Creating development stores

As a Shopify Partner, you can create an unlimited number of development stores. A development store is a free Shopify account that comes with a few limitations. You can use a development store to test any themes or apps that you create, or to set up a Shopify account for a client. Setting up a development store and transferring it to a client gives you a recurring commission.

If you created your Shopify Partner account after April 28, 2023, then a quickstart development store is automatically created for you.

Features and limitations of development stores

Development stores include most of the features that are available on the Advanced Shopify plan.

You can do the following while building and testing a development store:

  • Process an unlimited number of test orders
  • Create an unlimited number of unique products
  • Create up to 10 custom apps
  • Assign a custom domain

A development store has the following limitations:

  • You can only install free apps and partner-friendly apps.
  • You can test orders using the Bogus Test gateway or by activating test mode for your payment provider. You can't test orders using real transactions through active payment providers. Learn more about testing orders in development stores.
  • You can generate and print test labels. Functional shipping labels can be purchased only on a paid plan.
  • You can't remove the password page.
  • Your development store is no longer eligible for promotions or free trials after you transfer the store to a live plan.

Developer previews

When you create a development store, you have the option to enable a developer preview. A developer preview gives you early access to new features of Shopify so that you can build and test your apps against upcoming features before they're released to merchants.

A development store with a developer preview enabled includes all the features that are available on the Advanced Shopify plan, but the store can't be transferred to another owner or transitioned to a paid plan.

Development store types

Partners use development stores for the following main purposes:

In both cases, the process of creating a development store is the same. However, certain development store features, such as developer preview and generated data, prevent you from transferring the store to a client.

Generated test data

By default, Shopify stores are created empty, without any data. To speed up the development and testing process, you can create a development store that's populated with test data generated by Shopify.

The generated test data set includes all of the commerce primitives and configurations that you need to test an app, theme, or custom storefront, including some Plus-specific features.

Learn about the contents of the generated test data set.

Quickstart development stores for new Partner organizations

When a new Partner organization is created, Shopify automatically creates a development store called Quickstart if your organization's intention is to create apps or themes for the Shopify App/Theme Store. This store is a non-transferable development store that's populated with generated test data. You can immediately use this store to test apps, themes, and custom storefronts.

If you sign up using a single sign on provider, or using an existing Shopify account, then the quickstart store is created immediately. If you sign up using an email address, then the quickstart store is created after you verify your email address.

You can access the quickstart store from the stores list in Shopify CLI, or by logging into your Partner account and finding the store on the Stores page.

If a Quickstart store isn't automatically created, then you can create a development store manually.

Create a development store for testing apps or themes

Before you can create a development store, you need to have a Shopify Partner account.

Expansion stores need to have a theme license for each live expansion store.

Steps:

  1. From your Partner Dashboard, click Stores.
  2. Click Add store > Create development store.
  3. In the Development store use section, select Create a store to test and build.
  4. In the Store details section, enter a name for your store.

The store name is used to create the store's myshopify.com URL. This URL can't be changed.

  1. Choose the build that you want to use.

If you select a Developer preview, then you can select a developer preview version from the drop-down list. Development stores that use a developer preview can't be transferred to a merchant.

  1. Under Data and configurations, choose whether to start with an empty store, or with a store that's populated with test data generated by Shopify. Stores that start with generated test data can't be transferred to a merchant.

  2. Click Create development store.

When you're done working on a development store, you can archive it.

Create a development store for a client

Before you can create a development store, you need to have a Shopify Partner account.

Steps:

  1. From your Partner Dashboard, click Stores.
  2. Click Add store > Create development store.
  3. In the Development store use section, select Create a store for a client.
  4. In the Store details section, enter a name for the client's store. The store name is used to create the store's myshopify.com URL. This URL can't be changed.
  5. Choose the country or region where the client's business is located. This information is used to set up default shipping rates and recommend region-appropriate apps.
  6. Click Create development store.

When you're done working on a development store, you can hand it off to a client or archive it.

The development store password page

All newly created development stores are password protected. This means that visitors to development stores can access your development store in the following ways only:

  • By entering a password on the development store password page
  • By logging into the development store's admin
  • Through a Shopify Theme Store or Shopify App Store demo link

Unlike the customizable password page for a store that's on a free trial or paid plan, the development store password page isn't linked to the online store's theme and can't be customized.

You can remove the password page only after you transfer the store to a merchant or switch the store to a paid plan.

Viewing or setting the password

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Preferences.

  2. In the Password protection > Password field, enter a password. This is the password that you'll give to the visitors who you want to be able to access the online store. Don't use the same password that you use to log into your admin.

  3. Click Save.

Viewing and editing the customizable password page

Although the customizable password page isn't used to control access to your development store, you can still view it after you are logged in, or edit it from the Shopify admin.

To view the customizable password page, logged-in visitors can navigate to https://your-store-name.myshopify.com/password, where your-store-name is the name of the development store.

You can edit the customizable password page using the theme editor, or by editing the theme's password.liquid file.

Theme Store and App Store listings

You can use a development store as a demo store in Shopify Theme Store or App Store listings. When a visitor clicks on the demo link in a listing, the development store password page does not appear. You do not need to change any settings in the development store to enable this functionality.

Learn more about demo stores for the Shopify Theme Store.

Learn more about demo links for the Shopify App Store.