Question: Updating products with external API

Products and Orders APIs
1

Hi Folks,
I’m new to Shopify looking to have my details automatically update based on an external API and I’m curious what the best way to go about this is.

Questions:

  1. Does Shopify already offer a way to do this?
  2. Do I have to build my own app to achieve this?
  3. If I’m creating an app with a cron job that pulls from an external API and posts to a Shopify API, will this require me having any sort of hosting/servers
  4. Which Shopify API would be most appropriate for doing this?
  5. Best resources for achieving this?
  6. If I create an app do I have to make it available to others?
  7. Is creating an app for Shopify overkill? Would it be more efficient to just have a local running on my computer that runs daily?

I apologize if I’m asking in the wrong place or missed something obvious about where I can find this information. Any help is greatly appriciated!

2

I am unsure if something like Zapier would be sufficient there but you might check if making an app would be overkill.

You could use a custom app.

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/apps/app-types/custom-apps

3

Hi @Lovers_Audio ,

These are good questions, i think alot depends on the specific external API.

  1. maybe, try looking at Shopify Flow - Automate everything and get back to business | Shopify App Store which is a shopify app

  2. same answer, depends on the API

  3. Yes, you’ll need a server to host your application

  4. depends on what details you want to update

  5. https://shopify.dev/ there is an assistant in the search you could use

    04-43-108d3-uanzl
    04-43-108d3-uanzl1110×264 32.9 KB

  6. no, it can be a custom app

  7. it might, depends on what is available in the app store https://apps.shopify.com/.
    for this to run on your computer you would still need it to be at least a custom app