In this episode of the Liquid Weekly Podcast, hosts Karl Meisterheim and Taylor Page break down the results of the first-ever Liquid Weekly Shopify Developer Survey.They dive into who makes up the Shopify developer community—from freelancers and agency devs to app builders—and explore what developers are working on, what they want to learn, and what challenges they’re facing.

The conversation covers the growing demand for AI workflows, ongoing struggles with Shopify’s rapid pace of change, and concerns around client acquisition in an evolving landscape.

They also discuss the role of events like Shopify .dev, opportunities for community connection, and how Liquid Weekly can better serve its audience moving forward.Sponsor

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Timestamps00:00 Introduction01:00 Survey Overview and Goals04:00 Who Responded: Freelancers, Agencies, and App Devs09:00 What Developers Are Working On (Themes vs Apps)12:00 Global Breakdown of the Shopify Dev Community17:00 Shopify .dev Attendance and Barriers (Cost, Travel, Visas)23:00 Community Events and Alternatives to .dev31:00 What Developers Want More Of (AI, Themes, Apps, Business)37:00 Staying Grounded Amid AI Hype40:30 Demand for Marketing and Client Acquisition Content42:45 What Developers Are Struggling With43:00 Keeping Up with Shopify’s Pace of Change48:00 AI Uncertainty and Productivity Pressure51:30 Client Acquisition and Pricing Challenges54:30 Dev Changelog1:01:30 Picks of the WeekResourcesState of JS Survey (Referenced concept): https://stateofjs.com/Shopify Developer Community Events (Various global meetups)Shopify Partner Dashboard (App submission updates discussed)Dev Changelog

• New app submission experience in the Shopify Partner Dashboard (AI-assisted pre-checks and faster reviews) • Storefront Catalog MCP updated to support Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) • ⚠️ Action Required: Automatic CSS subsetting for stylesheet Liquid tag • ⚠️ Action Required: Deprecation of checkout metafields in favor of cart and order metafields • Expanded app uninstall reason options for better analytics • Analytics metrics now available via Admin GraphQL API • Multiple product discounts can now apply to a single cart line⸻Picks of the WeekKarl: Rebel Ice Cream – Keto-friendly, low sugar ice cream (surprisingly good, dangerously easy to overeat)Taylor: GitHub – Leveraging actions, PR templates, and workflows to improve dev productivity (despite recent hiccups)⸻Sign Up for Liquid WeeklyDon’t miss out on expert insights and tips—subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this:👉 https://liquidweekly.com