Liquid Weekly Podcast: Shopify Developers Talking Shopify Development

Hosted by Karl Meisterheim

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Aug 2026

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Each episode hosts Karl and Taylor discuss the latest news and techniques for Shopify development. Hear about current projects, listen to interviews with developers and take your theme and app development skills to another level.

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August 20, 2026Episode 731 hr 6 min

I Hid Swag and I'd Do It Again! - Recapping our DotDev Adventure

Episode 073 – I Hid Swag and I'd Do It Again! - Recapping our DotDev Adventure Karl and Taylor reunite for a full-week recap of Shopify Dev in Toronto — from a canceled Air Canada flight and a border crossing full of event signage, to Taylor's metaobjects talk, the live podcast recording at Dev Studio, and the Shopify-shutting-down-an-entire-street Block Party. They also debrief BrightWork, the first-ever event Taylor hosted after Tectonic was canceled, and close with a run of street-style interviews from the Dev floor covering POS development, agent search and LLM indexing, customer accounts, Sidekick extensions, and — of course — the snacks. --- Sponsor Promo Party Pro — a free gift with purchase app Karl helped build with the team at EtherCycle. Out of the box it gives you campaigns built to increase AOV and conversion: set a spend threshold, show shoppers how close they are to earning a gift, and let Promo Party Pro handle the rest. Discount Functions under the hood, one app embed (no theme surgery), and campaigns auto-pause when the gift sells out. Agency offer: get one of your clients a full year free. Promo Party Pro - https://promoparty.app/agency Find it in the Shopify App Store today. --- Subscribe to Liquid Weekly Don't miss out on expert insights and tips—subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this: https://liquidweekly.com/ --- Timestamps - 00:00 – Cold open: two dudes, a minivan, a border - 00:31 – Welcome back, Taylor returns from episode 72 - 01:31 – Taylor's full Dev swag outfit on display - 05:28 – The retro Pizza Hut detour - 08:09 – Taylor's drive up and the Trudy's-apartment-as-storage-unit problem - 11:02 – Karl's canceled Air Canada flight and the two-ticket trap - 14:19 – Meeting Toby on the plane and taking the train to Union Station - 16:28 – Sponsor: Promo Party Pro - 17:10 – Airbnb vs. hotel, and Toronto neighborhoods for next year - 20:07 – Monday events: agency brunch, Good API tree planting, live podcast, pickleball - 24:43 – Being grateful for the community and welcoming first-timers - 26:03 – Day one: rain, badge lines, and a pushed-back keynote - 27:22 – The Dev snack review series explained - 30:32 – Build Award dinner, the Shopi mascot, and a Rubik's Cube - 32:08 – Taylor meets Adam Wathan (and immediately regrets it) - 34:42 – Day two: Taylor's metaobjects talk and the Dev Studio live recording - 36:33 – The Block Party: Shopify shuts down a Toronto street - 41:21 – BrightWork debrief: what worked, what to fix next time - 44:00 – Frat party, yacht party, and the flotilla rules - 46:44 – Street interviews from the Dev floor begin --- Resources - Promo Party Pro – Free gift with purchase app built on Discount Functions; this episode's sponsor. https://promoparty.app - Ether Cycle - https://ethercycle.com – Karl's partners on Promo Party Pro. - The Support Heroes - https://thesupportheroes.com – 24/7/365 specialized customer support for Shopify apps; Angie's team, and co-hosts of the live podcast panel with Martin. - Good API - https://www.thegoodapi.com/shopify/ – Sustainability app for planting trees, removing ocean plastic, and donating to over a million US charities; Amy's team. - Raise Wave – Fundraiser app Good API built together with Felix & Norton - https://apps.shopify.com/raisewave - POS Cafe – Shopify point of sale app built by Adam Wooding out of South East Queensland, Australia - https://apps.shopify.com/poscafe - Three Acres – Brendan Quigley's agency. https://threeacres.ca/ - Helium / Helium Customer Fields - https://heliumdev.com – Customer accounts and B2B registration/approval apps; Brett and Josiah's team. - Locksmith - https://uselocksmith.com – Longtime Helium app partner. - Kirill Platonov's Rails on Shopify template - https://kirillplatonov.com – Bootstrap template for building Shopify apps on Ruby on Rails. - Tailwind CSS - https://tailwindcss.com – Adam Wathan was at Dev; Shopify is looking at incorporating Tailwind into Liquid.

