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Manage metafield definitions

Metafield definitions enable you to include data validation for metafields, and enable users to add metafield values for resources in the Shopify admin. This guide shows you how to manage metafield definitions using TOML and the GraphQL Admin API.

Anchor to RequirementsRequirements

  • Your app can make authenticated requests to the GraphQL Admin API.
  • Your app has access to the owner type that you want to associate with the metafield definition. You can only create metafield definitions for owner types that you have access to.

Anchor to Step 1: Create a metafield definitionStep 1: Create a metafield definition

You can create a metafield definition using declarative TOML configuration or the GraphQL Admin API.

TOML configuration only works with the App-reserved namespace

You can only declare metafield and metaobject definitions in the app-reserved namespace $app to ensure that only the owning app can make changes to definitions. This constraint allows Shopify to guarantee a consistent state between all shops your app is installed on. App-reserved sub-namespaces are supported using [product.metafields.feature_x.configuration].

Additionally, definitions created in TOML are read-only through the Admin API, and can only be updated or deleted through the TOML configuration file.

The following example creates a metafield definition called Ingredients for the PRODUCT owner type, which stores multi-line text, such as a list of ingredients used to make the product.

Note that the TOML example uses the app namespace (required for TOML), while the GraphQL example uses a custom bakery namespace (GraphQL allows any namespace).

shopify.app.toml

[metafields]
api_version = "2025-01" # or your current API version

[product.metafields.app.ingredients]
name = "Ingredients"
description = "A list of ingredients used to make the product."
type = "multi_line_text_field"
mutation CreateMetafieldDefinition {
metafieldDefinitionCreate(definition: {
name: "Ingredients"
namespace: "bakery"
key: "ingredients"
description: "A list of ingredients used to make the product."
type: "multi_line_text_field"
ownerType: PRODUCT
}) {
createdDefinition {
id
name
namespace
key
# add other return fields
}
userErrors {
field
message
code
}
}
}

Anchor to Step 2: Retrieve a metafield definitionStep 2: Retrieve a metafield definition

You can use the metafieldDefinition query to retrieve a metafield definition.

The following example retrieves a metafield definition by using its ID:

POST https://{shop}.myshopify.com/api/{api_version}/graphql.json

GraphQL query

{
metafieldDefinition(id: $id) {
name
namespace
key
description
ownerType
type {
name
}
}
}

Variables

{
"id": "gid://shopify/MetafieldDefinition/18776120"
}

JSON response

{
"data": {
"metafieldDefinition": {
"name": "Expiry Date",
"namespace": "food",
"key": "expiry_date",
"description": "The expiry date.",
"ownerType": "PRODUCT",
"type": {
"name": "date"
}
}
}
}

Anchor to Step 3: Update a metafield definitionStep 3: Update a metafield definition

You can update a metafield definition using TOML configuration or the GraphQL Admin API. You can update only the name and description of a metafield definition.

The following example changes a metafield definition's name from Pizza size to Pizza size (inches):

shopify.app.toml

[metafields]
api_version = "2025-01" # or your current API version

[product.metafields.app.pizzasize]
name = "Pizza size (inches)"
mutation UpdateMetafieldDefinition {
metafieldDefinitionUpdate(definition: {
name: "Pizza size (inches)"
namespace: "bakery"
key: "pizzasize"
ownerType: PRODUCT
}) {
updatedDefinition {
id
name
namespace
key
# add other return fields
}
userErrors {
field
message
code
}
}
}

Anchor to Step 4 (Optional): Delete a metafield definitionStep 4 (Optional): Delete a metafield definition

You can delete a metafield definition using TOML configuration or the GraphQL Admin API.

With TOML configuration, deleting a metafield definition is as simple as removing the corresponding lines from your shopify.app.toml file and running shopify app deploy. For example, to delete the app.ingredients definition, you would remove:

[product.metafields.app.ingredients]
name = "Ingredients"
description = "A list of ingredients used to make the product."
type = "multi_line_text_field"

With the GraphQL Admin API, you can use the metafieldDefinitionDelete mutation. You can also set an option that, when selected, deletes all metafields that use that definition.

The following example deletes the metafield definition for bakery.ingredients (via GraphQL) or app.ingredients (via TOML), and also deletes all metafields that use the definition.

POST https://{shop}.myshopify.com/api/{api_version}/graphql.json

GraphQL mutation

mutation DeleteMetafieldDefinition {
metafieldDefinitionDelete(id: $id, deleteAllAssociatedMetafields: $deleteAllAssociatedMetafields) {
deletedDefinitionId
userErrors {
field
message
code
}
}
}

Variables

{
"id": "gid://shopify/MetafieldDefinition/18710584",
"deleteAllAssociatedMetafields": true
}

JSON response

{
"metafieldDefinitionDelete": {
"deletedDefinitionId": "gid://shopify/MetafieldDefinition/18710584",
"userErrors": []
}
}

Anchor to Next stepsNext steps

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