Flow trigger from custom app doesn't show up in Flow

[Daniel_G]

Hi all

I made a dev store using the dev dashboard. Then I made an extension-only app using the CLI. I added a flow trigger, following the instructions at Create a Flow trigger using the simplest possible default settings.

But as much as I try, I can’t get the trigger to show up in Flow. I tried app dev, app deploy (no errors). Uninstalled and reinstalled. Same result.
When using dev, the flowTriggerReceive mutation works fine (no errors) if called from the localhost graphiql, but gives “Errors validating schema: Invalid handle ‘trigger’.” when called from the graphiql installed in the dev store.
The trigger shows up in the dev dahsvboard app/version page, but never in the Flow app.

The files package.json, shopify.app.toml, shopify.extension.toml are as defaults/docs.

Sidekick and dev assistant have been unable to find any errors with my setup.

Any help will be much appreciated.

[Paige-Shopify]

Hi Daniel,

How are you attempting to access the trigger in Flow?
I just followed the tutorial and found my trigger with these steps:
Flow app > Create workflow > Select a trigger > My app > My flow trigger

Regarding flowTriggerReceive mutation, you need to run that directly from the app that owns the trigger. In an extension-only app, you can achieve this through an Admin Action extension or an Admin Block extension.

[Daniel_G]

Hi Paige

Thanks for your help.

When I go ‘Flow app > Create workflow > Select a trigger‘ my app doesn’t show at all. The only apps I see are Shopify, Flow and Shop.

This is on a brand new dev store (advanced plan) that I generated just for this.

The app with the trigger shows as installed in Settings > Apps, and the trigger is listed in Dev Dashboard > App > versions > active > settings.

[paul_n]

Can you share your toml file config for the trigger? If you have a handle of “trigger”, it’s possible that your handle is a reserved word or something like that.

Also, are you sure that you are looking for a trigger in Flow and not an action? Triggers only show up when choosing a trigger. Sounds obvious but I’ve confused myself by looking under the action menu.

[Daniel_G]

Sure. The toml is:

[[extensions]]
name = “custom trigger”
handle = “custom-trigger”
type = “flow_trigger”
uid = “d5e372e3-ab0a-4ff1-7ba7-ac4c69027197b74be682”
description = “Your description”

[settings]

[[settings.fields]]
type = “single_line_text_field”
key = “customer”
description = “Customer name”

You can see that it shows in the dev details, but neither flow nor graphiql can see it.

Also tried other handles (“my-unique-custom-trigger“) to avoid reserved keywords, but got the same result.

Thanks for your help

[Pat_DoMore]

@Daniel_G I am having the exact same problem right now with my app. I have tried 20 different hypothesis to get the app to show up as an “Installed App” in the Flow Actions and just cannot get it to be visible.

Seems like people have been trying to fix this issue since 2023 in the discussion forums and nobody has responded with any concrete answer.

[Julia]

It sounds like a handle mismatch or schema issue. Make sure your trigger handle matches exactly in your code and shopify.extension.toml (only lowercase letters, numbers, underscores). Also, ensure the extension is fully deployed in the dev store and your app has the right Flow permissions. Sometimes a full app deploy after reinstalling the app fixes visibility in Flow.

[Meffer]

@Daniel_G, @Pat_DoMore I ran into the exact same problem, nothing worked.

By coincidence, I had a breakthrough today: when I create a new dev store, the Flow app is not installed by default. However, when I check older dev stores (from mid last year), Flow was installed by default.

In those older dev stores with Flow pre-installed, the trigger finally shows up and everything works as expected. I double-checked with two other stores - the only difference is the age of the dev store / whether Flow is pre-installed or not.

Just a guess, but it seems something broke after Shopify switched to the new development store creation process.

[paul_n]

@Meffer

Just a guess, but it seems something broke after Shopify switched to the new development store creation process.

So you are saying that in dev stores where you manually installed Flow, it’s not working?

[Meffer]

@paul_n

So you are saying that in dev stores where you manually installed Flow, it’s not working?

Yes, exactly! I don’t know if this is the root cause, but there is a difference between new dev stores (without Flow preinstalled) and older dev stores (where Flow was preinstalled) - everything else was the same in my tests.

[Brandonzoom886]

Any updates? Because I’ve had the exact same problem for days now

[Brandonzoom886]

I’ve been trying to get a Flow trigger extension to appear in Shopify Flow for days, but it simply won’t show up in the UI despite everything appearing correct on the backend.

What I’ve Tried

1. Extension Configuration (shopify.extension.toml)

[[extensions]]
name = "My Trigger V2"
uid = "bcef4bb4-2672-7e69-f1d1-fb9e899f072b190bfb10"
type = "flow_trigger"
handle = "my-trigger-v2"
description = "My Trigger"

[settings]
etc

2. Deployment Status

• Successfully deployed version flow-bridge-16
• Released to users
• Shows as “Active” in Partner Dashboard
• Extension appears in Dev Dashboard > Apps > flow-bridge (my custom app)
• When I click on the version, it shows “Flow triggers: 2” (I also have a test-trigger)

3. App Installation

• App is installed on dev store
• Can access the app’s admin panel
• App shows in Settings > Apps and sales channels

4. GraphQL API Testing

• Tried calling flowTriggerReceive mutation with:

  • Handle: my-trigger-v2 (real handle)
  • Handle: this-trigger-does-not-exist (fake handle)
  • Various payload formats (JSON string, simple objects)

• Result: Both real and fake handles return the SAME error:

  "Errors validating schema: Failed to parse payload"
  

• This means: The error occurs at the payload parsing level, before handle validation. Cannot definitively confirm if handle is recognized via GraphiQL.