August 6, 2026Episode 721 hr 5 min

072 - Inside the Future of Liquid + the Build Award Winners | Live at DotDev

Recorded live at Shopify's DotDev, this special is two sessions in one. First, Ben Sehl walks Karl and Taylor through the future of Liquid: why the language is being reshaped for the agentic era, the new Partials tag that replaces the section rendering API, arrays and Booleans finally landing, agents.md and design.md guidance, and the Tailwind partnership. Then we sit down with three Shopify Build Award winners, Sammy of Discount Kit, Harel of EasyTeam, and Emili of Zapiet, to talk about what it actually takes to win, betting early on POS, building for Sidekick, and what's next. Sponsors Easy Apps (Sage of FI): https://easyapps.io/ Shopify Supply Dev Mode Collection: https://shopify.supply/ (15% off your first order with code LIQUID) Subscribe to Liquid Weekly Don't miss out on expert insights and tips. Subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this: https://liquidweekly.com/ Find the Guests Online Ben Sehl (Shopify): https://x.com/benjaminsehl, https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminsehl/ Sammy, Discount Kit: https://x.com/SammyIsseyegh, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammyisseyegh/ Harel, EasyTeam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harel-ishay/ Emili, Zapiet: https://x.com/EmiliHorncastle, https://www.linkedin.com/in/emili-m-horncastle-2b8482231/ Timestamps (00:00) Cold open (02:05) Live at DotDev: intro (02:52) Ben Sehl and the future of Liquid (05:22) Back to the Future: why the direction shift (10:53) Why now: building for the agentic era (14:38) Craft vs productivity, and keeping DX at the core (16:42) Guidance and feedback: agents.md, design.md, and theme check (23:22) Partials: replacing the section rendering API (32:47) The Tailwind partnership (35:07) Arrays, Booleans, and the three-parser saga (41:13) Meet the Build Award winners: Discount Kit, EasyTeam, Zapiet (43:49) Their paths to winning and what sets each app apart (50:15) Zapiet's new physical store in a historic UK market town (53:25) Harel on betting early on Shopify POS (55:00) Sammy on building a Sidekick extension for Discount Kit (56:36) Emili on community, the epic party, and women in tech (1:00:21) What's next: UCP, POS, Shop Split, and Zapiet Eats (1:04:50) Wrap-up Resources DotDev: https://dotdev.shopify.com/ Ben's article on Liquid: https://x.com/benjaminsehl/status/2079633466581258469?s=20

