Why isn't `visible_if` compatible with certain input types?

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

A developer has discovered that the visible_if schema condition works as expected with certain input types like collection_list and product_list in Shopify themes, despite official documentation and Theme Check indicating these combinations aren’t supported.

Key Question:

  • Why are these input types officially incompatible with visible_if when they function correctly in practice?

Current Status:

  • The functionality works properly in the Shopify environment
  • Official documentation explicitly disallows this usage
  • Theme Check flags these combinations as errors
  • No technical explanation has been provided for the restriction

The discussion remains open, seeking clarification on whether this is a documentation gap, a planned deprecation, or a technical limitation that hasn’t manifested yet.

Summarized with AI on October 24. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

When I’ve used visible_if schema conditions on inputs that it isn’t compatible with: collection_list, product_list, for example, it does work within Shopify, it performs exactly how I would expect.

But according to both Theme Check and Shopify.dev docs, they aren’t allowed. So I’m just wondering why? They work fine, so what’s actually preventing this?