Introduction

Shopify has a concept called Collaborators, allowing you to grant access to the admin screen separately from store staff. This article explains the concept of Shopify Collaborators.

What are Shopify Collaborators?

A Shopify collaborator is a user who has been granted access permissions to a Shopify store.

When are collaborators used?

Collaborators are often used when building a Shopify store, especially if you face difficulties setting up apps or encounter configuration issues. By inviting app developers as collaborators, they can directly access the store’s admin dashboard, making it easy to identify issues and configuration errors quickly.

Is it safe?

When requesting collaborator access, you can specify the permissions provided. Collaborators cannot access areas other than those explicitly allowed, making collaboration safe with proper review. It’s crucial to clearly define what data (e.g., customer information) collaborators can access—for example, restricting access to “Customer Management” to protect sensitive customer data.

Process to become a Shopify Collaborator

Here, we’ll break down the steps for both the store owner’s perspective and the app developer’s side, explaining the procedures and screens displayed when becoming collaborators.

0. Store Owner (Checking settings)

First, we’ll explain the initial settings for store owners. Shopify stores initially have protections preventing collaborator requests by default.

Navigate through Settings > Users and Permissions > Collaborators to see the screen shown below.

Without the collaborator request code displayed here, app developers cannot send collaborator requests.

If you want an app developer to review your store’s admin dashboard, sharing this code can expedite communication.

1. App Developer’s Side

From the app developer side, developers can easily access the request screen for a store from the store’s admin page, usually with just one click.

If a collaborator request code has been set up by the store, a message like below will appear, indicating it is impossible to send a request. It’s recommended to set this code to prevent unsolicited requests from unknown entities.

Note that permissions can be initially set by the app developer. Responsible developers should only request the minimum permissions necessary for support, but others may request unnecessary access.

In most cases, permissions such as “Online Store > Themes” and “Manage and Install Apps and Channels” are sufficient, with occasional additions related to metaobjects if needed.

2. Store Owner Side

Once the app developer sends a request, it will appear in the collaborator request settings section (where the code was displayed). You can review the permissions requested by the developer to ensure only the minimum necessary permissions are granted.

Conclusion

In this article, we explained the flow of granting access permissions from both the store owner’s and app developer’s perspectives regarding Shopify Collaborators. We hope this proves helpful when you encounter difficulties in store configuration.