Migrating to Shopify Checkout Extensibility: A Critical Update
Introduction
For years, Shopify Plus merchants relied on checkout.liquid to hack their checkout pages. It allowed for powerful customizations but came with risks: poor performance, upgrade conflicts, and security vulnerabilities. Shopify has announced the deprecation of checkout.liquid in favor of Checkout Extensibility.
What is Checkout Extensibility?
It is an app-based, upgrade-safe way to customize the checkout. Instead of editing code directly, you use:
- Checkout UI Extensions: To add custom banners, checkboxes, or fields.
- Shopify Functions: To build custom discounts, shipping logic, and payment rules on the backend.
- Web Pixel API: For secure, privacy-compliant tracking.
Why the Change?
1. Speed: The new checkout is much faster because it runs in a sandboxed environment. 2. One-Page Checkout: Extensibility is built for the new One-Page Checkout, which has higher conversion rates. 3. Update Safety: Your customizations won't break when Shopify updates the platform. 4. Shop Pay Integration: Customizations now work seamlessly with Shop Pay, which wasn't possible with checkout.liquid.
The Migration Process
- Audit: List all current customizations (scripts, pixel tracking, UI tweaks).
- Map: Find the equivalent "App" or "Extension" for each customization.
- Build: Develop custom apps for logic that isn't covered by the App Store.
- Test: Run the new checkout in draft mode.
- Publish: Switch over before the deprecation deadline.
Conclusion
This isn't just a technical update; it's a mandatory shift for Shopify Plus merchants. While it requires effort to migrate, the result is a faster, more secure, and higher-converting checkout experience.
