Change is inevitable in eCommerce technology, and Shopify is no exception. In a major strategic move, Shopify decided to deprecate its REST Admin API in favor of the more powerful and flexible GraphQL Admin API. This transition will impact developers who create apps and integrations for Shopify stores, as well as merchants who rely on these tools to run their businesses smoothly.
To help you navigate this transition smoothly, we'll break down what’s happening, why Shopify is making this change, and how both developers and merchants can prepare for the switch.
Key Dates and Actions
Understanding the timeline of this transition is crucial for staying ahead of potential disruptions. Here are the critical milestones:
October 1, 2024
Shopify designated the REST Admin API as a legacy system. While it remains operational, it no longer receives updates or new features.
February 1, 2025
Critical REST API endpoints, especially those handling products and variants, ceased to function. Any application still relying on these endpoints must have transitioned to GraphQL by this date to remain operational.
April 1, 2025
All new Shopify apps, including custom apps built for new organizations, must use the GraphQL Admin API. Existing apps will retain temporary access to REST, but Shopify will announce a full migration deadline later in 2025.
Why Shopify Is Moving to GraphQL
Shopify’s shift from REST to GraphQL is a strategic move aimed at improving performance, flexibility, and efficiency. Unlike REST, which requires multiple API requests to fetch related data, GraphQL allows developers to request precisely the information they need in a single query. This reduces unnecessary data fetching, improves application speed, and enhances overall efficiency.
Benefits of GraphQL Over REST
GraphQL has emerged as a powerful alternative to REST APIs, offering greater flexibility, efficiency, and scalability. Unlike REST, which relies on fixed endpoints and multiple requests to retrieve related data, GraphQL allows clients to fetch exactly what they need in a single request. Below are some key advantages of GraphQL over REST:
1. Efficiency
One of the biggest advantages of GraphQL is its ability to reduce the number of server requests. With REST, clients often need to make multiple requests to different endpoints to gather related data. In contrast, GraphQL enables clients to retrieve multiple data points with a single query, minimizing network overhead and reducing bandwidth usage. This efficiency is especially valuable for mobile applications or users with slow internet connections, as it enhances performance and responsiveness.
2. Precision
GraphQL provides clients with precise control over the data they receive. Unlike REST, where endpoints return predefined responses that may include unnecessary information (over-fetching) or exclude required details (under-fetching), GraphQL allows developers to specify the exact fields they need. This level of granularity ensures that applications fetch only the relevant data, optimizing performance and improving resource utilization.
3. Real-time Capabilities
Many modern applications require real-time data updates, such as live notifications, chat applications, or dynamic dashboards. While REST relies on polling or webhooks for real-time functionality, GraphQL offers built-in support for real-time data retrieval through subscriptions. This feature enables clients to receive live updates when data changes, making GraphQL ideal for applications that depend on real-time interactions, such as stock market tracking, social media feeds, or live inventory management.
4. Scalability
As applications grow, maintaining a REST API can become complex, often requiring the creation of new endpoints or modifications to existing ones. GraphQL simplifies scalability by allowing clients to adjust queries without necessitating backend changes. This flexibility makes it easier to evolve an application over time, accommodate new features, and support diverse frontend clients without significant infrastructure modifications.
5. Faster Development
GraphQL enhances developer productivity through its introspection feature, which allows developers to explore the available API schema dynamically. With this capability, developers can discover available queries, mutations, and types without needing extensive documentation. This self-documenting nature of GraphQL speeds up development cycles, reduces the time spent debugging, and enables teams to build and iterate on applications more efficiently.
REST vs. GraphQL Across Industries
APIs power modern applications, and for years, REST has been the standard. But GraphQL has emerged as the smarter, more efficient alternative. Let’s explore industry-specific examples where GraphQL outshines REST.
eCommerce: Faster Product Queries
Imagine an online retailer with thousands of products, each with multiple attributes—pricing, stock levels, customer reviews, and images.
- REST Challenge: Fetching this data requires multiple API calls (e.g., /products, /inventory, /reviews). This slows down the user experience.
- GraphQL Advantage: A single query retrieves all relevant data in one request, reducing network calls and improving page load speeds.
Media & Streaming: Personalized Content Delivery
A streaming platform like Netflix or Spotify relies on personalized recommendations, trending content, and user watch history.
- REST Challenge: Different endpoints are needed for recommendations, user preferences, and content details. Fetching these separately can introduce latency.
