A new app or a defined feature
Build
Fixed scope, fixed priceFour weeks to three months
- Written scope before any code
- A named engineer for the duration
- Weekly builds you can install on a development store
- Best for an app with a clear first release
Hire a Shopify App Developer
Engineers who build, submit and maintain Shopify apps of their own — five built in-house, one live on the App Store — available by project, on an app retainer, or inside your team.
- An app live on the Shopify App Store
- GraphQL Admin API, not legacy REST
- You own the code from day one
An app developer and a theme developer are different hires. Theme work is what customers see; app work is authentication, webhooks, billing, review and an API that changes every quarter. This page is about hiring for the second.
Do you need a Shopify app developer?
Do you need a Shopify app developer?
Plenty of “we need an app” briefs are theme or integration work in disguise. Hiring the wrong discipline is the most expensive mistake in this market, so start here.
| Your situation | Who you actually need |
|---|---|
| A new app to sell on the Shopify App Store | An app developer. Public distribution means Shopify's app review, a listing and the Billing API — what the build involves. |
| A custom app for your own store | An app developer. Custom distribution installs on one store, or the stores in one Plus organisation, with no app review and no Shopify billing. |
| An app a previous developer abandoned | An app developer who starts with an audit — authentication, scopes, API version, webhooks — and puts the findings in writing before fixing anything. |
| An app pinned to an old API version, or still on REST | An upgrade engagement. Shopify supports each API version for at least twelve months, and new public apps must use the GraphQL Admin API. |
| An app rejected by App Store review | Someone who has been through review with their own apps and knows the security checks it applies. |
| The storefront needs to look and behave differently | Not an app developer. That is a Shopify theme developer. |
| Shopify has to sync with your ERP or warehouse | Often a Shopify full-stack developer — the hard part is the other system, not Shopify. |
Ways to hire a Shopify app developer
Three ways to work with us
An app is not finished at launch — Shopify ships a new API version every quarter, and review requirements move with it. Pick the shape that matches where your app is.
An app in productionMost common
App retainer
Monthly block of hoursRolling, one month notice
- API version upgrades before they are forced
- Review resubmissions and listing changes
- Merchant-reported bugs, triaged and fixed
- Best for an app that has users
You have an app team, it is short-handed
Augmentation
Day rateWeekly, scale up or down
- We work in your repo and your process
- Your standards win, not ours
- Your review process, your branching model
- Best for adding capacity without hiring
Rates depend on the engagement and are quoted after the technical call — not before it, because a number produced by guessing is either padded or wrong.
What our Shopify app developers work on
The engineers you would hire build and maintain Shopify apps of their own, so everything below is something we have had to get right for our own users first.
What hiring a Shopify app developer from HelloDevs includes
The app work that should be standard and usually is not
Every point below is something that decides whether an app survives its first year. Most of it is invisible until it is missing.
- Your repository, from day oneCode lands in your GitHub, not ours. There is no handover event because there is nothing to hand over.
- Least-privilege scopesOnly the access scopes the app actually uses. Our own storefront app asks for two read-only scopes, and review is faster for it.
- Compliance webhooks wiredThe mandatory privacy webhooks implemented and tested, not stubbed — a common reason public apps are rejected.
- A working reviewer setupA development store and test instructions a reviewer can actually follow, so review is not lost to a login that does not work.
- An API version planWhich version the app targets, when it next needs upgrading, and what changes. Written down, not remembered.
- Staging before productionChanges on a development store first. Nothing reaches your merchants untested.
- Direct access to the engineerYou talk to the person writing the code, not an account manager relaying questions.
- A defined exitYou can end an engagement and keep running the app. Nothing depends on us continuing.
How hiring a Shopify app developer works
From first message to first build
The first conversation is technical, because it has to be — we cannot scope an app we do not understand.
- Tell us about the appWhat it does, who installs it, and whether it exists yet. A paragraph is enough. We reply within one business day.
- A technical callThirty minutes with the engineer who would do the work: distribution, data, billing and what has been tried already.
- A written scopeWhat we would build, in what order, what it costs, and what we would leave out. If you need less than you asked for, that is in writing.
- Build on a development storeWeekly builds you can install and use, with the app's permissions and webhooks visible from the start.
- Review and launchSubmission, reviewer notes and every resubmission for a public app; an install link and a checklist for a custom one.
Shopify app developer tech stack
The app stack, from Shopify's own template
We build on Shopify's current app tooling rather than a framework of our own, so any competent Shopify developer can maintain what we ship.
What we build with
The App Stack
Included because technical buyers ask. Shopify's React Router app template and Shopify CLI; the GraphQL Admin API; Polaris and App Bridge for the embedded admin; theme app extensions for the storefront; webhooks for everything that happens while nobody is looking; and Prisma for session storage.
- React Router
- Shopify CLI
- GraphQL Admin API
- Polaris
- App Bridge
- Theme App Extensions
- Webhooks
- app/shopify.server.ts01
- app/routes/webhooks.orders.paid.tsx02
- extensions/widgets/blocks/app-embed.liquid03
- shopify.app.toml04
Auth
Token Exchange
Embedded apps authenticate with session tokens and token exchange, not cookies, which many browsers block inside the admin's iframe.
const { admin } = await authenticate.admin(request);Webhooks
Idempotent by Default
Every webhook is verified, deduplicated and processed off the request path, because the same one can arrive twice.
if (await seen(webhookId)) return new Response();What we skip
No Script Tags
Storefront features ship as theme app extensions. Script tags are being switched off — and they were slow anyway.
script_tag.js
Questions about hiring a Shopify app developer
- The GraphQL Admin API and its rate limits, OAuth and token exchange for embedded apps, webhooks and why they arrive more than once, the Billing API, theme app extensions, and Shopify's app review requirements. Theme skills are a bonus, not the job.
- Public if other merchants will install it: it is listed on the App Store, reviewed by Shopify and billed through Shopify. Custom if it is only for your store or your Plus organisation: no review, no Shopify billing. Shopify does not let you change the distribution method once it is chosen, so this is decided before the build starts.
- Often, yes. We start with an audit — authentication, scopes, API version, webhooks, billing — and tell you in writing what can be kept and what has to change before you pay for the fix.
- You should. We recommend creating the app in an organisation you control and giving us access, so the app, its listing and its billing never depend on us. Settle ownership before any developer starts, not after.
- At least once a year, realistically every quarter. Shopify releases a new API version every three months and supports each for a minimum of twelve, so an app nobody upgrades eventually runs on behaviour it was not written for.
- It depends on the engagement rather than the hour. A new app is quoted as a fixed scope, an app in production usually runs on a monthly retainer, and augmentation inside your team is a day rate. All three are quoted after a technical call.
Still deciding?
Tell us what the app should do. If the honest answer is that you need a theme developer — or no developer at all — we will tell you that instead.
Hire a Shopify app developer: tell us what you need
Tell us about the app
A paragraph is enough. What the app should do, whether it exists yet, and any deadline. A developer reads it and replies within one business day.
