.toml.

Please read the documentation for @shopify/shopify-app-react-router to see what other API's are available.

Shopify Dev MCP

This template is configured with the Shopify Dev MCP. This instructs Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Claude Code and Google Gemini CLI to use the Shopify Dev MCP.

For more information on the Shopify Dev MCP please read the documentation.

Deployment

Application Storage

This template uses Prisma to store session data, by default using an SQLite database. The database is defined as a Prisma schema in prisma/schema.prisma.

This use of SQLite works in production if your app runs as a single instance. The database that works best for you depends on the data your app needs and how it is queried. Here’s a short list of databases providers that provide a free tier to get started:

Database	Type	Hosters
MySQL	SQL	Digital Ocean, Planet Scale, Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL
PostgreSQL	SQL	Digital Ocean, Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL
Redis	Key-value	Digital Ocean, Amazon MemoryDB
MongoDB	NoSQL / Document	Digital Ocean, MongoDB Atlas

To use one of these, you can use a different datasource provider in your schema.prisma file, or a different SessionStorage adapter package.

Build

Build the app by running the command below with the package manager of your choice:

Using yarn:

yarn build

Using npm:

npm run build

Using pnpm:

pnpm run build

Hosting

When you're ready to set up your app in production, you can follow our deployment documentation to host it externally. From there, you have a few options:

• Google Cloud Run: This tutorial is written specifically for this example repo, and is compatible with the extended steps included in the subsequent Build your app in the Getting started docs. It is the most detailed tutorial for taking a React Router-based Shopify app and deploying it to production. It includes configuring permissions and secrets, setting up a production database, and even hosting your apps behind a load balancer across multiple regions.
• Fly.io: Leverages the Fly.io CLI to quickly launch Shopify apps to a single machine.
• Render: This tutorial guides you through using Docker to deploy and install apps on a Dev store.
• Manual deployment guide: This resource provides general guidance on the requirements of deployment including environment variables, secrets, and persistent data.

When you reach the step for setting up environment variables, you also need to set the variable NODE_ENV=production.

Gotchas / Troubleshooting

Database tables don't exist

If you get an error like:

The table `main.Session` does not exist in the current database.

Create the database for Prisma. Run the setup script in package.json using npm, yarn or pnpm.

Navigating/redirecting breaks an embedded app

Embedded apps must maintain the user session, which can be tricky inside an iFrame. To avoid issues:

1. Use Link from react-router or @shopify/polaris. Do not use <a>.
2. Use redirect returned from authenticate.admin. Do not use redirect from react-router
3. Use useSubmit from react-router.

This only applies if your app is embedded, which it will be by default.

Webhooks: shop-specific webhook subscriptions aren't updated

If you are registering webhooks in the afterAuth hook, using shopify.registerWebhooks, you may find that your subscriptions aren't being updated.

Instead of using the afterAuth hook declare app-specific webhooks in the shopify.app.toml file. This approach is easier since Shopify will automatically sync changes every time you run deploy (e.g: npm run deploy). Please read these guides to understand more:

1. app-specific vs shop-specific webhooks
2. Create a subscription tutorial

If you do need shop-specific webhooks, keep in mind that the package calls afterAuth in 2 scenarios:

• After installing the app
• When an access token expires

During normal development, the app won't need to re-authenticate most of the time, so shop-specific subscriptions aren't updated. To force your app to update the subscriptions, uninstall and reinstall the app. Revisiting the app will call the afterAuth hook.

Webhooks: Admin created webhook failing HMAC validation

Webhooks subscriptions created in the Shopify admin will fail HMAC validation. This is because the webhook payload is not signed with your app's secret key.

The recommended solution is to use app-specific webhooks defined in your toml file instead. Test your webhooks by triggering events manually in the Shopify admin(e.g. Updating the product title to trigger a PRODUCTS_UPDATE).

Webhooks: Admin object undefined on webhook events triggered by the CLI

When you trigger a webhook event using the Shopify CLI, the admin object will be undefined. This is because the CLI triggers an event with a valid, but non-existent, shop. The admin object is only available when the webhook is triggered by a shop that has installed the app. This is expected.

Webhooks triggered by the CLI are intended for initial experimentation testing of your webhook configuration. For more information on how to test your webhooks, see the Shopify CLI documentation.

Incorrect GraphQL Hints

By default the graphql.vscode-graphql extension for will assume that GraphQL queries or mutations are for the Shopify Admin API. This is a sensible default, but it may not be true if:

1. You use another Shopify API such as the storefront API.
2. You use a third party GraphQL API.

If so, please update .graphqlrc.ts.

Using Defer & await for streaming responses

By default the CLI uses a cloudflare tunnel. Unfortunately cloudflare tunnels wait for the Response stream to finish, then sends one chunk. This will not affect production.

To test streaming using await during local development we recommend localhost based development.

"nbf" claim timestamp check failed

This is because a JWT token is expired. If you are consistently getting this error, it could be that the clock on your machine is not in sync with the server. To fix this ensure you have enabled "Set time and date automatically" in the "Date and Time" settings on your computer.

Using MongoDB and Prisma

If you choose to use MongoDB with Prisma, there are some gotchas in Prisma's MongoDB support to be aware of. Please see the Prisma SessionStorage README.

Unable to require(C:\...\query_engine-windows.dll.node).

Unable to require(C:\...\query_engine-windows.dll.node). The Prisma engines do not seem to be compatible with your system.

query_engine-windows.dll.node is not a valid Win32 application.

Fix: Set the environment variable:

PRISMA_CLIENT_ENGINE_TYPE=binary

This forces Prisma to use the binary engine mode, which runs the query engine as a separate process and can work via emulation on Windows ARM64.

Resources

React Router:

• React Router docs

Shopify:

• Intro to Shopify apps
• Shopify App React Router docs
• Shopify CLI
• Shopify App Bridge.
• Polaris Web Components.
• App extensions
• Shopify Functions

Internationalization:

• Internationalizing your app