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Create a Flow template

A template in Shopify Flow is an example workflow that can be copied into a merchant's shop. Templates help merchants automate a specific use case with minimal or no additional configuration. Flow's template library offers hundreds of templates with features to filter, browse, and search. You can create a template for Shopify Flow that showcases your custom triggers and actions and help merchants do more.

To create a workflow template that merchants can add to their workflow list, you need to add a Flow template extension to your app.

Anchor to RequirementsRequirements

  • A development store that has Shopify Flow and your app installed.
  • Your existing custom triggers and actions are connected to your instance of Shopify Flow.
  • Shopify CLI installed with a version of 3.49 or higher.

Anchor to Step 1: Create a workflowStep 1: Create a workflow

A workflow is the foundation of a Flow template.

  1. In your development store navigate to Apps > Flow.
  2. Click Create workflow.
  3. In the workflow editor, build a workflow that solves a merchant use case and showcases your custom trigger and or actions.
  4. Optional: Tailor your template to a wider audience by localizing your custom step descriptions.
  5. After you're satisfied with your workflow, export the workflow and save the .flow file locally.
Note
  • Test your workflow thoroughly, ensuring the trigger, condition(s), and action(s) used provide the intended result.
  • Always test the experience for your template by importing it into another store. This will help you identify any shop-specific data that may not work for all merchants.
  • In some cases, templates may not make sense without shop-specific data. You may leave these fields in place, and Flow will highlight them as requiring a change after the template is installed.
  • Avoid using placeholders for concepts like tag names. Instead, either use a recommended tag name, or leave the field blank.
  • Don't edit .flow files directly. Only make changes within the Flow app and export the updated workflow.

Anchor to Step 2: Create a Flow template extensionStep 2: Create a Flow template extension

Use the Shopify CLI to generate a new extension:

  1. Navigate to your app directory.
  2. Run the following command:

Terminal

#!/bin/bash
shopify app generate extension
  1. Select the Flow Template as the type of extension.
  2. Provide a meaningful name for your extension.

Follow these guidelines when choosing a name:

  • Don't use punctuation.
  • Separate words using spaces.

After you've followed the prompts, Shopify CLI generates the extension's file representation in your app's /extensions directory and returns a success message. You can then go into your app's /extensions directory and start editing your new extension.

Note

Each Flow template extension can contain only a single template. To deploy multiple templates, you will need to create an extension for each template.

The file structure of your extension should look like the following:

File

/your-extension-name
/locales
en.default.json
fr.json
shopify.extension.toml
template.flow

To learn more about the extensions file structure, refer to our app structure documentation and the documentation for the Flow template extension type.

Anchor to Step 3: Configure extensionStep 3: Configure extension

Configure your template extension to include information describing it's function for merchants, and settings that control visibility.

  1. Update the shopify.extension.toml configuration file.
  2. Update and add any additional locales. Localization reference.
  3. Replace template.flow with the workflow that you exported.
  4. Be sure to update the filename to match your chosen file path in the shopify.extension.toml file. template.flow is the default.

Anchor to Step 4: Preview extensionStep 4: Preview extension

Preview your template extension to see how it will be displayed to merchants before deploying and requesting review.

  1. Run the following command in Shopify CLI:

Terminal

#!/bin/bash
shopify app dev
  1. In your development store's Shopify admin, navigate to /flow/editor/templates/dev. From here you can preview your workflow, template card, and custom step descriptions.
  2. Refer to our approval criteria to ensure that your extension meets our requirements.

Anchor to Step 5: Deploy extensionStep 5: Deploy extension

Use Shopify CLI to deploy your extension.

  1. Navigate to your app directory.
  2. Run the following command to start deploying your extension(s):

Terminal

#!/bin/bash
shopify app deploy
  1. Follow the command prompts

When you receive confirmation that the deploy was successful, the template extension enters the review queue. After the approval process is complete and the template extension has been approved, your templates will display in Flow's template library.

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