Knowledge Center

Shopify glossary

Plain-English definitions, each with its source.

ACGHILMOST

Agentic storefronts

Agentic storefronts are Shopify's sales channel for sharing products with AI channels through Shopify Catalog. The channel is on by default for eligible stores, and checkout options differ by channel.

More in my guide: Agentic Commerce on Shopify: Selling Inside ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini

Cart Transform API

The Cart Transform API is the Shopify API for changing cart item pricing and presentation, including titles, images, prices, and bundles. It integrates Shopify Functions logic into the checkout flow.

Source: Shopify.dev: Cart Transform Function API (checked 2026-10-18)

Checkout Extensibility

Checkout Extensibility is Shopify's app-based way to customize checkout, replacing checkout.liquid and Shopify Scripts. It is made up of checkout UI extensions, Shopify Functions, web pixels and branding settings.

More in my guide: Shopify Checkout Extensibility: A Practical Migration Guide for 2026

Checkout UI extensions

Checkout UI extensions customize the information, shipping, and payment steps of Shopify checkout and are available only on Plus. Every plan can customize the Thank you and Order status pages with app blocks and branding.

More in my guide: Shopify vs Shopify Plus: What You Actually Get and When to Upgrade

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are three metrics for loading, responsiveness, and visual stability: LCP, INP, and CLS. A good result means LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP of 200 milliseconds or less, and CLS of 0.1 or less at the 75th percentile of real visits.

More in my guide: Shopify Site Speed and Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP and CLS Explained

CRO

CRO (conversion rate optimization) is the work of finding and fixing what makes shoppers leave without buying, such as unexpected costs, missing trust signals, weak product pages, poor search or slow pages, before testing bigger changes.

More in my guide: The Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization Checklist for 2026

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is a Core Web Vital metric for visual stability. It measures the largest burst of layout-shift scores for every unexpected layout shift during a page's lifecycle.

Source: web.dev: Cumulative Layout Shift (checked 2026-10-18)

Google Merchant Center

Google Merchant Center is a free tool for uploading and managing product data so products can appear across Google Search, Maps, YouTube, and more. A linked Shopify account can sync Shopify products automatically.

Source: Google Merchant Center Help: Get started (checked 2026-10-18)

Headless commerce

Headless commerce is a storefront setup where the storefront is a separate app that communicates with Shopify through the Storefront API, while checkout remains on Shopify.

More in my guide: Headless Shopify vs Liquid Themes: When Hydrogen Is Worth It in 2026

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is Shopify's JavaScript library for building headless storefronts. Since October 14, 2026 it is framework-agnostic, with starters for React Router and Next.js, and existing Hydrogen storefronts keep working.

More in my guide: Headless Shopify vs Liquid Themes: When Hydrogen Is Worth It in 2026

Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is the Core Web Vital for responsiveness: how quickly a page reacts when a shopper taps or clicks. A good score is 200 milliseconds or less at the 75th percentile of real visits.

More in my guide: Shopify Site Speed and Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP and CLS Explained

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is the Core Web Vital for loading: how long the biggest element, usually a hero banner or main product image, takes to appear. A good score is 2.5 seconds or less at the 75th percentile.

More in my guide: Shopify Site Speed and Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP and CLS Explained

Liquid

Liquid is a template language created by Shopify and used to build Shopify Themes. Its tags, filters, and objects dynamically render store content and storefront information.

Source: Shopify.dev: Liquid reference (checked 2026-10-18)

llms.txt

llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file, placed at /llms.txt on a website, that gives AI assistants concise background, guidance and links to the site's most useful pages.

Source: llms.txt: The /llms.txt file (checked 2026-10-18)

Metafields

Metafields are key-value pairs that extend Shopify's built-in data models by adding custom data to Shopify resources. They can store warranty information, customer lifetime value, fulfillment notes, or links to related products.

Source: Shopify.dev: Metafields (checked 2026-10-18)

Metaobjects

Metaobjects are standalone structured-data entities with multiple related fields that can be referenced and reused across a store. Each metaobject has field values defined by a metaobject definition.

Source: Shopify.dev: Metaobjects (checked 2026-10-18)

Online Store 2.0

Online Store 2.0 refers to Shopify themes that support sections on every page, app blocks, and metafield-driven content. Shopify hosts and renders the standard store's Liquid theme and provides a theme editor for changing sections, blocks, and content without code.

More in my guide: Headless Shopify vs Liquid Themes: When Hydrogen Is Worth It in 2026

Oxygen

Oxygen is where Hydrogen storefronts are deployed and run. Each deployment is an immutable snapshot of the app, and Hydrogen and Oxygen support continuous deployment from GitHub.

Source: Shopify.dev: Oxygen deployments (checked 2026-10-18)

Sections

Sections are Liquid files that create reusable, merchant-customizable content modules. They can include blocks that merchants add, remove, and reorder, and can be added dynamically through JSON templates or section groups.

