Shopify's n8n Nodes vs. HTTP Requests: Why I Build It Myself
If you've used n8n's built-in Shopify nodes, you've probably hit the same wall I did! They work great for basic stuff like grabbing an order or updating inventory. But the moment I needed to created a product with multiple variants & variant images, set metafields, or dynamically assign the product to a collection, I was stuck. The alternative is HTTP Request nodes with Shopify's REST or GraphQL API. For beginners it can be scary, but I found a great workaround solution to learn and solve the issues you need to. 1. Visit the shopify API docs (https://shopify.dev/docs/api) 2. Open a Claude conversation or similar LLM. 3. Begin to talk to about the problem you need solved, and take the findings and use them to chat with the built-in shopify api expert agent. It knows more than your LLM will ever know about how to set this kind of thing up. 4. Slowly iterate and learn and build your steps! Here is an example of a workflow that provides real value and saves about 25 minutes of work per run. It takes a form submission, pulls product info from Salesforce, and automatically creates fully-configured Shopify products — complete with size variants, images, pricing, and collection assignment. All through HTTP nodes, all reliable. If you want to see how to structure Shopify API calls in n8n without losing your mind, this is a good place to start.