Setting Customer Language / Locale during Storefront API User Creation Process

Retired Boards Appdev Custom Storefronts

Topic summary

Main issue: controlling the language/locale of Shopify’s transactional emails (account activation/reset) when creating customers via Storefront API.

Key context: Checkout locale can be set via the redirect URL, but customer confirmation emails always use the store’s default language.

Attempts noted:

  • No field in Storefront API to pass a locale during customer creation.
  • Setting the HTTP Accept-Language header (per Translation API) affects product translations, not transactional emails.

Proposed workaround:

  • Add a hidden customer[tags] field (e.g., “lng:en”) during customer creation. This suggestion is unverified and lacks evidence it influences email language.

Latest update/outcome:

  • No confirmed solution. When the store creates accounts, emails are always English; when customers create accounts themselves, they can choose their language.

Definitions:

  • Storefront API: Shopify API used to manage customer accounts and checkout on custom storefronts.
  • Locale: language and regional settings.
  • Transactional emails: system-generated messages for account activation/reset.

Status: Unresolved; key question of setting email locale via API remains open.

Summarized with AI on February 7. AI used: gpt-5.
1

We’re integrating Shopify into our CMS via Storefront API - this works perfectly well, even developing Multi-Language Stores with Checkout in different locales, but i can’t find any info on how it is possible to define in which language the customer activation emails are sent if we trigger them via Account Creation / Reset functions via Storefront API Calls.

I looked all over the API Documentation but there doesn’t seem to be a way to submit some kind of Language or Locale to the Customer Creation Process - the Confirmation E-Mail is always being sent in the default Store Language set in the Shopify Configuration.

It works perfectly for the Checkout as the Locale can be added to the Checkout URL when redirecting but there is no such field in the Storefront API. Setting the HTTP “Accept-Language” Header as described in the Translation API doesn’t help either as this seems to work only with specific Product Translations.

Has anybody managed to find a way to submit the current locale to the Storefront API functions in order to get Transactional E-Mails automatically sent in different Languages and have the Customer? I hope you can point me in the right direction.

1 Like
2

in you create_customer form, you can pass customer[tags] as hidden

3

Did you ever figure out how to assign a specific language when creating new customers accounts?

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4

No I did not. When i create the costumer account myself it is always English. When it is done on the costumer end, they can chose their language.