Can I send tracking information before Creating fulfillment

Retired Boards Appdev Fulfillment Api

Topic summary

Question about Shopify Fulfillment API: whether tracking information can be submitted before a fulfillment is created.

Documentation cited outlines the normal flow:

  • After a fulfillment service accepts a request, it creates fulfillments via fulfillmentCreateV2.
  • Tracking information can be provided at creation or updated later via fulfillmentTrackingInfoUpdateV2.

The requester’s client needs tracking details (e.g., carrier and tracking number) prior to fulfillment creation and asks if the API allows sending tracking info independently before a fulfillment object exists.

Key terms:

  • Fulfillment: the shipment record for order items.
  • Tracking information: data used to track a parcel in transit.

No alternative workflow, workaround, or official capability is presented in the thread. No decisions or actions were taken. The question remains open and unanswered.

Summarized with AI on January 8. AI used: gpt-5.
1

From API Document :https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-graphql/2024-01/objects/FulfillmentOrder#connection-fulfillmentorder-fulfillments

We know that:

Once a fulfillment service accepts a fulfillment request, then after they are ready to pack items and send them for delivery, they create fulfillments with the fulfillmentCreateV2 mutation. They can provide tracking information right away or create fulfillments without it and then update the tracking information for fulfillments with the fulfillmentTrackingInfoUpdateV2 mutation.

But our client needs tracking information before creating fulfillment, Can we do that?