Headless publication cannot be queried by using Admin Graphql API

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A user discovered that the Headless publication channel doesn’t appear when querying the Admin GraphQL API using the standard publications query, despite being active and visible in the Shopify admin interface.

Key Findings:

  • The Headless channel can be queried individually using the publication query with its specific ID, confirming it’s ACTIVE with autoPublish set to false
  • Workaround identified: Adding the argument catalogType: APP to the publications query successfully includes the Headless channel in results

Current Status:

  • The root cause for this behavior remains unclear
  • The workaround is functional but the underlying reason why Headless requires the catalogType: APP filter is unexplained
  • Another user confirmed experiencing the same issue and appreciated the solution
Summarized with AI on November 2. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

I checked in my admin shopify web page, the headless channel is still installed and I can see it in “Manage and sales channel” so I can publish it manually, but if I do it by using Admin Graphql API, the Headless channel is not included in the result

query publications {
publications (first: 100){
nodes {
id
name
}
}

Can you guys help me or tell me what should I do or anything I should check? thank you very much for your support!!

2

Hi,
I confirm the channel is still active, I just figure out that if I get publication id of Headless channel from shopify flow and then use publication query as the code below, I can get infos of Headless channel :thinking: and its status is ACTIVE, autoPublish is false like other channels… but still cannot query with publications query

query publication {
	publication(id: "gid://shopify/Publication/259622830371") {
		name
		catalog {
			status
		}
		autoPublish
	}
}
3

If I use query publications with argument catalogType is APP it will include Headless channel … :thinking: (still don’t know why :neutral_face: )

1 Like
4

I too would love to know why this is the case.

Thank you for pointing out that solution though, saved me quite the headache!