Connect Shopify to CrawlTide

Use the new Shopify Dev Dashboard flow (Client ID & Secret) to connect your store, then push optimized articles and SEO directly to Shopify.

Who this is for

Store owners or admins on a CrawlTide Pro or Enterprise plan who want to publish CrawlTide content to a Shopify blog and push product SEO. If your Shopify app was created in the new Shopify Dev Dashboard, you'll have a Client ID and Client Secret rather than a static shpat_ token — this guide is for you. (A legacy store custom app with a static token also still works.)

Prerequisites

  • A CrawlTide Pro or Enterprise plan.
  • Access to the Shopify store you want to connect.
  • Owner or admin access on that store — approving app permissions requires it.

Step-by-step setup

1

Open (or create) your app in the Shopify Dev Dashboard

Go to the Shopify Dev Dashboard and open your app (or create one). This is the app CrawlTide will authenticate as.

2

Configure and release the required scopes

Your app needs, at minimum, these Admin API access scopes:

  • write_content — create blog articles (and read blog data)
  • write_products — update product SEO metafields (and read products)

In Shopify, a write scope generally includes the matching read access for that area, so granting write_content / write_products is enough. If the dashboard lists read_content / read_products separately, you can include them too — it does no harm.

After setting the scopes, release / deploy the app version so the new scopes are active.

3

Install / approve the updated permissions on your store

This is the step that's easy to miss — and the most common reason connecting “works” but publishing fails.

Releasing a version that requests scopes is not the same as the store granting them. In your Shopify admin, open the app and approve the updated permissions (or reinstall the app). Until the store approves, Shopify issues a token with no scopes, and content requests fail with 403 “requires merchant approval”.

4

Find your Store handle, Client ID, and Client Secret

  • Store handle — the part before .myshopify.com. For https://z3qfu0-fh.myshopify.com the handle is z3qfu0-fh.
  • Client ID and Client Secret — from your app's credentials in the Dev Dashboard.
5

Connect inside CrawlTide

  1. In CrawlTide, open your project → Settings → CMS Connections → Shopify and click Connect Shopify.
  2. Set Credential type to Client ID & Secret.
  3. Store Name: enter the handle only (e.g. z3qfu0-fh) — no https://, no .myshopify.com.
  4. Paste your Client ID and Client Secret and click Connect.

CrawlTide exchanges your credentials for a short-lived Admin API token and refreshes it automatically — you never manage tokens yourself.

6

Test safely with a draft

  • Open a generated article and click Save as Shopify Draft first — this creates an unpublished post, so nothing goes live on your storefront.
  • Verify it in Shopify Admin → Content → Blog posts (not “Manage blogs”). The draft appears with the title, body, and SEO fields set.
  • When you're happy, use Publish to Shopify to make it live.

Troubleshooting

ProblemLikely causeFix
"Invalid access token"CrawlTide tried the legacy static-token path, but your Dev Dashboard app has no static token — only a Client ID + Secret.In the connect form, set Credential type to "Client ID & Secret" and enter those instead of a token.
"requires merchant approval for read_content / write_content scope" (HTTP 403)The app was released with the scopes, but the store hasn't granted (approved) them yet — so the token comes back with no scopes.In your Shopify admin, open the app and approve the updated permissions (or reinstall the app). Then reconnect / retry. See step 5.
Connected, but the article doesn't appearYou may be looking at "Manage blogs" (which lists blog containers), not the posts list. Or the push returned an error.Check Shopify Admin → Content → Blog posts (not "Manage blogs"). Drafts appear there with a Hidden/visible-later status. If still missing, re-check the scopes in step 4–5.
"No blog found in the Shopify store"The store has no blog to publish into.In Shopify, go to Online Store / Content → Blog posts and create a blog (most stores have a default “News” blog). Then retry.
Shopify admin pages render without styling (CSS not loading)A browser caching/extension glitch on the Shopify side — not a CrawlTide issue.Hard-refresh (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R), clear the cache, disable conflicting browser extensions, or try another browser.
Store name / handle mistakesEntering the full domain or a custom domain instead of the myshopify handle.Enter only the handle — the part before .myshopify.com. For https://z3qfu0-fh.myshopify.com, enter z3qfu0-fh (no https://, no .myshopify.com).

Security notes

  • Never paste your Client Secret into chat, tickets, or shared docs. Enter it only in the CrawlTide connect form.
  • CrawlTide stores your Client Secret and tokens encrypted at rest (AES-256) and never displays them again.
  • If a secret is ever exposed, rotate it in the Shopify Dev Dashboard and reconnect.

Still stuck? We're happy to help.

Contact support