- GraphQL Advantage: Clients can request only the needed data—no over-fetching or under-fetching—delivering a seamless and fast experience.
Social Media: Efficient Feeds and Notifications
Social platforms like Twitter or Instagram display user feeds with posts, comments, likes, and notifications.
- REST Challenge: Fetching a timeline requires hitting multiple endpoints, leading to inefficiencies, especially on mobile.
- GraphQL Advantage: A single query can retrieve posts, associated likes, comments, and notifications in one request, optimizing data retrieval and performance.
FinTech: Real-Time Data with Reduced Load
A banking or trading app needs real-time data on transactions, stock prices, and account balances.
- REST Challenge: Polling multiple REST endpoints can cause unnecessary server load and increase lag.
- GraphQL Advantage: Clients can subscribe to real-time updates via GraphQL Subscriptions, ensuring instant updates with less overhead.
While REST has served well, GraphQL is proving superior in industries requiring efficiency, flexibility, and optimized data retrieval. Businesses shifting to GraphQL enjoy faster response times, lower bandwidth usage, and better user experiences.
How The REST API Deprecation Affects Developers
If you’re a Shopify developer, the deprecation of the REST API means you need to act fast. Any app still relying on REST endpoints—especially for product management—must transition to GraphQL to avoid disruptions.
Steps for a Smooth Migration
Educate Your Team - If your development team is not yet proficient in GraphQL, now is the time to invest in training and resources. Online courses, Shopify’s documentation, and GraphQL workshops can be invaluable.
- Audit Existing Applications - Identify all Shopify apps and integrations that rely on the REST API and categorize them based on priority. Focus on migrating mission-critical applications first.
- Use Shopify’s Documentation - Shopify provides extensive GraphQL documentation, tutorials, and community forums to aid the migration process. Leveraging these resources will ease the transition.
- Refactor and Optimize Code - Rather than simply replacing REST calls with GraphQL queries, take the opportunity to optimize the code for performance and scalability.
- Test Extensively - Before deploying changes, test your GraphQL-powered applications in a staging environment to prevent failures in production.
- Monitor Performance - Once migrated, continuously monitor app performance and adjust GraphQL queries as needed to optimize speed and efficiency.
- Seek Developer Community Support - Engaging with the Shopify developer community can help address challenges quickly, as others may have solved similar issues.
How The REST API Deprecation Affects Merchants
Shopify merchants may not be directly involved in API transitions, but they will certainly feel the impact if their apps and integrations are not updated in time. To ensure a smooth transition:
What Merchants Need to Do
- Check With App Providers - Reach out to developers of third-party apps to confirm they are updating their integrations to support GraphQL. Proactively ensuring that your apps remain supported will prevent last-minute disruptions.
- Monitor for Disruptions - If any app stops working after February 1, 2025, it may be due to reliance on deprecated REST endpoints. Be vigilant and report any issues to app providers immediately.
- Work With Developers - If you use custom-built Shopify apps, ensure your development team is actively migrating them to GraphQL. Regular status updates from your development team can help you stay informed.
- Stay Updated With Shopify Announcements - Shopify will continue providing updates on the transition, so keeping up with their developer blog and forums can help you anticipate further changes.
- Evaluate New Features - The move to GraphQL may enable new app functionalities and improvements. Merchants should explore how GraphQL-powered apps can enhance their operations and customer experience.
What Industry Professionals are Saying
There are users highlighting the complexities in adapting to Shopify’s API evolution, for example, a REDDIT user said:
"It is going to take a lot of work for me to swap out all my REST endpoints with GraphQL endpoints. It's basically swapping out the entire backend."
However, there has been an overwhelming amount of positive feedback, for example:
"By switching to the GraphQL Admin API, Fisher Technology can offer faster integrations for their clients. Fisher Technology’s integrations now perform better by syncing customer databases faster between Shopify stores and ERP." - Rich Borek, Senior Business Process Consultant Fisher Technology
You can read more about Fisher Technology’s experience here.
GraphQL Is Here—Are You Ready?
Shopify’s move to GraphQL is a step toward a more scalable, efficient, and developer-friendly platform. While change can be challenging, it presents an opportunity to improve applications and integrations in the long run.
By proactively adapting to this shift, developers and merchants alike can ensure uninterrupted service, better application performance, and a future-proof approach to Shopify’s evolving ecosystem. Don't wait until the last minute—start planning your migration today. If you need help, talk to us. We are Shopify experts and here to help.
