Install and connect

Connect your store from the Captain console, approve the app in Shopify, and the first import starts on its own.

You’ll need: a Shopify store on the Online Store sales channel, an invitation to install Captain Search, and a Captain Product Search tenant.

Before you start

A Shopify store on the Online Store sales channel.
A Captain Product Search tenant with the Shopify integration switched on. Captain switches it on per tenant.
An invitation to install the Captain Search app on the store. Ask the Captain team on Slack or by email.
Shopify staff permission to approve app installs and edit the theme.
An owner of your Captain organization, to create the storefront key later. You can also create that key through the API, on a server, with a write key for every index or the admin key.

Connect the store

The connection uses Shopify’s standard app approval (OAuth). Captain never asks for a Shopify password or an access token.

Open the Shopify card

In the Captain console, open Developers, then Integrations. On the Shopify card, select Connect.

Name the connection

In Name, enter a name for the connection, such as the store’s name.

Name the catalog

In New catalog name, keep shopify-products or enter a name no other catalog uses. You’ll paste this exact name into the storefront key and the theme setting later.

Choose how often to resync

In Sync every, choose 1, 6, 12 or 24 hours. This is how often Captain re-reads the whole catalog. The default is 6 hours.

Enter the store domain

In Store domain, enter the store’s myshopify.com address, for example your-store.myshopify.com.

Approve the app in Shopify

Select Connect with Shopify. In Shopify, review the permissions and approve the install.

Check the connection

Shopify sends you back to the Captain console. A green message reads “Shopify is connected. Your first import starts in a few minutes.”

The first sync starts on its own. The connection shows its status, product count and last sync in the console.

Each new connection creates a new catalog. Captain refuses a name that an existing catalog already has.

Next: turn on storefront search.

Permissions

The app asks for exactly these seven permissions. It doesn’t ask for customer records (read_customers), and it asks for no write access to products, orders or themes.

Permission	Why Captain needs it
`read_products`	Import products and variants, and receive product create, update and delete notifications.
`read_inventory`	Store stock levels and availability with each variant.
`read_orders`	Measure revenue from search. Captain reads new orders and the last 60 days of order history.
`read_publications`	Reserved. The current release checks Online Store publication from each product’s publish date.
`read_themes`	Reserved for theme setup checks. The current release doesn’t read themes.
`write_pixels`	Install the Captain web pixel, which reports page views, add-to-cart and completed checkouts. This is the only write permission the app asks for.
`read_customer_events`	Shopify requires it to run a web pixel.

Order access is protected customer data in Shopify. Captain requests order data without names, email addresses, postal addresses or phone numbers.