How to Connect Shopify to Frontdesk
This guide walks you through connecting your Shopify store to Frontdesk so your AI receptionist can look up orders, check product availability, and answer customer questions about your store — all in real time.
No coding experience needed. Just follow the steps below.
What You'll Need
- A Shopify store (any plan)
- A Frontdesk account
- About 10 minutes
Step 1: Log into your Shopify admin
Go to your Shopify store's admin panel. The URL looks like:
https://admin.shopify.com/store/YOUR-STORE-NAME
You can also get there by going to shopify.com and clicking "Log in" in the top right.
Step 2: Go to Settings
Once you're logged in, click Settings in the bottom-left corner of your Shopify admin.
Step 3: Enable custom app development
- In Settings, click Apps and sales channels in the left sidebar
- Click Develop apps at the top of the page
- If you see a message saying "Allow custom app development", click it and confirm
- This is safe — it just lets you create private connections between Shopify and other tools like Frontdesk
Step 4: Create a new app
- Click Create an app in the top right
- Give it a name like "Frontdesk AI"
- Click Create app
Step 5: Set up the permissions (scopes)
This tells Shopify exactly what information Frontdesk is allowed to read. We only need read access — Frontdesk will never change anything in your store.
- Click the Configuration tab
- Under Admin API integration, click Configure
- Check the following permissions (all "read" only):
Admin API scopes to enable:
| Category | Permission to check |
|---|---|
| All orders | read_all_orders |
| Online Store Pages | read_online_store_pages |
| Orders | read_orders |
| Product feeds | read_product_feeds |
| Product information | read_product_listings |
| Products | read_products |
| Returns | read_returns |
| Shipping rates | read_shipping |
Customer Account API scopes to enable:
| Category | Permission to check |
|---|---|
| Customer | customer_read_customers |
| Orders | customer_read_orders |
| Quick Sale | customer_read_quick_sale |
- Click Save at the top right
Important: Only check the "read" permissions listed above. Do NOT check any "write" permissions. Frontdesk only needs to look up information — it will never modify your store.
Step 6: Install the app
- Go back to the Overview tab of your app
- Click Install app in the top right
- Click Install to confirm
Step 7: Get your credentials
After installing, you'll see your API credentials:
- Click the API credentials tab
- You'll see three things:
- Admin API access token — Click "Reveal token once" and copy it. Save this somewhere safe — you can only see it once!
- API key — Copy this
- API secret key — Copy this
You'll need the Admin API access token and your store URL for the next step.
Your store URL is your Shopify domain, which looks like: your-store-name.myshopify.com
Step 8: Connect to Frontdesk
You have two ways to do this:
Option A: Tell your AI agent (easiest)
- Go to app.myaifrontdesk.com and log in
- Click Ask Frontdesk in the left sidebar to open the AI chat
- Type something like:
"I want to set up a Shopify integration. My store URL is my-store.myshopify.com and my access token is shpat_xxxxx"
Your AI agent will configure everything for you automatically.
Option B: Set it up manually
- Go to app.myaifrontdesk.com and log in
- Click Receptionist in the left sidebar
- Scroll down to Developer Automations
- Click API Integration
- Click Add Workflow and fill in the following:
For looking up orders:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Request URL | https://YOUR-STORE.myshopify.com/admin/api/2024-01/orders.json?status=any&limit=5 |
| Request Method | GET |
| Header Name | X-Shopify-Access-Token |
| Header Value | Your Admin API access token (the one starting with shpat_) |
For looking up products:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Request URL | https://YOUR-STORE.myshopify.com/admin/api/2024-01/products.json?limit=10 |
| Request Method | GET |
| Header Name | X-Shopify-Access-Token |
| Header Value | Your Admin API access token |
Replace YOUR-STORE with your actual Shopify store name (the part before .myshopify.com).
You can also add variables under Required Information from Customer to let callers search by specific details. For example:
| Variable Name | Type | Question to Ask |
|---|---|---|
| order_number | Text | What is your order number? |
Then use it in the URL: https://YOUR-STORE.myshopify.com/admin/api/2024-01/orders.json?name={{order_number}}
What Frontdesk Can Do With Shopify
Once connected, your AI receptionist can:
- Look up orders — "Where is my order?" or "What's the status of order #1234?"
- Check products — "Do you have the red hoodie in stock?" or "How much does the starter kit cost?"
- Answer shipping questions — "How long does shipping take?" or "Do you ship internationally?"
- Check returns — "I want to return my order" or "What's your return policy?"
Troubleshooting
"Invalid API key or access token" error
- Make sure you're using the Admin API access token (starts with
shpat_), not the API key or secret - Make sure the app is installed (Step 6)
"Not found" error
- Double check your store URL — it should be
your-store-name.myshopify.com - Make sure you're using
admin/api/2024-01/in the URL path
Can't see the "Develop apps" option
- You need to be the store owner or have staff permissions that allow app development
- Go to Settings > Apps and sales channels > Develop apps and enable custom app development first
Need Help?
If you get stuck, just open the chat on app.myaifrontdesk.com and say "I need help setting up my Shopify integration" — our team will walk you through it.