shopify-products

Shopify Products

Create, update, and bulk-import Shopify products. Produces live products in the store via the GraphQL Admin API or CSV import.

Prerequisites

• Admin API access token (use the shopify-setup skill if not configured)
• Store URL and API version from shopify.config.json or .dev.vars

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Product Data

Determine what the user wants to create or update:

• Product basics: title, description (HTML), product type, vendor, tags
• Variants: options (size, colour, material), prices, SKUs, inventory quantities
• Images: URLs to upload, or local files
• SEO: page title, meta description, URL handle
• Organisation: collections, product type, tags

Accept data from:

• Direct conversation (user describes products)
• Spreadsheet/CSV file (user provides a file)
• Website scraping (user provides a URL to extract from)

Step 2: Choose Method

Scenario	Method
1-5 products	GraphQL mutations
6-20 products	GraphQL with batching
20+ products	CSV import via admin
Updates to existing	GraphQL mutations
Inventory adjustments	inventorySetQuantities mutation

---

Step 3a: Create via GraphQL (Recommended)

productCreate

mutation productCreate($product: ProductCreateInput!) {
  productCreate(product: $product) {
    product {
      id
      title
      handle
      status
      variants(first: 100) {
        edges {
          node { id title price sku inventoryQuantity }
        }
      }
    }
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

Variables:

{
  "product": {
    "title": "Example T-Shirt",
    "descriptionHtml": "<p>Premium cotton tee</p>",
    "vendor": "My Brand",
    "productType": "T-Shirts",
    "tags": ["summer", "cotton"],
    "status": "DRAFT",
    "options": ["Size", "Colour"],
    "variants": [
      {
        "optionValues": [
          {"optionName": "Size", "name": "S"},
          {"optionName": "Colour", "name": "Black"}
        ],
        "price": "29.95",
        "sku": "TSHIRT-S-BLK",
        "inventoryPolicy": "DENY",
        "inventoryItem": { "tracked": true }
      },
      {
        "optionValues": [
          {"optionName": "Size", "name": "M"},
          {"optionName": "Colour", "name": "Black"}
        ],
        "price": "29.95",
        "sku": "TSHIRT-M-BLK"
      },
      {
        "optionValues": [
          {"optionName": "Size", "name": "L"},
          {"optionName": "Colour", "name": "Black"}
        ],
        "price": "29.95",
        "sku": "TSHIRT-L-BLK"
      }
    ],
    "seo": {
      "title": "Example T-Shirt | My Brand",
      "description": "Premium cotton tee in multiple sizes"
    }
  }
}

Curl example:

curl -s https://{store}/admin/api/2025-01/graphql.json \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Shopify-Access-Token: {token}" \
  -d '{"query": "mutation productCreate($product: ProductCreateInput!) { productCreate(product: $product) { product { id title } userErrors { field message } } }", "variables": { ... }}'

Batching multiple products: Create products sequentially with a short delay between each to respect rate limits (1,000 cost points/second).

productUpdate

mutation productUpdate($input: ProductInput!) {
  productUpdate(input: $input) {
    product { id title }
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

Variables include id (required) plus any fields to update.

productDelete

mutation productDelete($input: ProductDeleteInput!) {
  productDelete(input: $input) {
    deletedProductId
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

productVariantsBulkCreate

Add variants to an existing product:

mutation productVariantsBulkCreate($productId: ID!, $variants: [ProductVariantsBulkInput!]!) {
  productVariantsBulkCreate(productId: $productId, variants: $variants) {
    productVariants { id title price }
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

productVariantsBulkUpdate

mutation productVariantsBulkUpdate($productId: ID!, $variants: [ProductVariantsBulkInput!]!) {
  productVariantsBulkUpdate(productId: $productId, variants: $variants) {
    productVariants { id title price }
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

---

Step 3b: Bulk Import via CSV

For 20+ products, generate a CSV and import through Shopify admin.

CSV Column Reference

Required columns:

Column	Description	Example
Handle	URL slug (unique per product)	classic-tshirt
Title	Product name (first row per product)	Classic T-Shirt
Body (HTML)	Description in HTML	<p>Premium cotton</p>
Vendor	Brand or manufacturer	My Brand
Product Category	Shopify standard taxonomy	Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Shirts & Tops
Type	Custom product type	T-Shirts
Tags	Comma-separated tags	summer, cotton, casual
Published	Whether product is visible	TRUE or FALSE

Variant columns:

Column	Description	Example
Option1 Name	First option name	Size
Option1 Value	First option value	Medium
Option2 Name	Second option name	Colour
Option2 Value	Second option value	Black
Option3 Name	Third option name	Material
Option3 Value	Third option value	Cotton
Variant SKU	Stock keeping unit	TSHIRT-M-BLK
Variant Grams	Weight in grams	200
Variant Inventory Qty	Stock quantity	50
Variant Price	Variant price	29.95
Variant Compare At Price	Original price (for sales)	39.95
Variant Requires Shipping	Physical product	TRUE
Variant Taxable	Subject to tax	TRUE

Image columns:

