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Connect your Shopify store to Clione

Plans: Starter ✓ · Growth ✓ · Pro ✓ · Agency ✓

You need: access to your Shopify store and to Shopify's Dev Dashboard, where you create the app whose credentials you give Clione.

To connect a Shopify store, you create your own app in Shopify's Dev Dashboard and paste its Client ID and Client Secret into Clione's Add Store form. Clione uses them to get short-lived access tokens from Shopify and renews those tokens itself, so you never paste a new token.

If you're connecting BigCommerce instead, see Connect BigCommerce.

What this connection gives you​

With your own app (this page)Needs the Clione Shopify app
Sync products, collections, pages and blog posts✓
Enrich them in Clione✓
Write the meta title and meta description (Shopify's native SEO fields) when you publish✓
JSON-LD @graph on your storefront (the Clione SEO app embed)✓
Visible FAQ accordion on your storefront (the Clione FAQ app embed)✓
llms.txt and per-page .md files at https://<your-store>/apps/clione/…✓

Everything in the right-hand column comes from the Clione Shopify app. For now, the Clione app can only be installed on stores in Clione's own Shopify Partners organization, until Shopify approves it for the Shopify App Store. Everything in the left-hand column already works on your store.

Step 1 — Open the Shopify Dev Dashboard and create an app​

In Shopify's Dev Dashboard, create an app. You can name it anything. "Clione" makes it easy to spot later.

Shopify changes its own screens from time to time, so this page doesn't walk through its menus. You need to do four things there:

  1. Create the app.
  2. Give it the scopes listed in Scopes the connection needs.
  3. Install it on your store.
  4. Copy its Client ID and Client Secret.

Step 2 — Give the app its scopes and install it​

Give the app the scopes in the table below, then install it on the store you're connecting. It has to be installed on that exact store: the Client ID and Client Secret only work on stores where the app is installed.

Step 3 — Copy the Client ID and Client Secret​

Copy the Client ID and Client Secret from the app's settings in the Dev Dashboard. Keep the Secret somewhere safe until you paste it into Clione, which stores it encrypted.

Step 4 — Add the store in Clione​

  1. In the Clione dashboard, click + Add website in the left rail. This opens Add Store.

  2. Platform: choose Shopify. The other two cards are BigCommerce and WooCommerce.

  3. Details: fill in these fields, then click Next.

    • Store Name: any name that helps you recognise the store in the dashboard.
    • Shopify Store URL: your your-store.myshopify.com domain. Enter that domain even if your shop has a custom domain. The form won't accept anything else.
    • Currency: the default currency for prices and reports.

  4. Connect: paste the Client ID and Client Secret from Step 3, then click Create & Connect.

    An existing admin API access token for the store (it starts with shpat_) also works. Open the section under Client Secret and paste the token into Admin API Access Token.

Once the store is created, click Go to your stores.

Step 5 — Check the connection​

  • Store Settings → Credentials → Test connection. Clione gets a token with your Client ID and Client Secret, then asks Shopify for your shop's details. If it works, you see "Connection OK" and your shop's name. If it doesn't, you see Shopify's own error message.

  • Setup assistants, on the store's Overview. Clione runs four checks directly against your store:

    • Store connection: your store responds to Clione.
    • Permissions: your app has the scopes Clione checks for (see below).
    • FAQ widget on your storefront: the Clione FAQ accordion shows on your storefront. This check needs the Clione Shopify app.
    • Brand instructions: you've told Clione how your brand speaks.

    Once you've fixed something, click Check again.

Next, run your first sync. See Sync your catalog.

Scopes the connection needs​

ScopeWhy Clione needs it
read_productsSync products and collections.
write_productsWrite the meta title and meta description of products and collections when you publish.
read_contentSync pages and blog posts.
write_contentWrite the meta title and meta description of pages when you publish. Without it, Shopify refuses every page update.
write_discountsCreate and delete discount codes when you use Promotions.
read_ordersRead your orders for the Attribution report (Pro and Agency). Clione only reads them.

The Permissions check in Setup assistants also looks for read_themes and write_themes. Clione doesn't use them through your own app, and it never edits your theme. If you leave them out, the check lists them as missing. Add them if you want that check to pass.

Troubleshooting​

The form says "Enter a full myshopify.com domain": Shopify Store URL has to be your your-store.myshopify.com domain, not your custom domain.

Test connection fails: the error you see comes straight from Shopify. Check that:

  • the Client ID and Client Secret come from the same app and were pasted without extra spaces;
  • that app is installed on this store;
  • Shopify Store URL is this store's myshopify.com domain.

Correct the values in Store Settings → Credentials and click Test connection again.

Permissions shows missing scopes: the check names the scopes your app doesn't have. Add them to your app in the Dev Dashboard and install the updated app on your store, then click Check again in Setup assistants.

Page updates fail: your app doesn't have write_content. Add it the same way.

Collections and pages don't get a meta title: by default, Clione writes the meta title on products only. Turn on Push meta_title to categories, collections, and pages in Store Settings → General. The meta description is written on every entity type regardless.

Schema Status can't see your storefront: the Schema Status card in Store Settings → Schema Injector reads your live storefront the way a crawler does. If your store is password-protected, all it reaches is the password page. Remove the password, or save it in Store Settings → Credentials under Storefront password (optional), and check again. This card, like the FAQ widget check, reports on output from the Clione Shopify app.

What Clione writes to Shopify​

Through the connection on this page, Clione writes to your store only when you publish from the Publish tab of a product, collection or page:

  • Meta description: Shopify's native SEO description, on products, collections and pages.
  • Meta title: Shopify's native SEO title. Always on products. On collections and pages, only when Push meta_title to categories, collections, and pages is on.

Enriching never writes anything to Shopify on its own. Clione asks you to confirm before it spends enrichment credits, and nothing reaches your store until you publish. See Enrich your catalog and Verify signals.

Questions? Email help@clione.ai.