Manage media for product variants

You can use the GraphQL Admin API to add a media object of type IMAGE to a product's variants. For example, you can create a product, a product variant, and media object, and attach a media object to the product variant in a single step. You can also associate the product's media to its variants.

This guide shows how to manage media on product variants using the GraphQL Admin API.

Anchor to RequirementsRequirements

• Your app can make authenticated requests to the GraphQL Admin API.
• Your app has the read_products and write_products access scopes. Learn how to configure your access scopes using Shopify CLI.
• You've created products and product variants in your development store.

Anchor to Step 1: Query a product and display its variantsStep 1: Query a product and display its variants

The following query returns information about any image media objects that are attached to the variants of a product:

Anchor to Step 2: Create a product and associate media to its variantStep 2: Create a product and associate media to its variant

When you create a new product using the productCreate mutation, you can include the mediaSrc attribute to specify the URL of the media to associate with the variant. This field matches one of the media originalSource fields that you created on the product.

When you create the variant options, make sure that you include the options values. These values must match the options that were set up on the product. For example, if the product has the variant options [“Color”, “Size”], then each variant should have a color and a size option, like [“Red”, “M”].

Anchor to Step 3: Attach media to an existing product variantStep 3: Attach media to an existing product variant

To attach a media object to an existing product variant, you must do the following:

1. Create the media on the product using the productCreateMedia mutation.
2. If the product doesn't have variants, then you must create at least one variant on the product.

Refer to the productCreate, productUpdate, or productVariantCreate mutations for more information.

When you have a product with a media object and variants, you can use the productVariantAppendMedia mutation to associate the media id to one or more variant ids, as shown in the following example mutation:

Anchor to Step 4: Remove media from a variantStep 4: Remove media from a variant

To detach media from a variant, you can use the productVariantDetachMedia mutation.

After you use the mutation, the media won't be associated with the variant anymore, but the media will still be associated with the product. You can use the productDeleteMedia mutation to remove the media from the product as well.

The following example demonstrates how to use the productVariantDetachMedia mutation to disassociate a media object from a product variant.

Anchor to Next stepsNext steps

• Learn how to manage product media by using the GraphQL Admin API.
• Use Liquid to add product media to a store's theme.