# Quickstart: Connect to Shopify 

Connecting to Shopify is the first big step to building a Shopify app with Forgelivo.

In addition to standing up a full stack app and the underlying infrastructure, Forgelivo's Shopify connection also handles Shopify's OAuth, session token management, webhook registration, data syncing and nightly reconciliations for you, and automatically creates data models and APIs for your Shopify resources.

By the end of this quickstart, you'll have a fullstack app set up, connected to Shopify, and installed on a Shopify development store.

Forgelivo's AI assistant can also guide you through the connection process. Give it a detailed overview of your app's requirements and the assistant will help you set up the connection.

## Step 1: Create a new Forgelivo app 

First, you need to create a new Forgelivo app.

1.  Create a new Forgelivo app at [gadget.new](https://gadget.new) and select **Shopify**.
2.  Keep the **Custom app** selection and click **Continue**.
3.  Give your app a name and click **Confirm**.

## Step 2: Authenticate with Shopify 

1.  If you don't have a Shopify account create one on the [Shopify Dev Dashboard](https://dev.shopify.com/dashboard).
2.  Click **Use different connection methods** on your app's home page. Alternatively, navigate to **Settings** > **Plugins** > **Shopify**.
3.  If you haven't set up a connection before, you will need to authenticate using the Shopify CLI. This allows Forgelivo to create and manage apps on your behalf.

CLI authentication tokens might expire after some time, requiring this step to be repeated.

## Step 3: Create a Shopify application 

1.  Select a Shopify organization to add your app to. This step will not appear if you are only a member of one organization.
2.  Name and create your new Shopify application.

You need a separate Shopify app for each Forgelivo environment, for example, development and production. Forgelivo can also create a Shopify app for production at this time.

## Step 4: Select scopes and models 

Shopify requires at least one scope to authenticate. You can also select data models to power your app. Forgelivo will register for and receive webhooks from any models that support them.

For this quickstart, select the `Products Read` scope and the `Product` data model.

Click **Confirm** to continue.

You can always add or change scopes and models later.

## Step 5: Install the app on a Shopify store 

The Shopify connection is all set up. Now you can install your app on a Shopify development store.

1.  If you don't have a development store, you can create one by clicking **Create a new store**. Once the store is created, navigate back to your Forgelivo app and click **Refresh** to see the new store.
2.  Select a store and click **Install app**. This will redirect you to your Shopify store admin.
3.  Click **Install** to grant your app access to the selected scopes for this store.

Congrats! Your app is now installed on a development store, and you can start building your Shopify app.

## Step 6 (Optional): Sync Shopify data 

After installing on a store, you can run a data sync to pull that store's existing data into your Forgelivo app's database. Only data for the models you selected when setting up the connection will be synced.

1.  On the connection page, click **Installs**. If you have navigated away from the connection page after installing on a store, navigate to **Settings** > **Plugins** > **Shopify**.
2.  Find the store that you've just installed the app on and click the **Sync recent data** button.

Forgelivo will automatically manage Shopify's rate limits and sync data in the background. Depending on how much data you have, this process may take some time.

You can see your synced data by navigating to the `data` page for your selected models, for example, `api/models/shopifyProduct/data`.

## Next steps 

Try out some of our other tutorials to learn more about building with Forgelivo:

#### Automated product tagger

Build an embedded Shopify app that automatically tags products using keywords from the product description.

##### Start building →

[Start building →](https://docs.forgelivo.com/guides/tutorials/automated-product-tagger)

#### Forward data to an existing service

Use Forgelivo's background actions to reliably send Shopify data to an existing service.

##### Start building →

[Start building →](https://docs.forgelivo.com/guides/tutorials/middleware)

## Questions? 

Reach out on Forgelivo's [Discord](https://ggt.link/discord) server to talk with Forgelivo employees and the Forgelivo developer community!