July 23, 2026Episode 711 hr 5 min

Taylor Built a Full Shopify Brand with AI in One Afternoon

Episode 071 – Taylor Built a Full Shopify Brand with AI in One Afternoon Karl and Taylor compare how Claude, Codex, and Cursor behave differently when building Shopify discount and checkout UI extensions, and dig into why testing against a real dev store is still such a pain point. Taylor also walks through spinning up a complete fictitious coffee shop brand, theme, and metaobject data model with Claude Design and Claude Code for his recent DEV conference talk on metaobjects, and shares how a Shopify theme store change quietly broke his Shop Info app. Plus: a major new identity verification requirement for Shopify Partners requesting collaborator access, updates to app pricing limits and review policy, and this week's picks. --- Sponsor Shopify Partner Program / Shopify Supply Dev Mode collection – Shopify's apparel and gear line built for developers. Check it out at shopify.supply and get 15% off your first order with code LIQUID. --- Subscribe to Liquid Weekly Don't miss out on expert insights and tips—subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this: https://liquidweekly.com/ --- Timestamps 00:00 – Cold open: Shopify dev store UX rant 00:25 – Intro & welcome back 04:55 – Client work: rebuilding a Shopify Script as a Function overnight 06:04 – AI subscriptions: Claude, Codex, and Cursor compared 07:06 – Why Claude and Codex architect extensions so differently 13:21 – The case for ephemeral, on-demand dev stores 19:49 – Sponsor: Shopify Partner Program / Supply Dev Mode collection 21:01 – How the Shopify Dev MCP has improved over the past year 24:53 – Using Claude Design for client mockups and brand guides 27:07 – Does AI ever really "one-shot" a build? 29:08 – Building a fictitious coffee shop brand for a DEV conference talk 42:59 – Shopify breaks Shop Info's theme store tracking 48:26 – Taylor's whirlwind two-week conference plan 51:45 – Dev Changelog roundup 59:12 – Picks of the Week 1:04:46 – Wrap-up --- Dev Changelog ⚠️ Identity verification requirement for Shopify Partners - https://shopify.dev/changelog/identity-verification-for-partners – New identity verification (potentially photo ID or business details) is being required for partners requesting Collaborator access to stores. Action required, especially for agencies and support teams handling collab requests. App pricing updates - https://shopify.dev/changelog/app-pricing-more-plans-no-charge-plan-testing-and-negative-and-fractional-app-events – Public app plans increased from 4 to 8, private plans increased from 10 to 15 per app, plus new app billing events now supported via the API. App Store review policy update - https://shopify.dev/changelog/updated-app-store-requirements-13-always-use-honest-and-transparent-review-practices – Shopify is targeting incentivized and fraudulent review practices, with penalties including review removal, delisting, or partner account suspension. Also introducing logic to better detect fake/untrusted reviews. Shop Mini updates for June - https://shopify.dev/changelog/shop-minis-may-june-2026-update – Multiple updates worth checking out for anyone building Shop Minis. --- Picks of the Week Karl: His parents' basement – A nostalgia-fueled pick after finding childhood relics (cassette tapes, old CDs, toys, and even his original birth certificate) still sitting in storage. Taylor: Frankenmuth, Michigan - https://www.bronners.com – A small Bavarian-themed town home to Bronner's, a massive year-round Christmas store, and now an annual "Christmas in July" family tradition.

July 9, 2026Episode 7057 min

070 - How to Actually Win Shopify DotDev Week | Trudy MacNabb

Trudy MacNabb joins Karl and Taylor for a full DotDev week preview and a Toronto survival guide. If you're heading to Shopify's DotDev in July, this is your map: what's actually happening across the week, how to get around the city, where to eat, and which partner events are worth your time, including Brightwork, the Thursday event Taylor and SWYM are throwing to fill the gap left by Tectonic. And if you can't make it this year, Karl, Taylor, and Trudy walk through it so you can follow along from home. Sponsor The Support Heroes: https://www.thesupportheroes.com/ Subscribe to Liquid Weekly Don't miss out on expert insights and tips. Subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this: https://liquidweekly.com/ Find Trudy MacNabb Online Design Packs: https://design-packs.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudy-macnabb-7b19104a/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/dear_trudence Timestamps (00:00) Cold open (00:38) Intros and welcoming Trudy MacNabb (02:15) Trudy's background and the Co-Shopify blog (07:39) What to expect from DotDev week (08:47) DotDev overview: two days, plus Shopify Summit the same week (13:20) Tracking every event: SDA Toronto.dev and Pimsical (15:19) Trudy's Toronto guide: food, coffee, and the map planner (16:59) Getting around: biking, Bike Share Toronto, and e-bikes (22:23) TTC, tap-to-pay, and the Transit app (28:00) Airport to the city: Uber, the train, and the UP Express (33:43) Money tips: cards, foreign transaction fees, and cash (35:22) The partner events worth your time (Sunday to Wednesday) (41:53) Thursday: the SDA x SWYM run and Brightwork (42:25) Brightwork: filling the Tectonic gap at The East Room (47:38) The frat party and other after-hours events (52:00) Networking tips: don't sit alone, just say hi (55:21) Wrap-up: pace yourself and check the changelog Links & Resources SDA Toronto.dev, Taylor and Trudy's event and city guide with a map and agenda planner: https://sdatoronto.dev/ Pimsical events feed by Jordan Finneran: https://pimsical.app/events Bike Share Toronto and the Transit app for getting around: https://bikesharetoronto.com/ UP Express (Union Pearson Express) from the airport into downtown: https://www.upexpress.com/en Brightwork, Thursday at The East Room: https://brightwork.dev/ Luma event calendars from Joda: https://luma.com/shopify-partner-events

