Facing a custom app installation issue with merchant link on live store

Shopify Apps

Topic summary

Custom app installation via a merchant install link is blocked by uncertainty around the App URL when working on a live store without a development store. The poster deployed a theme extension with Shopify CLI and created the merchant link.

In development, Shopify CLI provides a Cloudflare tunnel and auto-assigns the App URL, but the live partner org has no dev store (only a paid live store). Attempting to run “npm run dev – --tunnel-url https://my-domain:PORT” (AWS-hosted) fails with a CLI error instructing to create a dev store.

Key details:

  • Default App URL is the placeholder https://example.com.
  • Goal: host the app on AWS and obtain a valid App URL for the custom app on the live store.
  • Constraint: no development store in the Partner org, which blocks CLI-driven dev/tunneling flows.

Ask:

  • How to proceed to correctly set/get the App URL for a custom app on a live store without a dev store, and clarity on deployment steps.

Status: Unresolved; guidance requested, no answers yet.

Summarized with AI on January 21. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi everyone,

I am trying to install the custom app to the live store via the Merchant install link. First, I deployed the theme extension code via “Shopify-CLI” and generated the merchant link from my partner account.

By default the app URL is “https://example.com” While we are testing the app changes with the development store with different partners Shopify CLI a Cloudflare tunnel URL will be generated for everything on the terminal and the respective tunnel URL will be assigned as the APP URL automatically.

So I tried to host my app code from my AWS server like what I did for the development store in order to get the APP URL but this partner account doesn’t have a development store and has only one live store with paid plan. So when I execute the “npm run dev – --tunnel-url https://my-domain:PORT” command the Shopify CLI throws an error as “Looks like you don’t have a dev store in the Partners org you selected. Keep going — create a dev store on Shopify Partners”.

Now, How do I need to proceed further and get the App URL for custom app. Also, I checked a lot of references related to Shopify app deployment but does have enough clarity to proceed further.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

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