How can I test a recurring webhook subscription without waiting for it to expire?

Technical Q&A
,

Topic summary

Developers are struggling to test and detect Shopify app subscription renewals in real-time. The original question asks three key points:

Core Issues:

  • How to simulate/test recurring subscription renewals without waiting 30 days
  • Whether subscription status transitions from Active → Expired → Active during renewal
  • If APP_SUBSCRIPTION_UPDATE webhook is the correct topic for detecting renewals

Current Finding:
After extensive research, one developer discovered that Shopify does not trigger webhooks when merchants renew subscriptions. Instead, Shopify silently updates the currentPeriodEnd field on the AppSubscription object.

Proposed Workaround:
Implement a daily cron job that:

  • Queries all active subscriptions
  • Identifies those where currentPeriodEnd has passed
  • Fetches updated currentPeriodEnd values to confirm renewal

Status: The question remains unresolved after 3+ years, with no official testing method or webhook solution available. The community-developed cron job approach appears to be the only viable workaround for detecting renewals.

Summarized with AI on October 26. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
2

After 3 years still no answer, i have same question

1 Like