Deep Link to header section not working, please help!

Retired Boards Appdev Extensions

Topic summary

Main issue: Creating a valid deep link to auto-enable a Shopify app embed (header/“head” target) during install.

  • Original attempt: Used addAppBlockId with target=sectionGroup:header. Theme editor returned: “blockname not added. There is a problem with the app block.” The embed’s schema targets “head” and works when added manually.
  • Suggested approach: Link to the theme editor with context=apps and appEmbed=%2Fchatbot to focus the app embed panel.

New development: A second developer’s link (…?context=apps&appEmbed=) opens the app embeds list but does not pre-check (activate) their app (SmartBot). They ask how the trailing “/chatbot” was determined and how to make the embed auto-activated. They share their file structure (e.g., blocks/chat.liquid) and a screenshot showing the sidebar list.

Key points:

  • The provided deep-link format targets the embeds UI but there’s no confirmed way here to force activation via URL.
  • It’s unclear from the thread how to derive the slug (e.g., “chatbot”) for appEmbed.

Status: Unresolved. Guidance needed on constructing a deep link that both targets and auto-enables a specific app embed.

Summarized with AI on December 27. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I am trying to use a deep link to an app extension / app embed so the user can just turn it on easily as part of the install flow but I can’t get it to work. This is the deep link I’ve created:

https://{shop_url}/admin/themes/current/editor?addAppBlockId=7a2b8f57-8d03-47a9-8683-4222c639f0f8/blockname&target=sectionGroup:header

This yields a response:

“blockname” not added. There is a problem with the app block. Contact the app developer.

In the blockname.liquid file I have:

<script src="{{ 'blockname.js' | asset_url }}" defer></script>

{% schema %}
  {
    "name": "AppName",
    "settings": [],
    "target": "head"
}
{% endschema %}

When I manually add the app embed, on the shop in question looking at the code I see:

and the app extension works fine.

Please help me create a valid deep link.

NB: I have changed the appname and blockname to create this post but the IDs I’ve left in tact

2

Hey @da_bob

To link to the app embed, try this:

/admin/themes/current/editor?context=apps&appEmbed=7a2b8f57-8d03-47a9-8683-4222c639f0f8%2Fchatbot

2 Likes
3

Hi @da_bob ,

I’m trying to create a deep link for my app embed so that users can easily activate it as part of the install flow. I saw your solution and have a similar issue. Here is the deep link I’m using:

https://.myshopify.com/admin/themes/131438837848/editor?context=apps&appEmbed=0668dc6c-a2a3-4a5c-9d57-75ba0a1b1089

This link opens up all available embed apps in the left sidebar, but I want my app (2nd one, SmartBot) to be pre-checked (activated already). I saw a competitor achieve this, but I can’t figure out how.

dep1.png
dep1.png1931×460 45.7 KB

In your response, you mentioned adding /chatbot at the end of the URL:

/admin/themes/current/editor?context=apps&appEmbed=7a2b8f57-8d03-47a9-8683-4222c639f0f8%2Fchatbot

How did you know to add /chatbot? Where did you get that from?

Here’s my directory structure if it helps:

./codeboar:
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 11 09:07 assets
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 11 12:36 blocks
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 11 09:27 locales
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 285 Jun 11 12:27 shopify.extension.toml
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 11 12:35 snippets

./codeboar/assets:
./codeboar/blocks:
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 588 Jun 11 12:36 chat.liquid

./codeboar/locales:
./codeboar/snippets:
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 30 Jun 11 12:16 chat_snippet.liquid

Any guidance on how to form the URL correctly to pre-activate my app embed would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Best regards,

Pilsen