June 25, 2026Episode 6949 min

The Hidden Complexity of Going Global

Episode 069 – The Hidden Complexity of Going Global Karl and Taylor sit down with Kwadwo (Kojo) Adu, co-founder of LocaleFlow — a bootstrapped Shopify translation app built to help merchants expand into new markets without losing brand voice, SEO, or metafield data. Kojo shares how living in Barcelona as a Dane gave him firsthand empathy for the localization problem, why browser translation falls flat for real stores, and how LocaleFlow's multi-LLM pipeline handles everything from tone-of-voice preservation to currency "nice pricing." The episode rounds out with a Shopify dev changelog covering cart line keys, gift card currency support, and partner dashboard improvements, plus picks featuring a slick diff viewer, an agentic IDE, and a MagSafe truck mount.--- Subscribe to Liquid Weekly Don't miss out on expert insights and tips—subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this: https://liquidweekly.com/--- Find Kwadwo Adu Online Website - https://adu.dkLocaleFlow App - https://localeflowapp.com--- Timestamps 00:00 – Show intro; localization blind spots for US devs01:10 – Introducing Kojo Adu and LocaleFlow01:47 – Kojo's background: Copenhagen, Barcelona, e-commerce since 201003:22 – Taylor's Barcelona experience; why "everyone speaks English" isn't true05:20 – How Kojo got into Shopify development back in 201006:26 – Origin story: partner saw the problem daily, LocaleFlow was born09:38 – Market validation: start with someone who'll pay from day one13:05 – "Just use Google Translate" — why it breaks on real Shopify stores16:27 – How LocaleFlow handles the full translation stack19:16 – Multi-LLM pipeline, brand name blacklisting, tone-of-voice prompts22:42 – "Nice pricing" and currency conversion complexity across markets27:25 – Localizing metafields and metaobjects: the special sauce29:11 – Tech stack curiosity: PHP, Rails, and building with AI33:15 – First impressions of Fable, the new AI design tool35:27 – AI workflow philosophy: set guardrails, then let go37:24 – Agentic loops vs. human-in-the-loop in practice41:26 – Shopify Dev Changelog45:24 – Picks of the Week--- Dev Changelog - Cart lines now identifiable by view key - https://shopify.dev/changelog/cart-line-mutations-accept-view-key – The Cart Lines Update and Remove mutations now accept a view key to identify cart lines instead of relying solely on Shopify's generated line ID, giving developers more stable, predictable cart operations. - App quality checks moved to partner dashboard - https://shopify.dev/changelog/app-quality-checks-now-managed-in-partner-dashboard – App quality checks and action items are now managed directly under Distribution in the partner dashboard, replacing the previous email thread experience. - Local currency support for gift cards in GraphQL Admin API - https://shopify.dev/changelog/gift-card-local-currency-support - Gift cards can now be issued and managed in local market currencies via the GraphQL Admin API, a meaningful step for merchants running Shopify Markets internationally. - Headless checkout SSO parameter change - https://shopify.dev/changelog/headless-checkout-sso-is-now-documented-with-ssosilent – The query parameter for headless checkout single sign-on has changed from `logged_in=true` to `sso=silent`; update any headless implementations that reference this parameter.--- Picks of the Week Karl: CoDiff - https://github.com/nkzw-tech/codiff – A GitHub diff viewer Karl wants to try for reviewing the large, messy diffs that come out of agentic coding workflows.Kojo: Orca - https://www.onorca.dev/ – An agentic IDE that feels like a blend of Claude and Conductor; Kojo's current daily driver, with a particularly good mobile app.Taylor: Bullet Point Mounting Solutions - https://www.bulletpointmountingsolutions.com/ – A MagSafe vehicle phone mount Taylor installed in his truck; available on Shopify and highly recommended for anyone fumbling with their phone while driving.

