Integrating the Shopify GraphQL API with Laravel: Building Scalable E‑Commerce Features for Jaipur Startups

Jaipur’s startup ecosystem is booming, and many founders are turning to Shopify for its robust e‑commerce platform while keeping their core business logic in Laravel. By integrating Shopify’s GraphQL API with a Laravel backend, you can enjoy the best of both worlds: Shopify’s secure storefront and Laravel’s flexibility for custom workflows, automation, and AI‑driven features.

In this tutorial, we’ll walk through a complete integration—from setting up authentication to syncing products, managing inventory, processing orders, and deploying the solution on cloud hosting services. All code snippets are ready to copy into a fresh Laravel project.

Prerequisites

• Laravel 10+ installed (PHP 8.1+)
• A Shopify store with a private app or custom app enabled
• Composer and Node.js (for optional frontend assets)
• Basic knowledge of GraphQL queries and Laravel HTTP client

Step 1: Create a Shopify Private App

Log into your Shopify admin, go to Apps → Develop apps → Create an app. Choose Private app (if using the legacy method) or Custom app for newer stores. Note down:

• API key (API credentials)
• API secret key
• Admin API access token (generated after installing the app)
• Your store’s myshopify.com URL (e.g., my-store.myshopify.com)

Grant the app the following scopes:

• read_products, write_products
• read_inventory, write_inventory
• read_orders, write_orders
• read_customers, write_customers

Step 2: Store Credentials Securely in Laravel

Add the following entries to your .env file (never commit this file to version control):

SHOPIFY_STORE=my-store.myshopify.com
SHOPIFY_API_KEY=your_api_key
SHOPIFY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret
SHOPIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token

Laravel’s config/services.php can then reference these values:

'shopify' => [
    'store' => env('SHOPIFY_STORE'),
    'token' => env('SHOPIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN'),
    'version' => '2024-01', // API version
],

Step 3: Set Up a Laravel Service for GraphQL Requests

Create a service class to encapsulate all Shopify GraphQL interactions.

php artisan make:service ShopifyGraphQLService

Edit app/Services/ShopifyGraphQLService.php:

<?php

namespace App\Services;

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;

class ShopifyGraphQLService
{
    protected string $store;
    protected string $token;
    protected string $apiVersion;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->store = config('services.shopify.store');
        $this->token = config('services.shopify.token');
        $this->apiVersion = config('services.shopify.version', '2024-01');
    }

    /**
     * Send a GraphQL query to Shopify
     */
    public function query(string $query, array $variables = []): array
    {