Shopify App Development
Custom Shopify app development is the process of building an app for one store, to extend Shopify beyond what App Store apps provide. For subscription brands, this means delivery partner integrations that carry subscriber data, backend order automation, subscriber data tools, and third-party connections that no off-the-shelf app handles correctly.
When the App Store has nothing that fits, and stitched-together Zapier workflows are creating more problems than they solve, a custom app built around your subscription operation is the right answer.
Live Client: ChiDog
A custom app that picks up every subscription order and sends complete subscriber and pet data to ChiDog's delivery partner, automatically. Built alongside Recharge, not replacing it.
Trusted since 2013
0 Manual
Order processing steps after the ChiDog app went live
Since 2013
Building on Shopify
380+
Projects launched across Shopify and Shopify Plus
What We Build
These are the four kinds of app we build most often. Each one is built for a single store.
Backend apps that pick up each subscription order by webhook and send the complete record to your delivery partner or 3PL in the format their system reads. Subscriber data that Shopify doesn't send by default, such as pet dietary requirements, grind preference, subscription tier, or wine selection, is attached automatically. For ChiDog, pet profile data now travels with every order without a manual step.
Apps that listen for subscription events (new subscriber, renewal, cancellation, pause, skip) and trigger the right action in your CRM, loyalty platform, or ERP. They replace the daily routine of exporting, reformatting, and uploading orders, and they are built to run reliably at subscription billing volume, where Zapier-style workflows often struggle.
Embedded admin apps, built with Shopify App Bridge, that show a subscriber's order history, subscription details, delivery preferences, and external records in one view inside Shopify admin. Your support team can answer a customer without opening Shopify, Recharge, and your 3PL portal in separate tabs.
Apps that keep subscriber data consistent across Shopify, your subscription app, your CRM, and anything else connected. When a subscriber updates their delivery address in the portal, every system gets the change, so there are no stale records and no month-end reconciliation.
Live Custom App Build
Shopify + Recharge
ChiDog sells personalized pet food subscriptions. Each order carries the dog's breed, weight, dietary requirements, and portion size, captured in a quiz-based signup flow. Their delivery partner needed all of it attached to every order, in a format its fulfillment system could read. Standard Shopify order data didn't include it, no existing app connected Recharge to that delivery partner, and someone was processing orders by hand.
Every ChiDog subscription order now reaches the delivery partner with complete subscriber and pet data. Zero manual processing and zero data formatting errors. The fulfillment team receives complete orders, not a spreadsheet someone has to update before production can start.
Technical Stack
Every custom app we build uses Shopify's official APIs and development frameworks.
Read and write orders, customers, products, metafields, and subscription data
Custom storefront experiences, cart modifications, and subscription upsell flows
Event-driven triggers for order creation, subscription renewals, cancellations, and more
Embedded admin apps that live inside Shopify admin, with no separate login
Read and write subscriber data, subscription attributes, billing events, and renewal schedules
Subscriber management, subscription attributes, and integration with Appstle-managed billing
Custom discount logic, payment customization, and cart validation running server-side
Custom checkout components on Shopify Plus: upsells, fields, and validation at checkout
Why Codingkart
The ChiDog app fires on every subscription order, so we have already handled the edge cases that only show up in production. Subscriber profiles, custom options, renewal schedules, and tier pricing are the data we work with on every project.
Recharge and Appstle handle billing. Your custom app handles what they can't: delivery partner data, external system connections, and custom admin views. We don't duplicate billing logic your subscription app already handles.
Every custom app starts with a written scope of what data flows where and how errors are handled. No discovery fees, and a clear scope before any commitment.
How Projects Run
Five steps. Nothing starts until the data flow is fully mapped.
We document exactly what your app needs to read, send, and trigger, and what each connected system requires.
We review your subscription app, delivery partner API docs, and any existing integrations before writing any code.
Which APIs, which webhooks, how authentication works, and how errors are handled are all defined before development starts.
The app is tested against your staging store and test environments for all connected external systems before go-live.
We deploy to your live store, monitor the first production order cycle, and stay available for post-launch issues.
FAQ
A public app is listed in the Shopify App Store and any merchant can install it. A custom app is built for one store and is not listed anywhere. Shopify used to call these private apps. Every app we build is a custom app, made for your store and your subscription operation.
Yes, and alongside them rather than on top of them. The ChiDog app reads subscriber and pet data from Recharge via its API and combines it with the Shopify order before sending it on. We work with both the Recharge and Appstle data models and deliberately avoid rebuilding billing logic your subscription app already handles correctly.
It depends on how many systems the app connects and how complex the data is. The scope review is free, and you get a clear scope and price before you commit to anything.
A custom Shopify app takes about 2 to 4 weeks for a simple app (automating one task, like syncing orders to another tool), 4 to 8 weeks for a mid-size app (an admin screen inside Shopify plus a few integrations), and 3 to 5 months for a complex one (billing, large data syncs, or checkout and theme extensions). The exact time depends on your rules and integrations. We confirm it after a scoping call.
Related Services
Get Started
Describe the manual step your team is doing that should be automated, or the integration that no existing app handles. We'll tell you what a custom app would actually involve.