Source: Shopify.dev: Sections (checked 2026-10-18)

Shop Pay

Shop Pay is an accelerated checkout option that lets customers save their email, payment method, shipping information, and billing information for faster checkout. It is included with Shopify Payments and can also be offered on Shopify POS.

Source: Shopify Help Center: Shop Pay (checked 2026-10-18)

Shopify B2B

Shopify B2B is Shopify's native B2B system, built around companies, company locations, customers, and catalogs. Every buyer is set up under a company, while catalogs control which products and prices each location sees.

More in my guide: Shopify B2B in 2026: A Practical Guide to Wholesale on Shopify

Shopify Catalog

Shopify Catalog is Shopify's continuously updated product-data layer for AI channels. It shares product details including titles, descriptions, options, images, prices, and availability, and Catalog Mapping can point it to product data in metafields or tags.

More in my guide: Agentic Commerce on Shopify: Selling Inside ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini

Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow is an ecommerce automation platform that monitors a store for events and runs action sequences within the store and across apps. Workflows use triggers, conditions, and actions.

Source: Shopify Help Center: Shopify Flow (checked 2026-10-18)

Shopify Functions

Shopify Functions are small pieces of backend logic that Shopify runs inside its own infrastructure during cart and checkout. They cover discounts, delivery and payment customization, and they replace Shopify Scripts.

More in my guide: Shopify Functions Explained: Custom Discounts, Shipping and Checkout Rules After Scripts

Shopify Markets

Shopify Markets is a Shopify feature that lets one store show local currencies, prices, languages, and duties to buyers around the world. Before it, selling abroad on Shopify could mean cloning the store for each country.

More in my guide: Shopify Markets: A Practical Guide to Selling Internationally in 2026

Shopify POS

Shopify POS is an iOS and Android app that syncs orders and inventory with Shopify admin. A counter sale reduces the same inventory used online, and an in-store customer receives the same customer profile used online.

More in my guide: Shopify POS and Omnichannel Retail: Running Online and In-Store as One Business

Shopify Scripts

Shopify Scripts are a Shopify feature previously used for tiered discounts, hidden shipping methods, and payment rules. The source says they stopped working on June 30, 2026, and identifies Shopify Functions as the replacement.

More in my guide: Shopify Functions Explained: Custom Discounts, Shipping and Checkout Rules After Scripts

Sidekick

Sidekick is Shopify's AI assistant in the admin that can analyze data, edit products, write content, build simple admin apps, and act in some partner apps. It asks for approval before changing a store and cannot talk to customers.

More in my guide: Shopify Sidekick and AI Tools: What Merchants Can Actually Use Today

Storefront API

Storefront API is Shopify's GraphQL API for creating customer experiences on the web, in apps, and in games. It supports viewing products and collections, adding products to a cart, and checking out.

Source: Shopify.dev: Storefront API (checked 2026-10-18)

Structured data

Structured data (schema markup) describes a page's content, such as a product's price and availability, in a format search engines read. It makes pages eligible for rich results, but it is not an AI ranking lever.

More in my guide: AI Search Optimization for Ecommerce: How to Get Products Recommended

Theme app extensions

Theme app extensions are Shopify integrations that let merchants add dynamic elements to themes without editing Liquid templates or code. They expose an app in the theme editor and can include app blocks, assets, and reusable Liquid snippets.

Source: Shopify.dev: Theme app extensions (checked 2026-10-18)

Guides by topic

Shopify Platform

• Ecommerce Website Development: A Complete Guide for 2026How to plan and build an online store in 2026: platform choice, an eight-step build process, and the requirements that actually move sales.
• Headless Shopify vs Liquid Themes: When Hydrogen Is Worth It in 2026Hydrogen is now a library that works with any JavaScript framework. That changes the headless conversation, but most stores should still start with a Liquid theme. Here is how to decide.
• Migrating to Shopify from WooCommerce, Magento or BigCommerceReplatforming goes wrong in the details: redirects, variants, customer accounts and order history. A step-by-step plan to move to Shopify without losing traffic.
• How to Audit Your Shopify App Stack: Speed, Cost and OverlapMost stores carry apps they no longer need. A practical process to measure each app's cost and speed impact, replace what Shopify now does natively, and remove the rest cleanly.
• Shopify B2B in 2026: A Practical Guide to Wholesale on ShopifyNative B2B is no longer Plus-only. Here is what Basic, Grow and Advanced now include, where Plus still matters, and how to set up wholesale without breaking your DTC store.
• Shopify Checkout Extensibility: A Practical Migration Guide for 2026Every checkout.liquid deadline has now passed. Here is what you can still customize, which features need Plus, and a step-by-step plan to rebuild what you lost.
• Shopify Functions Explained: Custom Discounts, Shipping and Checkout Rules After ScriptsShopify Scripts stopped running on June 30, 2026. Here is what Shopify Functions can do instead, which plan you need, and how to decide between an app and a custom build.
• Shopify Markets: A Practical Guide to Selling Internationally in 2026Shopify Markets lets one store sell in many countries with local prices, languages and duties. Here is how it works in 2026 and how to launch your first international market without chaos.
• Shopify vs Shopify Plus: What You Actually Get and When to UpgradePlus starts at $2,300 a month. Here is what that buys you in 2026, which features are really Plus-only, and how to tell if your store has outgrown Advanced.
• What Is a Shopify Developer? Roles, Skills and How to Hire OneTheme developer, app developer, Shopify Plus specialist or headless engineer? Here's what each one does and how to hire the right one.

