Product REST API | Product with no variants

[DMiradakis]

Shopify Community,

I have a simple question to ask regarding the REST API and Product data structure that I believe I already understand, but I want to confirm with the community that my understanding is indeed correct.

Am I correct in stating that when you retrieve a Shopify product's information from the REST API, and the product does not have any variants, that there will always be a variant field returned in that REST API call with one member in the variants JSON array? Is this what we call the default variant for a product, even if the product is not marked as having any variants itself in the Shopify admin?

I believe the answer to this question is yes, but I would like to hear confirmation from anyone else to ensure my understanding is indeed correct. The GraphQL API is a bit more detailed in its product information returned than the REST API is.

Thank you!

Best Regards,

Daniel

[michaeltheodore · Accepted solution]

Hi Daniel

You are correct. A product with no variants has a single default variant. This is so that when you add to cart you add the product variant id.

For example if you're using GraphQL in the following:

{
  products(first : 100) {
    edges {
      node {
        variants(first: 10) {
            edges {
              node {
                id
              }
            } 
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

You add the variant id to the cart. In the above you would do a map in JS to add each variant id if there are many.

For example if you're using React you do

function handleAddToCart() {
  products.edges.node.variants.edges.map(item => addVariantId(item.variant.id))
}

If the product only has one variant (the default one) it's like so:

function handleAddToCart() {
  products.edges.node.variants.edges[0].node.id // => single variant
}