Upgrading to Checkout Extensibility

Previously, you could customize the look and feel of your checkout with branding settings in the Theme Editor, or by adding custom CSS/styles to your checkout.liquid theme file. With Checkout Extensibility, you customize checkout with apps which maintain a consistent look and feel across the buying experience, and you can use the checkout editor and/or the Branding API to make visual adjustments.

• To adjust the colors, fonts, and general styling of your checkout, use the checkout editor. In the checkout editor, go to Settings to customize the appearance of your checkout, or go to Sections to edit the functionality.
• If you need finer control over checkout branding, a developer can use our Branding API to dramatically transform the look and feel.

With checkout.liquid, you could add or remove UI and content from your checkout by adding JavaScript code to your checkout.liquid file. With Checkout Extensibility, these customizations are deployed via apps. You can either install an app from the Shopify App Store or develop a custom app. These apps are then configured in the checkout editor.

Tailor your checkout to meet your business needs with apps powered by checkout UI extensions, offering features like upsells, custom banners, business rule compliance, loyalty programs, and custom delivery workflows. Take a look at our curated app guide, or explore the app store to browse over 400 compatible apps.

Don't see what you're looking for? Refer to the Checkout Extensibility roadmap for future use cases we'll support.

Previously, you could use Shopify Scripts to add custom logic to your checkout. However, Shopify Functions are the new way to replace key parts of Shopify's backend logic and will eventually replace Shopify Scripts. You can either install an app from the Shopify App Store or develop a custom app. These apps are then configured in your Admin.

Shopify Functions currently support discounts, payment and delivery customizations, checkout validations, order routing, custom bundles and fulfillment constraints. Shopify Scripts will be compatible with Checkout Extensibility until Aug 25th, 2025, so you can upgrade to Checkout Extensibility without worrying about your Scripts to start.

Don't see what you're looking for? Refer to the Checkout Extensibility roadmap for future use cases we'll support.

Previously, you needed to add custom code or use a third-party tag manager to track customer events. With Checkout Extensibility, you can use the new Customer events page in your Shopify admin to manage and track customer events on your online store.

On the Customer events page, you can add pixels by installing an app from the Shopify App Store or adding a custom pixel. It's important to look for a pixel app before adding a custom pixel to ensure you're getting the best, most secure integration experience possible.

Checkout Extensibility makes it easier for Shopify Plus merchants to customize their checkout in a way that’s app-based, upgrade-safe, higher-converting, and integrated with Shop Pay.

Shopify is investing in Checkout Extensibility as the sole way to customize Shopify Checkout moving forward, replacing the need for checkout.liquid. As a result, checkout.liquid has been deprecated and will be turned off for the Information, Shipping and Payment pages starting August 13, 2024.

Checkout.liquid, script tags and additional scripts for the Thank you and Order status pages are also deprecated. These will be turned off starting August 28, 2025.

Any merchants that currently customize their checkout with checkout.liquid need to upgrade to Checkout Extensibility before the above dates.

You can learn more about Checkout Extensibility on the following channels:

Shopify help center:

• Customizing and editing your checkout
• Pixels and customer events

Shopify dev docs:

• Customizing Shopify checkout

Blog posts:

• 5 Ways to Customize Shopify Checkout
• Checkout Extensibility Opens New Ways to Customize Checkouts on Shopify
• 10 Ways to Customize Checkout with Checkout Extensibility
• Shopify Functions: The New Way to Extend and Customize Shopify

Shopify App Store:

• Create a custom checkout with apps collection
• Pixels app collection

Videos:

• Shopify Checkout with Checkout Extensibility
• How to add or modify custom pixels in your Shopify Store
• How to customize Shopify with extension-only apps

You need to upgrade your Information, Shipping and Payment pages from checkout.liquid to Checkout Extensibility by August 13, 2024 and your Thank you and Order status pages by August 28, 2025. However, it can take anywhere from a few days to a few months to complete your upgrade, depending on the complexity of your customizations. For example, you may need to develop custom apps for some customizations, which takes more time.

We recommend getting started now to ensure you have enough time to complete your upgrade ahead of the turn off dates.

Yes, there is a roadmap for Checkout Extensibility posted on the Shopify dev docs.

With checkout.liquid, you needed to perform periodic upgrades in order to access new checkout features. The last upgrade for checkout.liquid took place in January 2020. Since then, we've shipped powerful features for Shopify Checkout, including:

Checkout

• One-page checkout
• Tooltip for estimated tax

Purchase options

• Pre-orders

Discounts

• Discount combinations

Payments

• Shop Pay Installments

Shipping and delivery

• Shop Promise
• Estimated delivery dates
• Shipping discounts
• Shipping to pickup points (currently only available in France)
• Subscription shipping rate names

Marketing

• SMS marketing opt-in
• Email marketing opt-in

B2B

• Vaulted credit cards
• Flexible shipping addresses
• Customizable checkout experience

To access these features, you need to upgrade to Checkout Extensibility. You’ll also gain access to new features, like the one-page checkout, as soon as they’re available—no upgrades required.

No. The last upgrade for checkout.liquid took place in January 2020. In order to access new checkout features, you need to upgrade from checkout.liquid to Checkout Extensibility.

Yes! The Upgrading to Checkout Extensibility demo video provides a high-level overview of how to upgrade from checkout.liquid to Checkout Extensibility. There are also short demo videos for Checkout Extensibility and pixels:

• Shopify Checkout with Checkout Extensibility
• How to add or modify custom pixels in your Shopify Store
• How to customize Shopify with extension-only Apps

Shopify has also partnered with Coding with Jan to produce more detailed demo videos for checkout UI extensions, Shopify Functions, and upgrading to Checkout Extensibility:

• A Brand New Type Of Shopify Apps: Checkout Extensions
• Functions - a new way to customize Shopify

Checkout Extensibility is designed to optimize performance and make your checkout more secure by sandboxing customization code. We also vet public checkout apps for performance impact, so you can make customizations without sacrificing speed.

While it's possible that using many apps at the same time in checkout may result in a step back from peak performance, this was more true in checkout.liquid and Shopify is better equipped to optimize for this scenario with Checkout Extensibility.

Yes, Checkout Extensibility will work seamlessly between the one-page and three-page checkouts. Both checkouts have the same set of extension points and will be automatically mapped.

With Checkout Extensibility, customizations run in an app-scoped context. Unlike checkout.liquid, where customizations run on the parent element in the DOM, these apps run in a sandbox that cannot directly influence the parent DOM or other elements within the checkout process. This allows for more stable, performant, secure, and upgrade-safe customizations.

Customizations that require access to the parent DOM or other elements on the page, don't work with Checkout Extensibility. Examples of types of apps that are impacted by this change include:

• Heatmaps
• Visitor Recording
• A/B Testing which relies on manipulating the DOM directly
• Performance Monitoring

There are also a few eligibility requirements that must be met before upgrading to Checkout Extensibility. These are listed in the Shopify help center.