Shopify App Build Journey

1. Chapter 1

   Learn Shopify

   ⚔️ 0/2 quests
2. 🧭
   PHASE 0

   Concepts

   · 2 days Conquered

   What Shopify is, what an app is, how the money flows, what runs underneath.

   • 📜 Shopify 101 — For the Developer Who Knows Nothing About It +100 +100 →
   • 📜 E-commerce Glossary +100 +100 →
   • 📜 Getting to Know Shopify — How the Gears Turn +100 +100 →

   🏁 Done when: I can explain the whole model in my own words — including why a webhook can arrive twice. · I did this

   • ✍️ Phase 0 done — what exists, and what the research changed my mind about 26 Aug 2026
   • ✍️ Day 0 — Why I'm building a Shopify app in public 24 Aug 2026

   ⚔️ Quests

   • Create a free Shopify Partner account +150 +150
   • Explain to a friend how the money flows: merchant → Shopify → app +150 +150
3. Chapter 2

   Build basic apps

   ⚔️ 0/7 quests
4. 🏕️
   PHASE 1

   First running app

   · 1 day Conquered

   Partner account, dev store, Shopify CLI, `shopify app dev`.

   • 📜 Learning Log — Shopify App from Zero +100 +100 →

   🏁 Done when: The app opens inside a dev store's admin. · I did this

   ⚔️ Quests

   • Create a development store +150 +150
   • Scaffold an app with Shopify CLI and open it in your dev store +150 +150
5. 🗝️
   PHASE 2

   Anatomy

   · 2 days Conquered

   OAuth, session tokens, embedded apps, App Bridge.

   🏁 Done when: I added my own page to the template and can trace a request end to end. · I did this

   ⚔️ Quests

   • Add a page to your app inside the Shopify admin +150 +150
6. 📦
   PHASE 3

   Data

   · 3 days Conquered

   Admin GraphQL API, scopes, rate limits.

   🏁 Done when: A page that lists products and updates one. · I did this

   ⚔️ Quests

   • Read 10 products through the Admin GraphQL API +150 +150
   • Save a setting in a metafield +150 +150
7. ⚡
   PHASE 4

   Events

   · 2 days Conquered

   Webhooks, uninstall cleanup, GDPR webhooks.

   🏁 Done when: `orders/create` is caught and written to a database. · I did this

   ⚔️ Quests

   • Receive an orders/create webhook +150 +150
   • Process the same webhook twice without a double effect +150 +150
8. Chapter 3

   Merchants & ecosystem

   ⚔️ 0/2 quests
   🏪 Meet the merchants →
9. 🔍

   You are here. One scroll and a running app between us.

   PHASE 5

   The problem

   · 2 weeks You are here

   Market economics, who pays and how much, how winning apps found their one problem — then the painkiller workshop: mine competitor reviews, interview ten merchants, write the problem in one sentence.

   • 📜 Ecosystem Data — The Economics of the App Store +100 +100 →
   • 📜 Merchant Psychology — Who Pays, When, and How Much? +100 +100 →
   • 📜 Case Studies — Where Merchants Already Pay, Read Like a Builder +100 +100 →
   • 📜 The Apps Merchants Actually Use — and How Each One Started +100 +100 →
   • 📜 Choosing the Problem — The Painkiller Workshop +100 +100 →
   • 📜 Who to Listen To — People, Companies and Vision +100 +100 →

   🏁 Done when: Ten merchant conversations, a problem statement with every slot filled, a number from the merchant's own mouth, and the cheapest proof already running. · I did this

   ⚔️ Quests

   • Reach out to 3 merchants · 0/3 merchants reached +150 +150
   • Write one merchant problem down in their own words +150 +150
10. Chapter 4

    Our app

    ⚔️ 0/4 quests

    🐉 Our app is in phase 5 now: The problem

    Build log

    • Phase 0 ✍️ Phase 0 done — what exists, and what the research changed my mind about
    • Phase 0 ✍️ Day 0 — Why I'm building a Shopify app in public
11. ⚒️
    PHASE 6

    MVP

    · 3 weeks In the fog

    My actual app — only as much as solves the problem.

    🏁 Done when: 3 merchants installed by hand and using it. · I did this

    ⚔️ Quests

    • Put your MVP in front of one real store +150 +150
12. 💰
    PHASE 7

    Money

    · 3 days In the fog

    Billing API, trials, plans, the surprise-invoice trap.

    🏁 Done when: First payment received. · I did this

    ⚔️ Quests

    • Add a paid plan with the Billing API +150 +150
13. 🏰
    PHASE 8

    Launch

    · 1 week In the fog

    App Store listing, the review process, early-warning system, community.

    • 📜 Where the Ecosystem Gets Its Signal — Sources, Betas and the Early-Warning System +100 +100 →
    • 📜 Shopify Events — Shopify Ecosystem Only +100 +100 →
    • 📜 E-commerce Events — General (Non-Shopify) +100 +100 →
    • 📜 Podcasts — Shopify, E-commerce and Indie SaaS +100 +100 →

    🏁 Done when: Submitted for review. · I did this

    ⚔️ Quests

    • Submit your App Store listing +150 +150
14. 📣
    PHASE 9

    Brand & scale

    · ongoing In the fog

    One product, one funnel per pain. Offer → labelled proof → daily email flows → founder as the face. Premium is a result, not a price. Seven brands founded 2020+ as use cases, and the people to model. The second sale is the brand.

    • 📜 Brand & Scale — From "buy at 3, sell at 5" to a brand people come back to +100 +100 →

    🏁 Done when: Two pain-point landing pages with conversion numbers, a 5-email welcome flow sending, and one repeat purchase traced to email, not ads. · I did this

    ⚔️ Quests

    • Get your first 10 paying merchants +150 +150

⚠️ Phases 0–4 are throwaway code written to learn the platform. The real product starts at phase 5; don't build anything permanent before then.