Why is the billing page on my app continuously looping?

Shopify Apps
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Topic summary

Billing page repeatedly loops during Shopify Apps review, though it works in development. The app uses an Express middleware (ensureBillingMiddleware) to verify billing before handling /api/* routes.

Key logic: it checks active payment via shopify.api.billing.check against configured plans. If no payment, it requests a confirmationUrl (billing request) and responds 403 with Shopify reauthorization headers (X-Shopify-API-Request-Failure-Reauthorize: 1 and X-Shopify-API-Request-Failure-Reauthorize-Url: confirmationUrl), then ends the response.

Technical notes: middleware intercepts requests; the isTest flag is set based on ENV (isTest = !isProdOverride), which controls test vs real charges; confirmationUrl is the billing approval link.

Current status: multiple developers report the same looping behavior during review; no resolution or workaround is provided in the thread. No decisions or action items were reached.

Open questions: what triggers the loop under review conditions and how to prevent it; whether environment/test mode or header handling causes repeated redirects.

Central artifact: the provided code snippet is essential to understanding the issue.

Summarized with AI on January 15. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi there,

Everything works on dev but when Shopify Apps team tested my app, they are stuck in the billing page (it keeps looping again and again).

Here’s my ensure billing middleware:

import express from "express";
import shopify from "../shopify.js";

export async function ensureBillingMiddleware(
  req: express.Request,
  res: express.Response,
  next: express.NextFunction
) {
  const session = res.locals.shopify.session
  const result = await ensureBilling(session)

  if (result.paymentUrl) {
    res.status(403);
    res.header("X-Shopify-API-Request-Failure-Reauthorize", "1");
    res.header("X-Shopify-API-Request-Failure-Reauthorize-Url", result.paymentUrl);
    res.end();
    return
  }

  next()
}

async function ensureBilling(
  session: any,
  isProdOverride = process.env.ENV === 'production'
) {
  let hasPayment = true;
  let confirmationUrl: string | null = null;

  if (shopify.api.config.billing) {
    hasPayment = await shopify.api.billing.check({
      session,
      plans: Object.keys(shopify.api.config.billing),
      isTest: !isProdOverride,
    });

    if (!hasPayment) {
      // Realistically, if there are more than one plan to choose from, you should redirect to
      // a page that allows the merchant to choose a plan.
      // For this example, we'll just redirect to the first plan
      confirmationUrl = await shopify.api.billing.request({
        session,
        plan: Object.keys(shopify.api.config.billing)[0],
        isTest: !isProdOverride,
      });
    }
  }

  return { hasPayment: hasPayment, paymentUrl: confirmationUrl };
} 

app.use("/api/*", ensureBillingMiddleware)

Anyone faced the same issue?

Thanks!

2 Likes
2

I am having the same issues, did you manage to find a resolution?

3

Hi @yadsgroup - did you ever find a solution for this? Currently experiencing the same problem.

1 Like