I've Been Building Shopify Apps for 4 Years - Here's What Actually Works

So here's the deal - Shopify forced everyone off REST APIs as of April 2025 for new apps, and we're now living in that reality. Existing apps still use REST just fine, but if you're building something new in 2025, you're doing GraphQL whether you like it or not. The deadline passed 4 months ago, and honestly? The ecosystem has adapted better than expected.

The Migration Nightmare Nobody Talks About

I spent three fucking weeks migrating our inventory management app from REST to GraphQL. The official migration guide makes it sound like a weekend project. It's not. I also found this Stack Overflow thread helpful for specific migration issues.

First problem: all your existing API calls are fucked. That simple GET /admin/api/2023-10/products.json becomes this monster GraphQL query:

query getProducts($first: Int!) {
  products(first: $first) {
    edges {
      node {
        id
        title
        handle
        variants(first: 10) {
          edges {
            node {
              id
              price
              inventoryQuantity
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Look, after suffering through the migration - GraphQL is actually faster for complex data fetching. Instead of making 5 separate REST calls to get product data, variants, inventory, and images, you get everything in one request. Product listing went from painfully slow (2-3 seconds) to actually usable (under a second) - way faster but hard to say exactly how much.

The performance gains come from Shopify's query complexity scoring system, which caps each request at 1000 complexity points. A simple product query costs around 50 points, but fetching variants and inventory adds up quickly. Learning to optimize these queries is crucial - I've seen poorly written queries hit the complexity limit with just 10 products instead of the 100+ you can fetch when done right.

The GraphQL Admin API reference is actually pretty good once you understand the connection patterns. I also recommend the GraphiQL explorer for testing queries, though it crashes on complex ones that involve more than 5-6 nested connections.

The CLI That Actually Works (Most of the Time)

The Shopify CLI is probably the best part of their developer tools. When I started, setting up a new app meant 2 hours of clicking through dashboards and copying API keys. Now it's literally:

shopify app init
cd my-app
shopify app dev

And you've got a working app with GraphQL, authentication, and tunneling set up. The hot reload actually works, which puts it ahead of most JavaScript tooling I've used.

The tunnel system is solid - it uses Cloudflare under the hood, so your local dev environment is accessible over HTTPS without fucking around with ngrok or custom certificates. I've had maybe 2-3 tunnel failures in the past year, which is pretty impressive. The tunnels typically stay up for 8+ hours without issues, and when they do fail, shopify app dev automatically reconnects within 10-15 seconds.

But when it breaks, good luck figuring out what went wrong. Error messages are complete garbage. Last month I wasted like 4 hours on some cryptic auth error - kept getting "Access to app creation is forbidden" or some shit like that. Tried restarting everything, clearing caches, even reinstalling the CLI. Finally found some random Stack Overflow answer that said to nuke the auth tokens with shopify auth logout && shopify auth login. Four hours for a logout command.

That said, the CLI team is actively fixing issues - they had 3 commits merged just this week (as of August 31st) addressing authentication and multi-environment commands. The CLI GitHub repository has issues threads that are actually useful for troubleshooting, and the Shopify Community Forums have real developers sharing solutions.

App Bridge: React or Die

App Bridge is Shopify's way of making your app look like it belongs inside the Shopify admin. It handles navigation, modals, and all the UI components so your app doesn't look like shit.

The good news? If you're using React, it's pretty solid. The @shopify/app-bridge-react package gives you components that actually work and feel native. TypeScript support is decent too.

The bad news? If you're not using React, you're fucked. They have a vanilla JS version but it's clearly an afterthought. The docs are sparse, examples break constantly, and you'll waste more time fighting the framework than building features.

We tried to use Vue for one project and ended up rewriting the whole frontend in React after two weeks of pain. The Vue.js integration is technically possible but practically a nightmare. Just use React and save yourself the headache. The official Node.js app template uses React by default, and the App Bridge React documentation actually has working examples.