June 17, 20261 hr 5 min

Shopify Just Rebuilt Webhooks (and a Lot More) | Eytan Seidman | Spring '26 Editions

Eytan Seidman, VP of Product at Shopify, returns to the Liquid Weekly Podcast for a special Spring '26 Editions walkthrough with Karl and Taylor. It is a full tour of what is dropping for developers: static app home extensions, the App Events API, AI Kit, Sidekick app extensions going GA, the ongoing Dev Dashboard overhaul, a rebuilt logging experience, UCP and agentic commerce, next-gen events replacing webhooks, and the shift from Managed Pricing to Shopify App Pricing. Basically a whole episode of changelog. A must-listen for app developers, agencies, and anyone building on the Shopify platform. Subscribe to Liquid Weekly Don't miss out on expert insights and tips. Subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this: https://liquidweekly.com/ Find Eytan Online LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eytanseidman/ X: https://x.com/eytanseidman See the Spring '26 Editions: https://www.shopify.com/editions/spring2026 Timestamps (00:00) Intro snippets (01:03) Intros and welcoming back Eytan Seidman (02:17) Static app home extensions: building apps fully on Shopify (08:08) App Events API: observability and monitoring in Dev Dash (13:03) AI Kit: store auth, store execute, and how it differs from MCP (17:54) Sidekick app extensions GA: data and app action extensions (25:21) Dev Dashboard overhaul: store and team management (31:34) Logging overhaul: API requests, filtering, and unified logs (35:40) Catalog improvements and the UCP CLI (38:16) Building carts across merchants with UCP (40:35) Agent to agent purchasing and accountability (44:04) Next-gen events: rebuilding webhooks (52:08) Shopify App Pricing: usage-based pricing and meters (58:27) Closing: what Eytan is most excited for devs to try (1:00:50) Picks of the Week Picks of the Week Taylor: A MagSafe power bank. After his recording died in the fourth inning of his daughter's softball game, he picked one up so he can hot-swap batteries mid-game and record full-length games start to finish. https://amzn.to/4vXCZAj Karl: Atkins chocolate truffles, found in the reduced aisle at Kroger. A cheap, high-protein, low-carb sweet that hits the spot if you are doing keto. https://www.kroger.com/p/atkins-endulge-dark-chocolate-truffles/0063748000511 Eytan: Two aviation books. Flying Blind by Dominic Gates, a Seattle Times reporter, on the 737 MAX and the fall of Boeing, tracing the program from the 1960s through the late 2010s: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55994102-flying-blind . And The Sporty Game, an older read on the early Boeing vs Airbus competition: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/312480.The_Sporty_Game