AI & Commerce

• Agentic Commerce on Shopify: Selling Inside ChatGPT, Copilot and GeminiYour products may already be showing up in ChatGPT and Copilot. Here's what's actually live, what's still rolling out, and what to fix first.
• AI Search Optimization for Ecommerce: How to Get Products RecommendedNo llms.txt, no special schema, no content chunking. What actually gets products recommended by AI search, and how to measure it.
• Shopify Sidekick and AI Tools: What Merchants Can Actually Use TodaySidekick can now build admin apps, write ShopifyQL and act inside partner apps. Here's where it saves real time, and where you still need a human.
• Shopify Product Structured Data: A Practical Schema Audit GuideYour theme already outputs product schema, but probably not all of it. How to audit Shopify structured data, fix duplicates and add return policy markup.
• AI Shopping Agents: What New Research Says About Agent-Ready StoresA new paper tested AI browser agents on the same store twice. The agent-ready version nearly doubled full task success. Here's what changed, and what to fix on your Shopify store.

Conversion & UX

• BFCM 2026 Shopify Preparation Checklist: A Six-Week PlaybookBlack Friday is November 27, 2026. Here is a week-by-week Shopify playbook for offers, speed, checkout testing, scheduled launches and sale-weekend monitoring.
• Mobile Ecommerce UX: Cart, Checkout and Shop Pay Done RightHow to make the mobile path from product to paid order shorter and calmer on Shopify: cart design, accelerated checkouts, forms and the fixes research supports.
• Shopify Collections, Navigation, Filters and Search That Help People BuyA practical guide to Shopify collection architecture, menus, filters and on-site search, grounded in usability research and Shopify's own tools.
• The Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization Checklist for 2026A prioritized, evidence-backed checklist for finding and fixing the conversion leaks most Shopify stores share, from surprise costs to slow pages.
• Shopify Product Page Best Practices, Backed by UX ResearchWhat usability research says your Shopify product pages need: the right images, clear variants, visible costs, honest reviews and a layout that works on a phone.
• Shopify Site Speed and Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP and CLS ExplainedWhat LCP, INP and CLS mean for a Shopify store, how to read Shopify's performance dashboard, and the theme and app fixes that actually move the numbers.

Marketing & Growth

• Ecommerce Customer Retention: Loyalty, Subscriptions and Post-Purchase on ShopifyLoyalty apps and subscriptions don't fix retention on their own. Start with your cohort data and the first 30 days after the first order.
• Shopify Analytics vs GA4: Attribution and the Reports That Actually MatterShopify and GA4 will never agree, and they don't need to. Use each one for what it measures well, and learn which attribution model you're looking at.
• Shopify Email and SMS Flows That Actually Matter (and How to Stay Compliant)Most stores need four or five automated flows, not forty. Here is the order I build them in, which tool to use, and the sender rules that can get you blocked.
• Shopify POS and Omnichannel Retail: Running Online and In-Store as One BusinessShopify POS puts your store, website and inventory on one system. Here's what's included, what needs POS Pro, and how to roll it out without chaos.
• Shopify SEO Guide: What Shopify Handles and What You Still Have to DoShopify gives you a sitemap, a sensible robots.txt and clean templates. Rankings still come from collections, content and links. Here is where to focus.
• Shopify Tracking After Privacy Changes: Web Pixels, Meta CAPI, Google Tags and ConsentAd blockers, consent banners and Shopify's move to sandboxed pixels changed how tracking works. Here is a clean, privacy-respecting setup that ad platforms can still learn from.

Development

• Building a Web Component: Custom Elements, Shadow DOM and Slots for Shopify ThemesA hands-on web components tutorial with working code, plus the patterns Shopify's own Dawn and Horizon themes use for interactive UI.
• Frontend vs. Backend in Ecommerce: How They Work Together on ShopifyWhat's frontend and what's backend in a modern store, how the two talk to each other on Shopify, and which technologies sit on each side.
• Web Development in 2026: A Practical Guide for Ecommerce TeamsWhat web development means in 2026, what's changed since the framework-everything era, and what ecommerce teams should prioritize.

Professional Practice

• Reputation Is Built One Workday at a TimeYour reputation is shaped by the everyday habits people experience: how you communicate, follow through, and handle the difficult parts of a project.

Working with me

Last updated 2026-10-18, automatically with each site build.