Shopify developer interview questions for remote roles
Shopify interviews are practical. Agencies and brands want to know you can build editable sections, work with metafields and the cart, keep a store fast and avoid breaking checkout. App roles add the GraphQL Admin API, webhooks and Shopify Functions.
These are questions we see often when agencies and brands interview remote Shopify developers, including those based in Nigeria.
Updated October 2026 by the WorkRemote careers team
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About the role and your experience
Openers that check you understand the job and have done the work.
Tell me about a store you built and the results.
Why they ask
They want proof of real work and commercial awareness.
How to answer
Pick one store: the brand, what you built, a technical challenge and a result such as faster load time, more add-to-carts or fewer support emails.
Why Shopify rather than general web development?
Why they ask
They want to know you are committed to the platform.
How to answer
Talk about enjoying work that directly affects sales, the platform's ecosystem and the clear path into apps, Plus stores and headless commerce.
Technical questions
What you know and how you'd do the work, often with a live task or test.
What changed with Online Store 2.0, and why does it matter to merchants?
Why they ask
It shows you build themes the modern way.
How to answer
Templates became JSON files that list sections, so merchants can add, remove and reorder sections on any page in the theme editor, not just the home page. App blocks let apps add content without editing theme code. Metafields can be connected to theme settings. It means less developer work for every small content change.
How do you build a section a merchant can customise?
Why they ask
The most common day-to-day task.
How to answer
Create a Liquid file in the sections folder with markup and a schema that defines settings (text, image, colour) and blocks. Add presets so it appears in the theme editor's "Add section" list. Use the settings in Liquid, keep CSS scoped, and test that it works when added several times on one page.
What is the difference between metafields and metaobjects?
Why they ask
Custom data is a constant client request.
How to answer
Metafields attach extra fields to an existing resource such as a product, collection or customer, like a care-instructions field. Metaobjects are custom content types with their own fields, like a "designer" with a name, bio and photo, which you can reference from many products. Both can be edited in the admin and used in themes.
How do you add a product to the cart without reloading the page?
Why they ask
Cart drawers and quick-add buttons are on almost every store.
How to answer
POST to /cart/add.js with the variant ID and quantity using fetch, then fetch the updated cart from /cart.js or use the Section Rendering API to re-render the cart drawer's HTML. Handle errors such as out-of-stock, update the cart count and keep the button accessible.
A product page loads slowly. What do you check?
Why they ask
Store speed affects sales and is a common reason clients hire developers.
How to answer
Measure with PageSpeed Insights. Check image sizes and whether the theme uses Shopify's image filters with proper widths and srcset, lazy-loads images below the fold, how many app scripts load, render-blocking CSS and JavaScript, and heavy Liquid loops. Remove unused apps, defer scripts and size images correctly.
Show a sample answerHide the sample answer
A US skincare client's product page scored 31 on mobile. Six apps were loading scripts on every page, including two review apps they had forgotten about. We removed four, loaded the review widget only when it scrolled into view, and served properly sized images with image_url widths. Mobile performance went to the high 70s.
How would you customise checkout today?
Why they ask
Many developers still think in terms of checkout.liquid.
How to answer
checkout.liquid is no longer supported for the information, shipping and payment steps, and it was sunset for the thank you and order status pages on 28 August 2025. Use checkout extensibility: Checkout UI extensions for adding content and fields, Shopify Functions for discounts, delivery and payment customisations, and branding settings for the look. Check which features the store's plan allows.
When would you use a Shopify Function?
Why they ask
Functions are how custom backend logic runs inside Shopify.
How to answer
When built-in settings cannot express the logic: custom discounts (tiered or bundle pricing), hiding or renaming delivery or payment options, cart and checkout validation. Functions run on Shopify's infrastructure as part of an app, so they are fast and do not need your own server at checkout time.
How do you handle GraphQL Admin API rate limits in an app?
Why they ask
Apps that sync lots of data hit limits quickly.
