Integrating regular Shopify store with a custom Storefront

Retired Boards Appdev Custom Storefronts

Topic summary

A developer is attempting to add custom fields to the checkout shipping address form for a Shopify Plus store. They initially asked about creating a custom checkout page using the Storefront API while keeping the main store for browsing and cart management.

Recommended Solution:

  • Use Checkout UI Extensions instead of Storefront API (which isn’t designed for checkout customization)
  • Alternative: Shopify Functions to extend backend logic

Key Concerns Raised:

  • The Checkout UI Extensions documentation shows “unstable” status in the version dropdown
  • Advised to wait for stable API release (2023-10, available October 1, 2023) before production deployment
  • A relevant tutorial for custom checkout fields was shared as reference

Technical Clarification Needed:
The developer is confused about implementation details:

  • Whether checkout UI extensions require hosting as a custom server-side app
  • Where to place React components from examples (their team typically uses Java backend and Vue.js)
  • How the app’s install URL functions in this context

Status: Discussion remains open with technical implementation questions unanswered.

Summarized with AI on November 19. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
2

Hi Risman,

The Storefront API is typically not used for anything related to checkout. If you’re looking to add custom fields to the shipping address form on the checkout page, I would recommend looking into either Checkout UI extensions which allow you to add custom UI or content to the checkout process and order status page. Another option might be to see if you can achieve your use case with Shopify Functions as these allow you to extend or replace key parts of Shopify’s backend with custom logic.

Hope this helps!

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