The Real Talk: What Works and What Sucks

What's Actually Good:

• The CLI setup is fast and mostly works
• GraphQL is faster once you learn it (took me 3 weeks to feel comfortable)
• Partner Dashboard finally doesn't suck - app creation is streamlined
• Hot reload works better than most React setups I've used
• TypeScript support is solid throughout the stack

What Still Pisses Me Off:

• Error messages are complete garbage - "Something went wrong" tells me nothing
• The GraphQL explorer times out on complex queries
• App Bridge only works well with React - everything else is an afterthought
• Testing GraphQL mutations locally is a pain in the ass
• The webhook system still randomly fails with zero explanation

What They Need to Fix:

• Better debugging tools for production issues - I'm flying blind when things break
• Support for Vue/Angular/Svelte that doesn't feel like punishment
• Actual error messages that help me solve problems
• A way to test complex app extensions without deploying to App Store

Bottom Line: The Tools Have Finally Caught Up to the Hype

If you're building a new Shopify app in late 2025, just use their stack: React, GraphQL, Shopify CLI. Fighting it will waste your time. The tools have matured significantly over the past year - the path of least resistance is genuinely productive now, not just marketing bullshit.

Here's what changed my mind: That 3-week nightmare app I built in 2021? I recreated it in 6 hours last month using the modern CLI and GraphQL. Same functionality, better performance, cleaner code. The difference isn't me getting smarter - it's the tools actually working.

But if you're coming from other platforms, expect a learning curve. Shopify does things their way, and you'll spend weeks learning their conventions. The documentation is better than it used to be, but it's still missing real-world examples for complex scenarios. The App Store review guidelines are actually worth reading before you start, and the Postman collections help with API exploration.

Is it worth it? Yeah, definitely. The Shopify App Store is where the money is, and their tools are finally good enough to build real products without losing your sanity. Just budget more time than you think you need, especially if you're migrating existing apps or learning GraphQL from scratch.

But theory is one thing - what does this actually look like in practice? The comparison tables below show you exactly which tools work, which ones suck, and what timeline to expect for each part of building a real app.

I've been through the entire evolution of Shopify's developer tools - from the old REST-only days to this new GraphQL-mandatory world. Here's what actually happens when you try to build real apps, not the polished version from their marketing team.

The GraphQL Migration Nobody Talks About

The April 2025 GraphQL deadline hit our team hard. Shopify kept saying "migration is straightforward" - what a load of shit. We had a medium-sized inventory app that took 3 weeks to fully migrate, not the "few days" they promised. GraphQL is better, but their timeline estimates were complete fantasy.

The real killer wasn't learning GraphQL syntax - that part's actually pretty cool. The problem was redesigning all our data fetching logic. REST endpoints give you predictable, simple responses. GraphQL makes you think about data relationships and query optimization from day one. Our junior developers struggled with concepts like query complexity and N+1 problems that never mattered with REST. The GraphQL learning resources helped, but it's a different mindset than REST development.

But here's the good part - if you're using TypeScript, the CLI's GraphQL tooling generates types automatically from the schema. No more wondering what fields are available or getting runtime errors from typos. JavaScript teams don't get this benefit, which makes GraphQL feel like more work for less payoff. The GraphQL Code Generator community tools can help with this too.

CLI Development: When It Works, It's Great

The Shopify CLI is legitimately good for development. shopify app dev gives you hot reload that actually works, tunneling that doesn't randomly break, and authentication that handles itself. I've worked with a lot of JavaScript tooling over the years, and this is one of the few that doesn't make me want to throw my laptop out the window.