June 11, 2026Episode 681 hr 9 min

068 - Stop Blaming the Theme: What's Really Killing Your Shopify Store's Speed

Shopify performance specialist Izaac Barratt of Baseline Commerce joins Karl and Taylor for a deep dive into site speed optimization. The conversation covers the full spectrum from LCP and INP fundamentals to the real-world friction of app bloat, AI coding habits, and what actually moves the needle for conversion rates. A must-listen for any theme developer, app developer, or agency working with high-traffic Shopify stores. Sponsor The Support Heroes - https://www.thesupportheroes.com/?utm_source=liquid_weekly&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sponsorships Subscribe to Liquid Weekly Don't miss out on expert insights and tips—subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this: https://liquidweekly.com/ Find Izaac Barratt Online LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izaac-barratt — where he posts performance tips, resources, and his ongoing series on the nine performance fix buckets Baseline Commerce: baseline-commerce.com — Izaac's site speed optimization consultancy Timestamps 01:23 – Intros; welcoming guest Izaac Barrett 02:48 – Izaac's origin story: animation, Newgrounds, and e-commerce 05:36 – What drew Izaac to performance optimization 06:00 – First site speed project: 12 seconds to 2 seconds, conversion doubled 10:00 – LCP fundamentals: above-the-fold prioritization and perception 18:00 – Preloading, lazy loading, and how to get them wrong 20:43 – Liquid's preload tag, sections_index, and reducing JavaScript dependency 26:38 – Telling AI to prioritize HTML/Liquid and CSS over JavaScript 31:01 – Async vs. defer vs. render-blocking scripts explained 35:28 – Apps and performance: identifying problem apps, merchant conversations 39:15 – Advice for app developers on loading strategy and user interaction cycles 41:42 – INP (Interaction to Next Paint) explained: what it is and why it's hard to fix 43:30 – Shopify/research report: 34ms of INP = 3.5% drop in CVR 46:06 – How to debug INP: Chrome DevTools performance tab and CrUX data 53:20 – Izaac's LinkedIn series: nine buckets of performance fixes 56:17 – Dev Changelog 1:02:44 – Picks of the Week Dev Changelog - Next-Generation Events — Developer Preview: https://shopify.dev/changelog - ⚠️ Expiring Offline Access Tokens Required for All Public Apps — January 1, 2027: https://shopify.dev/changelog - Shop Minis — March/April 2026 Update: https://shopify.dev/changelog - Customer Account UI — Feature Preview: https://shopify.dev/changelog - App Home as a UI Extension: https://shopify.dev/changelog- llms.txt / agents.md in Shopify Themes: https://shopify.dev/changelog Picks of the Week Karl: The Dark Journey: The Tragedy of the Donner Party by Allan Eckert – A true history of the ill-fated 1846 wagon party, written by one of Karl's favorite frontier authors; dark but compelling, especially for history enthusiasts. https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Journey-Allan-W-Eckert/dp/1931672539 Izaac: Page Speed Impact Estimator fastersite.ai – A tool for estimating the performance gains of removing specific scripts and assets before actually doing the work; great for benchmarking and scoping conversations with clients. Taylor: The Will of the Many by James Islington – A sci-fi novel recommended by Taylor's brother (a bookseller); follows a teenager hiding his royal lineage in a Roman Empire-style society that literally harvests people's will to gain power. Book two also out. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58416951-the-will-of-the-many

May 28, 2026Episode 671 hr 9 min

067 - Preorders, Selling Plans, and AI Ops with Sandesh Kulai

In this episode of the Liquid Weekly Podcast, hosts Karl Meisterheim and Taylor Page are joined by Sandesh Kulai, founder of STOQ by Artos Software. Sandesh shares his journey from building early Shopify apps to working at Shopify, then returning to app development full-time with Artos Software. The conversation dives into the real complexity behind preorders, back-in-stock alerts, selling plans, deferred payments, storefront integrations, and supporting apps across a wide range of Shopify themes. Sandesh also gives a behind-the-scenes look at Engine Room, Artos Software’s internal AI-powered operations dashboard, and shares practical advice for app developers on treating the business itself like a product. STAY CONNECTED Subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more expert insights: https://liquidweekly.com/ EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Sandesh’s Shopify Origin Story Built for Shopify Recognition From Back-in-Stock to Preorders Selling Plans Beyond Subscriptions Why Preorders Are More Than a Button Change Storefront and Theme Support 24/7 Human Support Engine Room and AI Operations Building the Business Like a Product FIND SANDESH ONLINE & RESOURCES LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeshkini/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/heysandy801 STOQ: https://www.stoqapp.com/ STOQ on the Shopify App Store: https://apps.shopify.com/back-in-stock-restock-alerts TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Cold Open: Fighting Operational Slowdowns with Engine Room 00:52 - Introduction & Sandesh’s Birthday 03:02 - Built for Shopify Recognition at Editions.dev 07:50 - Rails, React, and the STOQ Tech Stack 08:52 - Sandesh’s Origin Story: Apps, Shopify, and Product Management 12:10 - From Restock Rocket to STOQ 13:36 - Why Preorders Are More Complicated Than a Button Change 15:16 - Selling Plans, Purchase Options, and Deferred Payments 18:38 - Deposits, Partial Payments, and Charging Customers Later 20:45 - Using Preorders and Waitlists for Better Inventory Decisions 21:36 - Conversion Analytics for Preorder Campaigns 24:32 - Listening to Merchant Feedback and Expanding Product Direction 28:12 - Supporting Storefronts, Themes, App Embeds, and Selectors 30:50 - Building 24/7 Human Support 33:01 - Scaling Support from Founders to a Team 39:58 - Engine Room: Artos Software’s Internal AI Dashboard 41:12 - Tracking Merchant Sentiment, Reviews, Web Vitals, and Escalations 44:15 - Using AI to Keep the Team Focused on What Matters 46:02 - Co-Founder Dynamics and Long-Term Partnership 52:47 - Advice for App Developers: Treat the Business Like a Product 54:13 - Shopify Dev Changelog Highlights 01:01:49 - Picks of the Week DEV CHANGELOG More admin intents now support Settings: https://shopify.dev/changelog/more-admin-intents-now-support-settings [action required] Ship and pickup in one order now available in feature preview: https://shopify.dev/changelog/ship-and-pickup-in-one-order-feature-preview [action required] App deployment in CI/CD is now available for all apps: https://shopify.dev/changelog/app-deployment-in-cicd-is-now-available-for-all-apps Publish and unpublish product variants independently from product: https://shopify.dev/changelog/publish-and-unpublish-product-variants-independently-from-product [action required] Bots and agents should identify themselves via Web Bot Auth: https://shopify.dev/changelog/bots-and-agents-should-identify-themselves-via-web-bot-auth Target discounts to specific markets: https://shopify.dev/changelog/target-discounts-to-specific-markets Shopify App Pricing: charge for usage, recurring subscriptions, or both: https://shopify.dev/changelog/shopify-app-pricing-charge-for-usage-recurring-subscriptions-or-both PICKS OF THE WEEK Karl: A retro Radio Shack 1680 chess computer from 1996. Sandesh: Setting up a Mac Mini to experiment with Hermes and personal AI agent workflows. Taylor: The SDA Toronto guide built with Trudy MacNabb for people heading to Shopify.dev, including events, restaurants, work spots, and local recommendations.

