Shopify Flow is Shopify’s built-in automation tool that lets you create workflows to automate repetitive tasks in your store without writing any code. It works on a simple trigger-condition-action model: when something happens (trigger), check if it meets certain criteria (condition), then do something automatically (action). Available on Shopify, Advanced, and Plus plans.
Instead of manually tagging customers, hiding out-of-stock products, or sending internal notifications, Flow handles it for you automatically.
Why It Matters
Running a Shopify store involves dozens of repetitive tasks every day. Tagging high-value customers, flagging suspicious orders, managing inventory visibility, notifying your team about events, and organizing products by sales volume are all tasks that eat hours of manual work each week.
Shopify Flow automates these tasks so they happen instantly and consistently. A human might forget to tag a VIP customer or delay hiding an out-of-stock product. Flow never forgets and never delays.
Flow turns manual store management into automated processes. The more workflows you create, the less time you spend on operations and the more time you have for growth.
How Flow Works
Every Flow workflow has three components.
Trigger. The event that starts the workflow. This can be a Shopify event (order created, product updated, customer created) or an event from a connected app. Triggers use webhooks under the hood.
Condition. An optional filter that checks whether the workflow should proceed. For example: “only continue if the order total is over $200” or “only if the customer has placed more than 5 orders.”
Action. What happens when the trigger fires and conditions are met. Actions can modify data in your store (tag a customer, hide a product), send notifications (email, Slack), or trigger actions in connected apps.
You can chain multiple conditions and actions in a single workflow, creating complex automation from simple building blocks.
Popular Shopify Flow Workflows
Tag VIP customers. Trigger: order created. Condition: customer total spend exceeds $500. Action: add “VIP” tag to customer. This automatically segments your most valuable customers for targeted marketing.
Hide out-of-stock products. Trigger: inventory quantity changed. Condition: total inventory is 0. Action: set product status to draft. This prevents customers from seeing products they cannot buy.
Flag high-risk orders. Trigger: order created. Condition: order risk level is high. Action: add “Review” tag and send Slack notification. This alerts your team before fulfilling potentially fraudulent orders.
Notify team of large orders. Trigger: order created. Condition: order total exceeds $1,000. Action: send email to sales team. This keeps your team informed about significant orders.
Auto-tag products by type. Trigger: product created. Condition: product type matches criteria. Action: add to specific collection and apply tags. This automates product organization.
Reorder notifications. Trigger: inventory quantity changed. Condition: inventory drops below reorder point. Action: send email to purchasing team. This prevents stockouts before they happen.
Flow vs. Third-Party Automation
Before Flow, store owners relied on third-party tools like Zapier, Mechanic, or MESA for automation. Flow has several advantages.
Native integration. Flow is built into Shopify, so it has direct access to store data without API limitations or data sync delays.
No additional cost. Included with Shopify, Advanced, and Plus plans. Third-party automation tools charge monthly fees.
Simple interface. The visual workflow builder requires no coding knowledge. Drag and drop triggers, conditions, and actions to create automation.
App connectors. Many Shopify apps now integrate with Flow, allowing you to trigger actions in external services directly from Flow workflows.
However, third-party tools still have advantages for complex multi-platform automation. If you need to connect Shopify with dozens of non-Shopify services, a tool like Zapier may provide broader integration options.
Getting Started
Access Flow from your Shopify Admin under Apps > Shopify Flow. Start with Shopify’s template library, which includes pre-built workflows for common automation scenarios. Customize the conditions and actions to match your store’s specific needs, then activate the workflow.
Test new workflows on a small scale before applying them broadly. Monitor the workflow history in Flow to verify automation is working correctly and adjust conditions as needed.
Start with one or two simple workflows that save you the most time. As you get comfortable, add more complex automation. Most stores can automate 5-10 hours of weekly manual work with Flow.