How to answer
The GraphQL Admin API limits by calculated query cost using a leaky-bucket model. Request only the fields you need, paginate with cursors, read the cost information in the response extensions, back off when throttled, and use bulk operations for large exports such as all orders.
How do you verify that a webhook really came from Shopify?
Why they ask
Unverified webhooks are a security hole.
How to answer
Compute an HMAC-SHA256 of the raw request body with your app's secret and compare it with the X-Shopify-Hmac-Sha256 header using a constant-time comparison. Use the raw body, not parsed JSON. Respond quickly and process heavy work in a background job, and make processing idempotent because webhooks can be delivered more than once.
A merchant wants to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify. What do you plan for?
Why they ask
Migrations are common, and SEO losses make clients angry.
How to answer
Products and variants, customers, order history, images and metadata; URL redirects from old WooCommerce URLs to Shopify's /products/ and /collections/ paths; SEO titles and descriptions; payment and shipping settings; apps to replace plugins; and a launch-day checklist with testing of real orders.
Behavioural questions
Past situations. Answer with a real example: what happened, what you did, what changed.
How do you handle a client who keeps adding "small" requests?
Why they ask
Scope creep is constant in agency and freelance work.
How to answer
Keep a written scope, log new requests, estimate each one and agree whether it is in or out of the current price. Stay friendly and clear.
Show a sample answerHide the sample answer
I keep a shared list. When a client asked for a wishlist feature halfway through a build, I wrote back: "Happy to add this. It's about six extra hours at our agreed rate, or we can schedule it after launch." They chose after launch, and it became my next paid job with them.
Situational questions
Hypotheticals about problems you'd meet in the job.
The client wants a feature that an app could do for $20 a month, or you could build. How do you advise them?
Why they ask
Agencies want developers who think about the client's costs and store speed.
How to answer
Compare honestly: app cost over a year, how much script it adds to the store, how much the feature needs to change in future, and your build cost. Recommend one and explain why in plain language.
A theme update from the developer would overwrite your custom code. What do you do?
Why they ask
A common real-world maintenance problem.
How to answer
Keep customisations documented and in Git, duplicate the theme before updating, compare changes, and re-apply custom sections and snippets carefully, testing on an unpublished theme first. Where possible, keep custom work in separate sections and snippets so updates are easier to merge.
Remote work questions
How you'll work from Nigeria with a team elsewhere: hours, power, internet, communication.
How do you support a US client during Black Friday from Lagos?
Why they ask
Peak sales periods happen on the client's time.
How to answer
Agree in advance which hours you will be on call, freeze non-urgent theme changes the week before, test the main purchase flows, and have backup power and a second internet connection ready. Lagos is five to six hours ahead of US Eastern time, so their evening rush is your night.
How do you keep an agency's project manager updated across time zones?
Why they ask
Agencies juggle many stores and need predictable updates.
How to answer
Daily written updates in their project tool, preview links to unpublished themes, short Loom videos for visual changes and estimates before starting any new task.
Remote interview tips
Many Shopify interviews include sharing a store you built. Prepare an unpublished theme preview link and a short video in case the store loads slowly on the call.
If they give you a test task, do it on a development store from your Partner account and send the preview link plus the code in Git.
Talk in the client's language. Mention conversion rate, page speed and merchant editing, not just Liquid tags.
Questions people ask
What is a typical Shopify developer test task?
Building a custom section from a design, adding a feature with metafields, or fixing a cart or variant bug on a test store. Expect two to five hours.
Do Shopify app developer interviews differ from theme interviews?
Yes. App interviews focus on React, Node.js, the GraphQL Admin API, OAuth, webhooks, Functions and app review rules. Theme interviews focus on Liquid, sections, CSS, JavaScript and performance.
Will Shopify agencies ask about Shopify Plus?
Often. Plus stores tend to be larger and pay better. Knowing checkout extensibility, Functions and B2B features helps.
Updated October 2026 by the WorkRemote careers team
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