Can't create a recurring_application_charge with unpublished app

Retired Boards Appdev Billing
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Topic summary

A developer is unable to create recurring application charges on a development store using an unpublished app. The error message indicates the app must be migrated to the Shopify Partners area before creating charges.

Root Cause:
Shopify support clarified that creating application charges requires the app to use public distribution type. Custom apps cannot be switched to public distribution—they must be rebuilt as a draft public app.

Testing Approach:
The developer asked how to test billing before publishing. Support recommended:

  • Adding "test": true parameter to charge requests
  • Reviewing testing documentation at shopify.dev/docs/apps/store/review/testing

Ongoing Issue:
The developer reports the same error persists even when using "test": true in the API request. The conversation remains open with this unresolved problem—the test parameter alone doesn’t bypass the public distribution requirement.

Key Limitation:
Test charges have limited functionality: billing records aren’t actually created, and testing recurring/proration behavior is restricted.

Summarized with AI on November 15. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi there,

I am having trouble create recurring_application_charge with an unpublished app on a development store. This is the error I get

It appears that this application is currently owned by a Shop. It must be migrated to the Shopify partners area before it can create charges with the API

What do I need to do to create a recurring_application_charge with an unpublished app on a development store? Thanks!

Details:

Request:

POST /admin/api/2023-07/recurring_application_charges.json HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/json, */*;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 64
Content-Type: application/json
Host: maxim-khanate.myshopify.com:443
User-Agent: HTTPie/3.2.2

{
"recurring_application_charge": {
"name": "test",
"price": 10
}
}

Response

HTTP/1.1 422 Unprocessable Entity
CF-Cache-Status: DYNAMIC
CF-RAY: 81e5bfc1081f429d-EWR
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self' data: blob: 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' https://* shopify-pos://*; block-all-mixed-content; child-src 'self' https://* shopify-pos://*; connect-src 'self' wss://* https://*; frame-ancestors 'none'; img-src 'self' data: blob: https:; script-src https://cdn.shopify.com https://cdn.shopifycdn.net https://checkout.shopifycs.com https://api.stripe.com https://mpsnare.iesnare.com https://appcenter.intuit.com https://www.paypal.com https://js.braintreegateway.com https://c.paypal.com https://maps.googleapis.com https://www.google-analytics.com https://v.shopify.com 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'; upgrade-insecure-requests; report-uri /csp-report?source%5Baction%5D=create&source%5Bapp%5D=Shopify&source%5Bcontroller%5D=admin%2Frecurring_application_charges&source%5Bsection%5D=admin_api&source%5Buuid%5D=15e2a090-91da-496e-8edc-ccc898b9a037
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2023 18:33:51 GMT
HTTP_X_SHOPIFY_SHOP_API_CALL_LIMIT: 1/40
NEL: {"success_fraction":0.01,"report_to":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}
Referrer-Policy: origin-when-cross-origin
Report-To: {"endpoints":[{"url":"https:\/\/a.nel.cloudflare.com\/report\/v3?s=pvm6S5dZYvW2at6lEz%2BgXmSPncPSP%2FE%2BjD6oql4C3MVsQ6S7xO7WjOGT5ymCUgLVptPCdaxxKvZf%2Bs3RnyR49VsrLiEnDD2OdZC8xpduiYoKitdE5x8MB0Q4bken8uCG%2BQxtmKolug2HJ112fQ%3D%3D"}],"group":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}
Server: cloudflare
Server-Timing: processing;dur=205, cfRequestDuration;dur=268.999815
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=7889238
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Dc: gcp-us-east4,gcp-us-central1,gcp-us-central1
X-Download-Options: noopen
X-Frame-Options: DENY
X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies: none
X-Request-ID: 15e2a090-91da-496e-8edc-ccc898b9a037
X-ShardId: 63
X-ShopId: 8819638336
X-Shopify-API-Terms: By accessing or using the Shopify API you agree to the Shopify API License and Terms of Use at https://www.shopify.com/legal/api-terms
X-Shopify-API-Version: 2023-07
X-Shopify-Shop-Api-Call-Limit: 1/40
X-Shopify-Stage: production
X-Sorting-Hat-PodId: 63
X-Sorting-Hat-ShopId: 8819638336
X-Stats-ApiClientId: 68173594625
X-Stats-ApiPermissionId: 365609451584
X-Stats-UserId: 
X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block; report=/xss-report?source%5Baction%5D=create&source%5Bapp%5D=Shopify&source%5Bcontroller%5D=admin%2Frecurring_application_charges&source%5Bsection%5D=admin_api&source%5Buuid%5D=15e2a090-91da-496e-8edc-ccc898b9a037
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400

{
"errors": {
"base": [
"It appears that this application is currently owned by a Shop. It must be migrated to the Shopify partners area before it can create charges with the API."
]
}
}
2

Hey @sengming ,

In order to create an application charge, your app will need to be using the public distribution type . It’s not currently possible to switch an app between types, so if your app is currently a custom app, then you’ll need to rebuilt it as a public draft app to be able to test the app billing on a development store.

