Will Shopify Functions get easier to use before launch?

Retired Boards Appdev Functions

Topic summary

A merchant/developer implementing tiered pricing finds Shopify Functions far more complex than Shopify Scripts and asks for a simpler path, ideally a small JavaScript function for price logic. They note Scripts are limited (access only price and compare_at_price, and don’t apply to draft orders), motivating a move to Functions.

The main pain point is excessive boilerplate from the Shopify CLI, which scaffolds a very large app project (config files, TypeScript, Docker, GraphQL, etc.) just to write a few lines of logic. They characterize this as disproportionate for simple use cases.

A Shopify staff member responds that several Function APIs are already launched and that improving DX (developer experience) is an ongoing focus. They seek clarification that the primary issue is the app-level boilerplate required before creating a function extension.

The original poster confirms the boilerplate is the core barrier and reiterates the desire to write minimal JavaScript for price processing. No concrete changes, timelines, or commitments are provided; the thread remains open with unresolved questions about a lighter-weight workflow for simple scenarios.

Summarized with AI on January 28. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I have tiered pricing implemented as a Shopify Script - this isn’t ideal as I can only access the price and compare_at_price of the variant and it won’t apply to draft orders.

I spent some time looking at Shopify Functions this morning to see if they would be a better mechanism to implement our tiering - and while I’m sure they would offer the functionality we don’t currently have the experience of setting up and using them is a total trainwreck, it is massively more complicated than it needs to be for many simple usecases.

I understand that to expose the full guts of Shopify there is complexity, but replacing Shopify Scripts with this is like swapping out a bike for the Space Shuttle. I just wanted to write a ~50 line Javascript function to test the functionality out and the Shopify CLI tool created a 40,000 file directory containing toml, typescript, yaml, Docker stuff, git related files, graphql, etc - it was insane.

Please tell me that there will be a sane way to work with this for simpler use cases…?

2 Likes
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Hi @lowfatcode – Several function APIs are already “launched” but we are always looking to simplify the DX. Based on your comments, I take it the main complexity you are referring to is the boilerplate that comes with creating an app, before you have created the function extension?

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Yes, primarily! I’m not sure why I’d want or need all of that just to provide a few lines of (ideally) Javascript that does some custom processing to prices.