Editor's Note
Shopify emailed partners on Jan 29 about upcoming updates to the Partner Program Agreement and API terms, effective Feb 27, 2026.
A lot of founders zoomed in on one line and panicked, especially anyone building AI features:
Use of merchant or customer data (including aggregated or derived forms) for AI or ML training or development is prohibited.
This issue is a quick, practical summary with the highlights, plus the one action to take this week. The full teardown with examples and a deeper analysis is on the site.
Hello Founders,
If your app touches AI, recommendations, checkout, or payments, read this one.
Here’s Shopify’s official FAQ and summary of the Feb 27 updates:
https://help.shopify.com/en/partners/help-support/faq/ppa
The highlights (what changed):
Shopify is updating Partner and API terms to support the upcoming launch of “agentic commerce”
The biggest change: restrictions on using merchant and customer data (including derived or aggregated data) for AI/ML training or development
New partner roles introduced (including Checkout Kit Developers and Platform Service Partners)
Shopify Checkout definition expanded to include Shop Pay and Checkout API flows
Billing transparency requirements: advance notice before price changes
Payment program: periodic compliance reviews and possible removal for non-compliance
Wind-down requirements for payment apps post-termination
What founders are saying (the real concerns)
Across LinkedIn, the themes are consistent:
The wording feels broad and people want clear do’s and don’ts
Fear that legit AI innovation like recommendations could slow down
Speculation that Shopify is building a moat for agentic commerce
Checkout and payments tightening feels intentional
Feb 27 looks like “terms first, features next”
What to do this week (no guesswork)
Run a quick AI data audit.
Write down:
what merchant/customer data you pull
where it is stored
whether any of it is used for “training or development” of AI/ML
whether it’s merchant-specific or cross-merchant
This single exercise will tell you if you have real exposure or not.
Are you solving meaningful problems for merchants?
The SaaS Hub is curating the top 10 apps in each category. If you’d like us to consider your app, you can submit it for our vetting and curation process here.
Coming Soon: Shopify App Founder’s Edition Podcast
This weekend, the first episode of our Shopify App Founder’s Edition Podcast will be aired, and we’d love if you can subscribe and watch the video once its live. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get notified once the episode is live here.
This is a featured section, and we have limited slots.
👉 You can apply here to get featured.
Till next time,