Shopify Products

Create, update, and bulk-import Shopify products. Produces live products in the store via the GraphQL Admin API or CSV import.

Prerequisites

• Admin API access token (use the shopify-setup skill if not configured)

• Store URL and API version from shopify.config.json or .dev.vars

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Product Data

Determine what the user wants to create or update:

• Product basics: title, description (HTML), product type, vendor, tags

• Variants: options (size, colour, material), prices, SKUs, inventory quantities

• Images: URLs to upload, or local files

• SEO: page title, meta description, URL handle

• Organisation: collections, product type, tags

Accept data from:

• Direct conversation (user describes products)

• Spreadsheet/CSV file (user provides a file)

• Website scraping (user provides a URL to extract from)

Step 2: Choose Method

Scenario Method

1-5 products GraphQL mutations

6-20 products GraphQL with batching

20+ products CSV import via admin

Updates to existing GraphQL mutations

Inventory adjustments inventorySetQuantities mutation

Step 3a: Create via GraphQL (Recommended)

Single product with variants:

curl -s https://{store}/admin/api/2025-01/graphql.json
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
-H "X-Shopify-Access-Token: {token}"
-d '{ "query": "mutation productCreate($product: ProductCreateInput!) { productCreate(product: $product) { product { id title } userErrors { field message } } }", "variables": { "product": { "title": "Example T-Shirt", "descriptionHtml": "<p>Premium cotton tee</p>", "vendor": "My Brand", "productType": "T-Shirts", "tags": ["summer", "cotton"], "options": ["Size", "Colour"], "variants": [ {"optionValues": [{"optionName": "Size", "name": "S"}, {"optionName": "Colour", "name": "Black"}], "price": "29.95"}, {"optionValues": [{"optionName": "Size", "name": "M"}, {"optionName": "Colour", "name": "Black"}], "price": "29.95"}, {"optionValues": [{"optionName": "Size", "name": "L"}, {"optionName": "Colour", "name": "Black"}], "price": "29.95"} ] } } }'

See references/graphql-mutations.md for all mutation patterns.

Batching multiple products: Create products sequentially with a short delay between each to respect rate limits (1,000 cost points/second).

Step 3b: Bulk Import via CSV

For 20+ products, generate a CSV and import through Shopify admin:

• Generate CSV using the format in references/csv-format.md

• Use the template from assets/product-csv-template.csv

• Navigate to https://{store}.myshopify.com/admin/products/import

• Upload the CSV file

• Review the preview and confirm import

Use browser automation to assist with the upload if needed.

Step 4: Upload Product Images

Images require a two-step process — staged upload then attach:

mutation { stagedUploadsCreate(input: [{ filename: "product-image.jpg" mimeType: "image/jpeg" httpMethod: POST resource: IMAGE }]) { stagedTargets { url resourceUrl parameters { name value } } } }

Then upload to the staged URL, and attach with productCreateMedia .

Shortcut: If images are already hosted at a public URL, pass src directly in the product creation:

{ "images": [ { "src": "https://example.com/image.jpg", "alt": "Product front view" } ] }

Step 5: Assign to Collections

After creation, add products to collections:

mutation { collectionAddProducts( id: "gid://shopify/Collection/123456" productIds: ["gid://shopify/Product/789"] ) { collection { title productsCount } userErrors { field message } } }

To find collection IDs:

{ collections(first: 50) { edges { node { id title handle } } } }

Step 6: Verify

Query back the created products to confirm:

{ products(first: 10, reverse: true) { edges { node { id title status variants(first: 5) { edges { node { title price inventoryQuantity } } } images(first: 3) { edges { node { url altText } } } } } } }

Provide the admin URL for the user to review: https://{store}.myshopify.com/admin/products

Critical Patterns

Product Status

New products default to DRAFT . To make them visible:

{ "status": "ACTIVE" }

Always confirm with the user before setting status to ACTIVE .

Variant Limits

Shopify allows max 100 variants per product and 3 options (e.g. Size, Colour, Material). If you need more, split into separate products.

Inventory Tracking

To set inventory quantities, use inventorySetQuantities after product creation:

mutation { inventorySetQuantities(input: { reason: "correction" name: "available" quantities: [{ inventoryItemId: "gid://shopify/InventoryItem/123" locationId: "gid://shopify/Location/456" quantity: 50 }] }) { inventoryAdjustmentGroup { reason } userErrors { field message } } }

Price Formatting

Prices are strings, not numbers. Always quote them: "price": "29.95" not "price": 29.95 .

HTML Descriptions

Product descriptions accept HTML. Keep it simple — Shopify's editor handles basic tags:

• <p> , <strong> , <em> , <ul> , <ol> , <li> , <h2> -<h6>

• <a href="..."> for links

• <img> is stripped — use product images instead

Bulk Operations for Large Imports

For 50+ products via API, use Shopify's bulk operation:

mutation { bulkOperationRunMutation( mutation: "mutation ($input: ProductInput!) { productCreate(input: $input) { product { id } userErrors { message } } }" stagedUploadPath: "tmp/bulk-products.jsonl" ) { bulkOperation { id status } userErrors { message } } }

This accepts a JSONL file with one product per line, processed asynchronously.

Asset Files

• assets/product-csv-template.csv — Blank CSV template with Shopify import headers

Reference Files

• references/graphql-mutations.md — Key GraphQL mutations for product CRUD

• references/csv-format.md — Shopify CSV import column format and examples