# Run a headless Shopify store

> Connect your Shopify store so Willo builds the storefront on your site, while Shopify keeps products, stock, shipping, tax and checkout.

Last updated: October 16, 2026

Source: https://www.willo.ai/docs/payments/run-a-headless-shopify-store

For physical products, Willo builds the shop on your site and Shopify runs the commerce behind it: products, prices, stock, orders, shipping, tax and checkout. Buyers browse and add to cart on your site, then pay on Shopify's own checkout. This is called a headless store.

## Before you start

- **The Shopify integration** comes with the Builder plan and up.
- **An owner or admin** of the business connects it.
- **A Shopify plan that includes the Storefront API**: Basic and up. See shopify.com/pricing for Shopify's prices.
- **Products in Shopify.** Add them, with prices, photos, stock, shipping and tax, in your Shopify admin. Willo can't create Shopify products for you.

## 1. Get a Storefront token from Shopify

1. In your Shopify admin, install the **Headless** sales channel. It is free and made by Shopify.
2. In the Headless channel, create a storefront.
3. Copy its **Storefront access token**.

It must be the Storefront token from the Headless channel. An Admin API token looks similar and won't work.

## 2. Connect it in Willo

1. In your business, open **Settings** in the left rail, then **Connections**.
2. Under **Commerce — Shopify**, enter your shop's domain, ending in `.myshopify.com`, and paste the Storefront token.
3. Click **Connect Shopify**.

Willo checks the token with Shopify, stores it encrypted, and rebuilds your storefront with your products, which takes about two minutes. The card then says **Connected**.

## 3. Shape the storefront

Ask Willo for the shop you want:

- "Add a Shop link to the navigation."
- "Show three of our candles on the home page."
- "Make the product page show the full description above the photos."

Willo can change how the shop looks: the product grid, each product page, the cart drawer, the **Add to cart** button, and anywhere products appear on your site. Until Shopify is connected, the shop pages exist on your site but are empty.

## 4. Check a purchase

Open a product on your site, add it to the cart and click checkout. You land on Shopify's checkout, where Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, shipping and tax are handled. Orders appear in your Shopify admin, not in Willo.

## Keeping the site up to date

Your site reads the catalog when it builds, so each product has its own fast page that shows properly when shared in messages and social posts.

- **Edits update automatically.** Willo checks your Shopify catalog about every 15 minutes and rebuilds the site when a product or collection changed. New products, price changes, new photos and unpublishing all come through this way. Expect an edit to be live within about 15 minutes, plus the couple of minutes a build takes.
- **Deletions need a rebuild.** Shopify gives no sign that a product was deleted, so click **Rebuild site** on the Shopify card after deleting one.
- **Want it now?** **Rebuild site** works any time, except within 5 minutes of the last rebuild, automatic or manual.

## What stays in Shopify

| To change | Go to |
| --- | --- |
| A price | Shopify admin → Products |
| A discount | Shopify admin → Discounts |
| Shipping rates or tax | Shopify admin → Settings → Shipping, or Taxes |
| The checkout page | Shopify admin → Settings → Checkout |
| Stock, orders, fulfilment | Shopify admin |

Willo reads your catalog to answer questions ("which products are out of stock?"), and never makes up a product, price or stock level.

## Stripe and Shopify together

They are independent. A business can sell physical products through Shopify and services through [Stripe](https://www.willo.ai/docs/payments/sell-something-with-stripe), each with its own checkout.

## Disconnecting

**Disconnect this Shopify store** on the Shopify card. To switch to a different shop, disconnect the current one first, then connect the new one.

Related: [Payments troubleshooting](https://www.willo.ai/docs/troubleshooting/payments#shopify), [Start taking payments](https://www.willo.ai/docs/payments/get-started).