🤝 BLFS Developer: Shopify Partner Setup

Shopify Partner Account Setup

To run BLFS, the developer needs to set up a Shopify Partner account. This is free, and if you want to support multiple merchants, you can do that with only one partner account.

One app per merchant

A custom-distribution Shopify app can be installed on exactly one store. So if you support multiple merchants, repeat the steps on this page for each merchant: each one gets their own app, with its own CLIENT_ID, CLIENT_SECRET, and CUSTOM_DISTRIBUTION_LINK.

Proceed to shopify.com/partners and sign up for a free account.

Click "Become a partner"

Click "Create and set up new partner organization"

Click "App Distribution"

Click "Visit dev dashboard"

Click the "Create app" button

Enter "BLFS" as the app name and click "Create"

Add "https://" to the beginning of your HOSTNAME, use this for the App URL and uncheck "Embed app in Shopify admin"

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Release"

Leave the version name and message fields blank, then click "Release"

You should now see an active app version (blfs-1) marked as "Active"

Navigate to "Settings" in the left sidebar

Copy the Client ID and Client Secret from the Credentials section

note

These are important! You will need this CLIENT ID and CLIENT SECRET soon. Copy these to a safe place.

Still under Settings, scroll down to Storefront API and click "Manage"

Under API access requests, scroll down and click "Allow network access"

Verify that checkout and account UI extensions are now enabled

Click the Shopify Partners logo to return to the main Partners page

Click "Settings" in the Shopify Partners navigation

Scroll down and click "Manage tokens" to access API token management

Click "Generate CLI token" to create a new command-line interface token

Click "Generate token" to confirm and create the CLI token

Copy the CLI token and save it securely - you will need this for deployment

note

This is important! You will need this CLI TOKEN soon. Copy it to a safe place.

Go back to App distribution and click "Visit dev dashboard"

Click on the BLFS app to configure its distribution settings

In the dev dashboard, click the "Select Distribution Method" button

Select "Custom distribution" to create a private app installation link

Confirm by selecting "Custom distribution" again

Enter the merchant store domain and uncheck the box for specific store linking

note

This is important! Be sure this domain exactly matches the domain the merchant provided, including .myshopify.com.

Confirm and click "Generate link" to create the custom installation URL

Copy the custom distribution link and provide it to your merchant for installation

note

This is important! You will need this distribution link for the merchant to install BLFS.

What You Should Have Now

By completing this Shopify Partner setup, you should now have the following credentials and information:

1. CLIENT_ID - Your Shopify app's Client ID (from the Settings > Credentials section)
2. CLIENT_SECRET - Your Shopify app's Client Secret (from the Settings > Credentials section)
3. CLI_TOKEN - The Shopify Partners CLI token (from Partners Settings > Manage tokens)
4. CUSTOM_DISTRIBUTION_LINK - The custom distribution URL for merchant installation

Save these securely. We will need all of them. On the Add Merchant to BLFS page, you will paste CLIENT_ID, CLIENT_SECRET, and CLI_TOKEN into the matching fields of the BLFS developer portal (along with the merchant's NWC code, store domain, and brand image URL). The CUSTOM_DISTRIBUTION_LINK is not entered into BLFS -- you hand it to the merchant, who uses it to install the app (next page).