Column	Description	Example
Image Src	Image URL	https://example.com/img.jpg
Image Position	Display order (1-based)	1
Image Alt Text	Alt text for accessibility	Classic T-Shirt front view

SEO columns:

Column	Description	Example
SEO Title	Page title tag	`Classic T-Shirt
SEO Description	Meta description	Premium cotton tee in 5 colours

Multi-Variant Row Format

The first row has the product title and details. Subsequent rows for the same product have only the Handle and variant-specific columns:

Handle,Title,Body (HTML),Vendor,Type,Tags,Published,Option1 Name,Option1 Value,Variant SKU,Variant Price,Variant Inventory Qty,Image Src
classic-tshirt,Classic T-Shirt,<p>Premium cotton</p>,My Brand,T-Shirts,"summer,cotton",TRUE,Size,Small,TSH-S,29.95,50,https://example.com/tshirt.jpg
classic-tshirt,,,,,,,,Medium,TSH-M,29.95,75,
classic-tshirt,,,,,,,,Large,TSH-L,29.95,60,

CSV Rules

• UTF-8 encoding required
• Maximum 50MB file size
• Handle must be unique per product -- duplicate handles update existing products
• Leave variant columns blank on variant rows for fields that don't change
• Images can be on any row -- they're associated by Handle
• Published = TRUE makes the product immediately visible

Import Steps

1. Generate CSV using the column format above
2. Use the template from assets/product-csv-template.csv if available
3. Navigate to https://{store}.myshopify.com/admin/products/import
4. Upload the CSV file
5. Review the preview and confirm import

Use browser automation to assist with the upload if needed.

---

Step 4: Upload Product Images

Images require a two-step process -- staged upload then attach.

stagedUploadsCreate

mutation stagedUploadsCreate($input: [StagedUploadInput!]!) {
  stagedUploadsCreate(input: $input) {
    stagedTargets {
      url
      resourceUrl
      parameters { name value }
    }
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

Input per file:

{
  "filename": "product-image.jpg",
  "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
  "httpMethod": "POST",
  "resource": "IMAGE"
}

Then upload to the staged URL, and attach with productCreateMedia:

productCreateMedia

mutation productCreateMedia($productId: ID!, $media: [CreateMediaInput!]!) {
  productCreateMedia(productId: $productId, media: $media) {
    media { alt status }
    mediaUserErrors { field message }
  }
}

Shortcut: If images are already hosted at a public URL, pass src directly in the product creation:

{
  "images": [
    { "src": "https://example.com/image.jpg", "alt": "Product front view" }
  ]
}

---

Step 5: Assign to Collections

collectionAddProducts

mutation collectionAddProducts($id: ID!, $productIds: [ID!]!) {
  collectionAddProducts(id: $id, productIds: $productIds) {
    collection { title productsCount }
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

To find collection IDs:

{
  collections(first: 50) {
    edges {
      node { id title handle productsCount }
    }
  }
}

---

Step 6: Set Inventory

inventorySetQuantities

mutation inventorySetQuantities($input: InventorySetQuantitiesInput!) {
  inventorySetQuantities(input: $input) {
    inventoryAdjustmentGroup { reason }
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

Input:

{
  "reason": "correction",
  "name": "available",
  "quantities": [{
    "inventoryItemId": "gid://shopify/InventoryItem/123",
    "locationId": "gid://shopify/Location/456",
    "quantity": 50
  }]
}

To find location IDs:

{
  locations(first: 10) {
    edges {
      node { id name isActive }
    }
  }
}

---

Step 7: Verify

Query back the created products to confirm:

{
  products(first: 50) {
    edges {
      node {
        id title handle status productType vendor
        variants(first: 10) {
          edges { node { id title price sku inventoryQuantity } }
        }
        images(first: 3) { edges { node { url altText } } }
      }
    }
    pageInfo { hasNextPage endCursor }
  }
}

Provide the admin URL for the user to review: https://{store}.myshopify.com/admin/products

---

Critical Patterns

Product Status

New products default to DRAFT. To make them visible:

{ "status": "ACTIVE" }

Always confirm with the user before setting status to ACTIVE.

Variant Limits

Shopify allows max 100 variants per product and 3 options (e.g. Size, Colour, Material). If you need more, split into separate products.

Price Formatting

Prices are strings, not numbers. Always quote them: "price": "29.95" not "price": 29.95.

HTML Descriptions

Product descriptions accept HTML. Keep it simple -- Shopify's editor handles basic tags:

• <p>, <strong>, <em>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>, <h2>-<h6>
• <a href="..."> for links
• <img> is stripped -- use product images instead

Bulk Operations for Large Imports

For 50+ products via API, use Shopify's bulk operation:

mutation {
  bulkOperationRunMutation(
    mutation: "mutation ($input: ProductInput!) { productCreate(input: $input) { product { id } userErrors { message } } }"
    stagedUploadPath: "tmp/bulk-products.jsonl"
  ) {
    bulkOperation { id status }
    userErrors { message }
  }
}

This accepts a JSONL file with one product per line, processed asynchronously.

---

Asset Files

• assets/product-csv-template.csv -- Blank CSV template with Shopify import headers