• However: The extension DOES show as “Active” in Partner Dashboard with Flow trigger listed

5. What Doesn’t Work

• Trigger does NOT appear in Shopify Flow UI
• When I go to Flow > Create workflow > Select trigger
• flow-bridge app doesn’t appear at all
• Only see: Shopify (80), Flow (2), Shop (1)
• Searching for “My Trigger V2” returns nothing

What I’ve Already Tried

1. Multiple redeploys - Versions flow-bridge-12 through flow-bridge-16
2. Reinstalled app - Uninstalled and reinstalled from Partner Dashboard multiple times
3. Dev preview cleanup - Ran shopify app dev clean to ensure using released version
4. Package updates - Updated to latest @shopify/shopify-app-remix v3.x
5. Different field configurations - Tried with and without keys for reference fields
6. Test trigger - Created a second simpler trigger (test-trigger), also doesn’t appear

My Setup

• Shopify CLI: 3.90.0
• API Version: 2024-10
• @shopify/shopify-app-remix: 3.x
• App type: Full Remix app (not extension-only)
• Store: Dev store on Advanced plan
• Extensions: 2 Flow triggers defined

Questions

1. Has anyone else experienced this recently again?
2. Is there a workaround to force the trigger to appear?
3. Could this be related to how the app is installed (Partner Dashboard vs direct URL)?
4. Is there a delay I’m not aware of? (I’ve waited hours between attempts)
5. Who can I contact or is this a known issue being worked on?

TL;DR

Flow trigger extension is properly configured, deployed, and recognized by GraphQL API, but refuses to appear in Shopify Flow UI. Tried everything - is this a confirmed platform bug? Any help appreciated! I’m so desperate!

[Paige-Shopify]

Hi @Brandonzoom886, you’re at the correct place to report this issue.

I haven’t been able to replicate this issue at all. I’ve even attempted with a newly created development shop where I installed the Flow app after installing my own app.

The only time I thought I replicated this issue was when I was looking at that new development shop with shopify app dev running, and not the development shop that the app is linked to. In this case I simply had to run shopify app deploy to publish the new flow trigger extension for all my development shops.

If you have any ideas on what could contribute to this issue and how we can reproduce this issue, that would be incredibly helpful.

[paul_n]

These issues are hard to track down, but likely you have a setup issue somewhere, as opposed to a defect in the system.

I might start by creating a second trigger in the most vanilla way possible. It should show up if you do “shopify app dev”.

If that works, you have an issue with that trigger config.

If that doesn’t work, you have some other issue. A couple of possibilities: (1) your app using wrong API key for the shop, or (2) you have a trigger discovery webhook defined, but it’s not working correctly.

[Rehan]

Add me to the list of developers having this problem.

These are the exact steps I took to create a bare bones app to test custom flow triggers and actions:

1. shopify app init --name flow-test --template remix --flavor typescript --package-manager npm
2. shopify app generate extension → Type: Flow trigger → Name: Test trigger
3. shopify app generate extension → Type: Flow action → Name: Test action
4. shopify app deploy
   – after this, the trigger and action were listed on Partner Dashboard under the active version.
5. Set Distribution to Custom distribution and entered my dev store address
6. Installed the app in my dev store using the link provided at the end of the previous step
7. shopify app dev
8. In my dev store, I went to Flow → Create workflow → Select a trigger

In that last step, my app wasn’t listed. If I choose any simple trigger and then try to add an action, my app isn’t listed for actions either.

@Paige-Shopify Is there anything missing in these steps? Is there something else that needs to be done for the app to appear in Flow? Thank you.

[Paige-Shopify]

@Rehan, those are the correct steps.

What kind of shop are you testing on? Merchant or development? If this is a development store, could you check Developer Dashboard > Dev stores and confirm which plan is shown for the store where the app is installed?

[Rehan]

Thank you, that was indeed the problem - my dev store was on the Basic plan. When I test with a dev store on a Plus plan, I can see the custom triggers and actions.

I had another test app that didn’t have any Distribution method configured. And its custom triggers and actions didn’t show up in my initial dev store, either. So I guess unless the Distribution method is explicitly listed as Public, it’s considered a private app and its Flow extensions are only shown in a Plus store?

Thanks again for your help.

[Paige-Shopify]

Yeah that’s right. Glad you’re seeing your Flow extensions in the dev store on a Plus plan as expected

[Daniel_G]

How can I show Flow extensions on a custom/private app on an Advanced store (dev or production)?

Thanks

[Rehan]

@Daniel_G You can’t. “For apps, the primary difference is that if you have a custom app, your Flow app extensions are available only to a Shopify Plus store that has your app installed.” – About Flow

I tested my dev app with an Advanced store also, and the Flow extensions didn’t appear until I finally used a Plus store.

If the store can’t be changed to a Plus store, then you’d need to change your app distribution to Public, either Listed or Unlisted.