What Actually Works:

• App setup is now like 10 minutes instead of half a day
• Hot reload works better than most React setups I've used
• The tunneling system is solid - uses Cloudflare so it works on corporate networks
• Extension development is automated - no more manual bundling nightmares

What Still Sucks:

• Big apps with lots of extensions can choke the dev server
• The directory structure is opinionated as hell - good luck integrating with existing projects
• When the CLI breaks, error messages are useless and you're left digging through log files

App Bridge: Embedded Development Reality

App Bridge is how you make your app feel native inside the Shopify admin. When it works, it's pretty seamless - users can navigate around, authenticate, and use your app without feeling like they left Shopify.

The catch? It's React or bust. The vanilla JS version exists but it's clearly not the priority. We tried using Vue for one project and after two weeks of wrestling with wrapper components and missing examples, we just rewrote it in React. Save yourself the pain.

For React apps, it actually works well. Load times are decent (usually under 2 seconds), authentication is handled automatically, and the UI feels integrated. But debugging is a nightmare. You're working inside an iframe, so browser dev tools are weird, error reporting is janky, and performance profiling needs special techniques that aren't documented anywhere.

I learned this the hard way when our app was crashing silently for 2 weeks and we had no idea. Turns out a React hook was causing infinite renders but App Bridge was swallowing the errors. Took me 6 hours to figure out I needed to check the parent window's console, not the iframe console. The Polaris design system helps with consistent UI, but the debugging pain is real.

Performance: What You Actually Get

GraphQL is definitely faster for complex queries - instead of 5-6 REST calls to get product data with variants and inventory, you get it all in one request. Product catalog page went from stupidly slow (3+ seconds) to actually tolerable (around a second) after migration. Simple queries aren't much different from REST, but anything involving relationships is way better - fewer requests to get the same data.

The problem is badly written GraphQL queries. They can be way slower than REST if you don't know what you're doing. Query complexity scoring helps, but you need to understand it or you'll hit rate limits constantly.

The CLI development server is pretty solid. I haven't had memory issues and build times are reasonable - maybe 10-15 seconds for apps with extensions. Production deployment is where things get annoying - you're coordinating between the Partner Dashboard, App Store systems, and CDN deployment. It works but it's not as smooth as the development experience. The deployment documentation covers the basics but misses a lot of edge cases.

Documentation: Better But Still Lacking

The docs have improved a lot. The GraphQL migration guides are actually helpful, and the CLI documentation is solid. But there are still gaps in the stuff you actually need for production:

• GraphQL performance optimization is barely covered
• Debugging embedded apps in production is a mystery
• App Store approval criteria don't match what reviewers actually check
• Testing strategies for GraphQL apps get like two paragraphs

Learning Time Reality Check:

• If you know React and modern JS: 1-2 weeks to be productive
• If you're coming from REST Shopify dev: 3-4 weeks
• If you're new to both Shopify and GraphQL: 2+ months

Bottom Line: Invest in the Learning Curve - It Pays Off

The new Shopify development stack is powerful but complex. If you're building long-term on Shopify and can invest in learning GraphQL and React, it's absolutely worth it. The tools are genuinely better than what we had before - by a lot.

But if you're doing a quick client project or don't have GraphQL experience on your team, be realistic about timelines. The transition isn't as smooth as Shopify claims, especially if you're not already using React. Budget extra time for the learning curve and expect some frustrating debugging sessions along the way.

Here's my recommendation based on 4 years of building on this platform: Yeah, learning this pain in the ass is actually worth it. The apps I'm building now are faster, more maintainable, and way less buggy than what I was shipping in 2021. The debugging pain and learning curve suck, but they're temporary. Once you get it, you get it.

As of late 2025, the ecosystem is much more mature. More developers have gone through the GraphQL migration, so finding help on the community forums and Stack Overflow is way easier than it was 6 months ago. The pain was temporary; the benefits are permanent.

But What About the Specific Questions?

After reading through all this technical detail, you probably have specific questions about costs, timelines, and whether your particular situation makes sense for Shopify development. Below are the questions I get asked most often by developers considering building on Shopify - with honest answers based on 4 years of experience.