Admin API

The API used to work with data in a Shopify store's admin area — products, orders, customers, inventory, shipping, discounts, and more — supporting read, create, update, and delete operations.

It is offered in both GraphQL and REST flavors, with Shopify now steering developers toward the GraphQL Admin API. Access requires an app access token, and every request is limited to the scopes granted to that app.

Shopify does not expose a single API. Several APIs exist for different purposes, so saying just "the API" can easily cause confusion in a conversation. The main ones are:

• Admin API — read and write store admin data; used for backend integrations and app logic
• Storefront API — fetch public, shopper-facing data; used for headless and custom storefronts
• Customer Account API — work with data belonging to the signed-in customer

Because the Admin API can perform near-administrator operations, rate limits, scope design, and token handling all deserve care. The GraphQL version applies a cost model based on the complexity of each query.

Client back-office integrations, B2B admin features and connector apps such as Connector for Mirakl are designed around the GraphQL Admin API and Webhooks. Syncing products, inventory and orders with ERPs or order-management SaaS (NextEngine, for example) is the typical case; for large syncs we design throughput and back-off around Bulk Operations and the API's leaky-bucket rate limits.

Whenever the term “API” comes up, whether in internal or external discussions, clarify whether it refers to the Admin API, Storefront API, or Customer Account API. The required permissions and where the implementation should take place will differ depending on whether it involves administrative data, customer-facing storefront data, or data belonging to the currently logged-in customer.