Tracking/logging changes to a metafield

Shopify Plus
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Topic summary

A metafield used for displaying product color swatches is being unexpectedly wiped, preventing customers from seeing color options. The user sought recommendations for apps or methods to track metafield changes and identify what’s causing the updates.

Attempted solutions:

  • Explored Shopify’s native /metafields.json endpoint (provides limited metadata only)
  • Installed ARCS History Tracking app (failed to log any changes)

Troubleshooting approach suggested:

  • Review installed apps affecting product data
  • Check custom/private app access permissions in product settings
  • Investigate webhooks in Settings > Notifications

Resolution: Through testing, the user identified the responsible app and contacted them directly. The issue remains with the third-party app developer to resolve.

Summarized with AI on November 1. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hello,

We have a bug where something is wiping a metafield. We’re using this metafield to display colour swatches on products so customers cannot see the colours on colour pickers.

I am looking for recommendations on an app or any other method to log a changes to a metafield. I am hoping that the log can tell me the context or mechanism by which the metafield is being updated. Shopify chat was helpful to explain this is not possible natively and i learned about <product/variant url>/metafields.json to get some limited metadata.

We have installed ARCS History Tracking but it does not seem to be working (nothing is logged, even when making changes in the admin panel).

So I’m reaching out here for help. Thanks

2

This will require a thorough investigation.

  1. Installed App related: List all the apps you think are affecting product data.

  2. Custom App Related: Check if the product is giving access to a private/custom app. You can see this in edit product > sales channel.

  3. Webhook Related: go to Settings > Notifications > Webhook check for any webhook and investigate

Once you confirm which area is doing the update in metafields you can proceed then on doing the necessary step to solve the issue.

DM me if you need further support.

Thanks

3

Hi Leysam, Thanks for your reply here. I was hoping for an easy fix- some sort of way to view the context by which a field is being updated.

After some testing I was able to identify the app responsible and have raised it with them.

Thanks for your time.

Cheers