Partner API + Fetching Dev apps

Dev Platform
1

We use the Partner API to fetch data by app ID, but recently with the new Dev Platform seeing that unless you take an action on the app via the non-dev platform (e.g setting a distribution) then the api returns null for a query by app via the Partner API.

Are there plans to add this to the partner API?

2 Likes
2

Hey @simon :waving_hand: thanks for flagging - just want to clarify, is this the flow you’re seeing?

  1. Set up an app in the Dev Dashboard or via the CLI
  2. Don’t set a distribution choice
  3. Take an action on a shop with the app installed
  4. Query the app via the Partner API and a null response is returned?

Just want to see if I can replicate the behaviour you’re seeing so I can check this internally. Hope to hear from you soon!

4

Hey @Alan_G !

Thanks for the reply - flow is pretty much this:

  1. Create app via dev dashboard
  2. Take no actions on the partner dash for apps (don’t request scopes, don’t set distribution etc)
  3. Query the Partner API for the app

Query:

{
  app(id:"gid://partners/App/xxx") {
    id,
    name
  }
}

Response:

{
    "data": {
        "app": null
    }
}

Installing on a shop seems to change nothing, but the minute you make/save a request via the partners dashboard (set protected data access, distribution, anything that seems to save against the app it seems)

Tested this on 2024-10, 2025-04, 2025-07, and unstable gets the same results.

While it’s likely that you would select a distribution or protected data before we need to make a request to list the apps, it can throw you off a bit if we’re returning null when looking up an app id that exists, but we can’t find.

Let me know if I can provide any more info!

6

Yes, right now the apps must be distributed before they are accessible via the Partners API. I’m curious if you could share more about how you’re using the API for apps that aren’t distributed.

7

Hey @TerenceShopify !

We’re only really using it for public distributed, and they do need to be public distribution for us if they’re using billing (would be a rare case at best to be tracking a custom app).

But it was just a bit of a disconnect at first if you create an app in dev, and then go through an add it to Mantle (we then query for it, and if not found you get an error), so then seeing the error it’s not immediately clear what’s gone wrong, and we can’t say for sure whether it’s a distribution or it actually doesn’t exist.

It’s certainly a nice to have, but it would be helpful to still see the dev dash apps somehow, and perhaps distribution so we can make that flow a bit nicer. It added a bit of user confusion to the flow as it’s not really a normal flow for a lot of devs to create their app, and then immediately select distribution - especially if they’ve used the cli to create it.

Something that we can use to identify that it exists but needs distribution, or something that prompts app devs to select a distribution earlier would be super helpful here I think!

8

Can the Partner API also be used to fetch a list of apps connected to a partner account?