May 14, 2026Episode 661 hr 9 min

We Surveyed Shopify Developers — The Results Surprised Us

In this episode of the Liquid Weekly Podcast, hosts Karl Meisterheim and Taylor Page break down the results of the first-ever Liquid Weekly Shopify Developer Survey.They dive into who makes up the Shopify developer community—from freelancers and agency devs to app builders—and explore what developers are working on, what they want to learn, and what challenges they’re facing. The conversation covers the growing demand for AI workflows, ongoing struggles with Shopify’s rapid pace of change, and concerns around client acquisition in an evolving landscape. They also discuss the role of events like Shopify .dev, opportunities for community connection, and how Liquid Weekly can better serve its audience moving forward. Sponsor The Support Heroes - https://thesupportheroes.com/?utm_source=liquid_weekly&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sponsorships Timestamps 00:00 Introduction01:00 Survey Overview and Goals04:00 Who Responded: Freelancers, Agencies, and App Devs09:00 What Developers Are Working On (Themes vs Apps)12:00 Global Breakdown of the Shopify Dev Community17:00 Shopify .dev Attendance and Barriers (Cost, Travel, Visas)23:00 Community Events and Alternatives to .dev31:00 What Developers Want More Of (AI, Themes, Apps, Business)37:00 Staying Grounded Amid AI Hype40:30 Demand for Marketing and Client Acquisition Content42:45 What Developers Are Struggling With43:00 Keeping Up with Shopify’s Pace of Change48:00 AI Uncertainty and Productivity Pressure51:30 Client Acquisition and Pricing Challenges54:30 Dev Changelog1:01:30 Picks of the Week Resources State of JS Survey (Referenced concept): https://stateofjs.com/Shopify Developer Community Events (Various global meetups)Shopify Partner Dashboard (App submission updates discussed) Dev Changelog • New app submission experience in the Shopify Partner Dashboard (AI-assisted pre-checks and faster reviews) • Storefront Catalog MCP updated to support Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) • ⚠️ Action Required: Automatic CSS subsetting for stylesheet Liquid tag • ⚠️ Action Required: Deprecation of checkout metafields in favor of cart and order metafields • Expanded app uninstall reason options for better analytics • Analytics metrics now available via Admin GraphQL API • Multiple product discounts can now apply to a single cart line⸻ Picks of the Week Karl: Rebel Ice Cream – Keto-friendly, low sugar ice cream (surprisingly good, dangerously easy to overeat)Taylor: GitHub – Leveraging actions, PR templates, and workflows to improve dev productivity (despite recent hiccups)⸻ Sign Up for Liquid Weekly Don’t miss out on expert insights and tips—subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this:👉 https://liquidweekly.com

