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Collaborations

Collaborations are access relationships with merchant-owned stores. When you have collaborator access to a store, it appears in the Collaborations tab of the Dev Dashboard. Unlike dev stores and client transfer stores, you don't own a collaboration store; the merchant does. You're working inside their live store.

Use collaborations when an existing merchant needs support, customization, or app development on their store.

Anchor to RequirementsRequirements

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • A Shopify Partner account.
  • The required permissions to manage collaborations in your organization.

Anchor to Request collaborator accessRequest collaborator access

Info

In the legacy Partner Dashboard, this flow was called Send collaborator request. In the Dev Dashboard, the entry point has been renamed to Request store access, and the final submission button is Send request.

To request access to a merchant's store:

  1. Log in to the Dev Dashboard.
  2. Select Stores from the left sidebar.
  3. Select Request store access.
  4. Enter the store's permanent myshopify.com URL. Custom or secondary domains aren't supported.
  5. Enter the merchant's 4-digit collaborator request code. The merchant can find this in their Shopify admin under Settings > Users > Security. If they've never shared it before, they may need to locate and share it with you first.
  6. Select the permissions you need.
  7. Select Send request.

The merchant receives a request to grant your organization collaborator access. Once they approve it, the store appears in your Collaborations tab.

Info

If your organization has an app installed on the merchant's store, you can request collaborator access without a collaborator request code.

Anchor to Collaboration statusesCollaboration statuses

You can track the status of your collaborations from the Collaborations tab:

StatusMeaning
ActiveCollaborator access is active and within the agreed access period.
Request sentYour access request has been sent and is waiting for the merchant to approve.
Expires soonYour collaborator access is approaching its expiration date.
ExpiredYour collaborator access has expired. You no longer have access to the store.

Anchor to Renew expired accessRenew expired access

If your collaborator access has expired, you can send the merchant a new request directly from the Dev Dashboard.

  1. From the Collaborations tab, find the store with Expired status.
  2. Select the three-dot menu (⋯) on the store's row.
  3. Select Request renewal.

The merchant receives a new request to approve. Once they approve it, your access is restored and the status updates accordingly.

Anchor to LimitationsLimitations

As a collaborator, your access is granted and controlled by the merchant:

  • The merchant sets the scope of your permissions. You can only access the parts of the store they've granted you access to.
  • You can't transfer a collaboration store. If the merchant wants to hand off store ownership, that's a separate process they initiate.

Anchor to Next stepsNext steps

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