I’ve tried to be patiente but this is absolutely ridiculous.
i been working on an orchestration PaaS for instant delivery. In the last 9 days alone, we closed 74 integrations with real last-mile inmediate operators, across 13 countries, no drama.
I built WooCommerce native plugins in a few hours.
Same with Wix app.
And here, with Shopify I wasted 8 full days (around 60 hours total), trying to do the simplest thing: display a minimal embedded UI in the Shopify admin.
What did step by step:
*Used the official CLI (shopify app dev) with Cloudflare Tunnel.
- Reset and regenerated app config multiple times.
- Implemented every session storage: Prisma, SQLite, Memory, same story every time.
- Re-read all the new “unified” documentation and cross-checked examples.
- Reinstalled dependencies, verified .env and host settings.
- Tested incognito sessions, different browsers.
- Followed advice from forum threads, even some from a few months ago.
- Tried every recommended “fix”.
What happens:
- Tunnel randomly returns 404.
- When it doesn’t, it explodes with “Please provide a valid session storage.”
- If you switch storage, you get a different error or blank screen.
- No consistent working reference. Everything feels half-baked or outdated.
- Any change forces a restart that sometimes breaks the flow completely.
Its honestly unbelievable that in 2025, a platform as big as Shopify can’t provide a working, reliable example to get an embedded app showing anything without 10 layers of trial and error.
Our solution was quite interesting embedded in the cart, orchestrating instant delivery at the best price from multiple providers in real time “already integrated and growing”. But to be honest, this platform makes it feel like a complete waste of time.
The docs are scattered everywhere like s…, examples contradict each other, and basic flows are broken out of the box.
I’m just putting this here as a warning for anyone considering investing serious dev time in Remix + Shopify: be prepared to lose weeks fighting random tunnel issues and inconsistent tooling.
If this is the “best developer experience,” I’m sorry but it’s not worth it.
At this point, we’ll probably move our clients with inmediate delivery orchestration needs, away from Shopify to WooCommerce where at least things work in predictable, documented steps.
Isnt about not knowing how to build apps, is about a platform that makes even a basic Hello World feel like a gamble.
If someone has a truly up-to-date, verified working repo or guide that actually produces an embedded app without random 404s, I’d appreciate it.
Otherwise, good luck to anyone else trying this.
