How to Create API credentials for Shopify

To make the most of your Shopify data, you need to know how to create API credentials for Shopify. Creating API credentials also protects data and ensures smooth integration.

Setting up the Windsor.ai connector takes two steps: create a Shopify custom app to get a Client ID and Client Secret, then enter those in Windsor.ai to connect your store.

Step 1: Create your Shopify API credentials

Since January 1, 2026, Shopify no longer allows creating new legacy custom apps; new apps are created through the Shopify Dev Dashboard instead. Existing custom apps continue to work as before.

1. In the Shopify Dev Dashboard, open Apps and click Create app.
2. Set the App URL to https://onboard.windsor.ai, untick Embed app in Shopify admin, and leave the redirect URLs empty.
3. Add these scopes: read_customers, read_inventory, read_locations, read_marketing_events, read_orders, read_products, read_returns, read_shopify_payments_accounts, read_shopify_payments_payouts. Do not add read_all_orders yet: Shopify rejects it with “Contains invalid scopes” until access is granted.
4. Click Create app, then Release.
5. On the app’s Overview, click the Distribution card, choose Custom distribution, enter your shop name (your-shop-name.myshopify.com) and generate the install link.
6. For orders older than 60 days: in Shopify Partners, open API access requests, request the Read all orders scope, then create a new app version that adds read_all_orders and release it.
7. Open the install link, pick your store and click Install.
8. On the app’s Overview in the Dev Dashboard, copy the Client ID and Client secret from the Credentials card.

For the full walkthrough with screenshots and fixes for common errors, see the Shopify Configuration Guide.

Step 2: Connect your store to Windsor.ai

1. Go to onboard.windsor.ai and register or log in.
2. Click Connect Shopify Store, then enter your shop name, Client ID, and Client Secret from Step 1.
3. Choose your destination and preview your data.

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Turning connected Shopify data into e-commerce insights

Once Shopify is connected, Windsor.ai blends your order, customer, and revenue data with spend from your ad platforms (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok, and more) in one place, so you can see true ROAS and customer lifetime value per channel and campaign, not just per platform in isolation. This also removes the need for manual CSV exports or spreadsheet formulas to join Shopify data with ad performance, since it stays in sync automatically once set up.

Setting up the Windsor.ai Shopify Connector

Once your store is connected, choose the store or stores you wish to link, then select the destination.

There are multiple data destinations. It depends on your preference and the platform you use to analyze your data. As you can see, Tableau, Looker Studio, Google Sheets, Excel, Python, and more.

There are options for different purposes on Windsor.ai. But it also depends on your preferences and what type of reports you prefer. If you’re familiar with Windsor.ai, there’s no need to explain this step to you in great detail.

Finally, you can also choose the database or databases from which you can get the data. Google Big Query and Windsor.ai Cloud Database are among the offered options here.

How to use the Shopify Connector

Once it’s all set, let’s take a look at the options that the Shopify Connector offers. Here’s a sample of the structure:

The Shopify data is shown on an object level and if you specify the date fields you can use that as a filter to view data based on the period when it was collected, i.e. when the objects were created.

Some of the Customer available fields are:

• Customer created at, the date and time when the entry for a customer/visitor was created in the system
• Currency, this can be quite useful if you sell goods or services in multiple countries and your customers pay using different currencies.
• Email address, if the customer has provided an email address, which is usually the case, you can use it for remarketing purposes, cross-selling, and more.
• ID, this is the unique ID for each customer that is created in the system.
• Note, this is a customized note that you have created about the customer and it can refer to anything and everything. It depends on the nature of the business and the type of goods or services you offer.

The types of fields based on their function are timestamp, text, date numeric, and Boolean. All of the fields are explained and described in our API documentation. Just select the Shopify Connector, and you can read more details regarding the fields.

Conclusion

Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce platforms, and its analytics allow you to get insight into the recent activities of your visitors, their shopping patterns, and habits. However, you can also analyze aspects like the speed of online stores and more. Automating the data extraction is one of the key functions and benefits of the Windsor.ai API.