April 30, 2026Episode 651 hr 20 min

065 - From Themes to SaaS: Anne Thomas on Cart to Cart, Design Packs, and Community

In this episode of the Liquid Weekly Podcast, hosts Karl Meisterheim and Taylor Page are joined by Anne Thomas, co-founder of Design Packs. Anne shares her journey in the Shopify ecosystem, her recent foray into backend development with Supabase and Claude AI, and the launch of her new podcast, Cart to Cart. The conversation dives into the nuances of building with Shopify's flexible theme blocks, managing design systems, and the realities of using AI for coding and QA. Anne also discusses her community-building efforts with "Women Unified in Commerce". STAY CONNECTED Subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more expert insights: https://liquidweekly.com/ EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Anne's Background & Side Projects: From starting with Shopify themes in 2014 to building a horse-riding tracking app. Cart to Cart Podcast: Anne introduces her new podcast co-hosted with Trudy McNabb, Brenda Storer, and Diana Birsan. Women Unified in Commerce: Insights into the grassroots community meetups Anne and Trudy host in Toronto. Developer vs. Merchant Feedback: How the Design Packs team navigates and balances feedback. Theme Blocks & Design Systems: A deep dive into Shopify's flexible blocks, modern theme architecture, and CSS overrides. AI in the Dev Workflow: The realities of using AI tools like Claude and Cursor's Bugbot for writing code and PR reviews. FIND ANNE ONLINE & RESOURCES LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annethomas8/ Twitter(X): https://x.com/alfalfaanne Design Packs: https://design-packs.com/ Cart to Cart Podcast: https://cart2cartpodcast.com Women Unified in Commerce: LinkedIn Group TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction & Anne's Background 03:30 - Building with Supabase & Claude AI 08:40 - The "Cart to Cart" Podcast 30:30 - "Women Unified in Commerce" Meetups 37:50 - Balancing Merchant and Developer Feedback 43:30 - Navigating Shopify's Flexible Theme Blocks 50:15 - Design Systems & CSS Overrides in Themes 58:15 - AI Realities: Coding, QA, and Automated PR Reviews 01:09:40 - Dev Changelog Highlights 01:14:10 - Picks of the Week DEV CHANGELOG ActionBar removed on mobile: TitleBar primary action now renders as an icon button - https://shopify.dev/changelog/primary-action-icon-replaces-actionbar-on-mobile New CSS variable for mobile safe area insets - https://shopify.dev/changelog/new-css-variable-for-mobile-safe-area-insets Automated testing for Shopify UI extensions with @shopify/ui-extensions-tester - https://shopify.dev/changelog/automated-testing-for-shopify-ui-extensions-with-shopify-ui-extensions-tester New discount fields in the Storefront API's cart types - https://shopify.dev/changelog/new-discount-fields-in-the-storefront-cart-graphql-api Shopify AI Toolkit: Connect your AI tools to the Shopify platform - https://shopify.dev/changelog/shopify-ai-toolkit-connect-your-ai-tools-to-the-shopify-platform Shopify Scripts will be deprecated on June 30, 2026 - https://shopify.dev/changelog/shopify-scripts-will-be-deprecated-on-june-30-2026 (non-dev) Checkout Blocks: Order value limits available on all plans - https://changelog.shopify.com/posts/checkout-blocks-order-value-limits-available-on-all-plans PICKS OF THE WEEK Karl: Simple Truth low-carb crisp crackers and reading the book Dune. Anne: Swapping the morning doomscroll for a daily crossword puzzle. Try https://www.dictionary.com/games/crossword to start. Taylor: Taking the kids to see The Super Mario Bros. Movie.