Shopify glossary

Plain-language definitions of the Shopify and e-commerce terms that matter: Liquid, Online Store 2.0, Checkout Extensibility, Shopify Functions, Markets, Core Web Vitals, and more.

Shopify Liquid

Liquid is Shopify's open-source templating language. It is the backbone of Shopify themes, used to load dynamic store data (products, collections, cart) into HTML at render time.

Online Store 2.0

Online Store 2.0 is Shopify's theme architecture built around sections and blocks that merchants can add, remove, and reorder in the theme editor, with metafields for structured content.

Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus is Shopify's enterprise tier. It unlocks Checkout Extensibility, Shopify Functions, B2B, Expansion Stores, and higher API limits for high-volume merchants.

Checkout Extensibility

Checkout Extensibility is Shopify Plus's modern, upgrade-safe way to customize checkout using checkout UI extensions and Shopify Functions, replacing the legacy checkout.liquid and Checkout Scripts.

Shopify Functions

Shopify Functions let developers customize backend logic (discounts, delivery and payment options, validation) with code that runs on Shopify's infrastructure, replacing legacy Scripts.

Storefront API

The Storefront API is Shopify's GraphQL API for building custom and headless storefronts, giving full control over data fetching and the shopping experience outside the standard theme.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is Shopify's React-based framework for building headless storefronts on the Storefront API, typically deployed on Shopify's Oxygen hosting.

Shopify Markets

Shopify Markets is Shopify's built-in toolset for international selling: multiple currencies, languages, localized pricing, and per-region settings managed from a single store.

Metafields and Metaobjects

Metafields add custom fields to Shopify resources like products and collections; metaobjects define custom, reusable data structures. Together they model bespoke store data without custom apps.

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are Google's user-experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (loading), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness), and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability). They influence rankings.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the practice of improving how search engines crawl, index, and render a site: canonicals, crawl budget, structured data, site speed, and clean information architecture.

Headless commerce

Headless commerce decouples the storefront (frontend) from the commerce backend, connecting them via APIs like the Storefront API. It trades simplicity for full control over the user experience.