More information on our billing API documents here: https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/billing

Hope that helps.

  • Kyle G.
3

Thanks for the answer!

In that case, how should I test creating a recurring_application_charge before I make an app public?

4

Hi @sengming , you can add "test": true in your charges to have them go through as a test.

https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/store/review/testing#testing-your-app-s-billing-system

One thing to keep in mind is that the testing is a bit limited. You can test all of the mutations to see how they work, but billing records are not actually created for test charges so you’re limited in testing recurring behaviour as well as the behaviour around proration.

  • Kyle G.
5

Thanks for the answer Kyle! Unfortunately I am getting the same error when using "test": true

“It appears that this application is currently owned by a Shop. It must be migrated to the Shopify partners area before it can create charges with the API.”

Am I doing something wrong?

Here are the details

Request

POST /admin/api/2023-07/recurring_application_charges.json HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/json, */*;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 78
Content-Type: application/json
Host: maxim-khanate.myshopify.com:443
User-Agent: HTTPie/3.2.2

{
    "recurring_application_charge": {
        "name": "test",
        "price": 10,
        "test": true
    }
}

Response

HTTP/1.1 422 Unprocessable Entity
CF-Cache-Status: DYNAMIC
CF-RAY: 81ff1bd5f8c28ce3-EWR
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self' data: blob: 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' https://* shopify-pos://*; block-all-mixed-content; child-src 'self' https://* shopify-pos://*; connect-src 'self' wss://* https://*; frame-ancestors 'none'; img-src 'self' data: blob: https:; script-src https://cdn.shopify.com https://cdn.shopifycdn.net https://checkout.shopifycs.com https://api.stripe.com https://mpsnare.iesnare.com https://appcenter.intuit.com https://www.paypal.com https://js.braintreegateway.com https://c.paypal.com https://maps.googleapis.com https://www.google-analytics.com https://v.shopify.com 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'; upgrade-insecure-requests; report-uri /csp-report?source%5Baction%5D=create&source%5Bapp%5D=Shopify&source%5Bcontroller%5D=admin%2Frecurring_application_charges&source%5Bsection%5D=admin_api&source%5Buuid%5D=a6b503fa-2054-4c11-81c6-9d631ae0f65c
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2023 20:25:47 GMT
HTTP_X_SHOPIFY_SHOP_API_CALL_LIMIT: 1/40
NEL: {"success_fraction":0.01,"report_to":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}
Referrer-Policy: origin-when-cross-origin
Report-To: {"endpoints":[{"url":"https:\/\/a.nel.cloudflare.com\/report\/v3?s=O%2Fup1OVBAf3BfPQNMRrNdNX6J9nxGLkC0dkrjyZLFmDqGDwQetSwDCki3v9qqKOkBfN%2BBCNBNZtnya9mKY773%2BG%2Fp8PZ712csaK%2BucZIDiWUZ8jDETmnEcsIM0KSADGZtrRtBxg2%2FFGc80%2FDow%3D%3D"}],"group":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}
Server: cloudflare
Server-Timing: processing;dur=193, cfRequestDuration;dur=259.999990
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=7889238
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Dc: gcp-us-east4,gcp-us-central1,gcp-us-central1
X-Download-Options: noopen
X-Frame-Options: DENY
X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies: none
X-Request-ID: a6b503fa-2054-4c11-81c6-9d631ae0f65c
X-ShardId: 63
X-ShopId: 8819638336
X-Shopify-API-Terms: By accessing or using the Shopify API you agree to the Shopify API License and Terms of Use at https://www.shopify.com/legal/api-terms
X-Shopify-API-Version: 2023-07
X-Shopify-Shop-Api-Call-Limit: 1/40
X-Shopify-Stage: production
X-Sorting-Hat-PodId: 63
X-Sorting-Hat-ShopId: 8819638336
X-Stats-ApiClientId: 68173594625
X-Stats-ApiPermissionId: 365609451584
X-Stats-UserId:
X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block; report=/xss-report?source%5Baction%5D=create&source%5Bapp%5D=Shopify&source%5Bcontroller%5D=admin%2Frecurring_application_charges&source%5Bsection%5D=admin_api&source%5Buuid%5D=a6b503fa-2054-4c11-81c6-9d631ae0f65c
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400

{
"errors": {
"base": [
"It appears that this application is currently owned by a Shop. It must be migrated to the Shopify partners area before it can create charges with the API."
]
}
}