The new Collection Sources API gives partners a more flexible way to build merchandising experiences in Shopify. In GraphQL Admin API 2026-07, collections can combine multiple sources, target specific variants, reference other collections, and include shareable sources authored by apps. For partners, this creates a new way to build directly into Shopify’s native merchandising model.
For most of Shopify’s history, collections fit into one of two models: custom collections, where merchants manually chose products, or smart collections, where conditions populated products automatically. That model helped millions of merchants merchandise their catalogs, but it also forced tradeoffs.
Merchants wanted collections that combined automation with curation. Partners had product signals merchants wanted to use, but no clean way to contribute those signals to a native Shopify collection. A merchandising app, subscriptions app, or reviews app might know exactly which products belonged in a collection, but the old model left limited choices: take over the whole collection, continuously rewrite product lists, or render a separate collection-like experience outside Shopify.
What’s new
A source-based collection model. Collections are no longer limited to the old smart and custom split. A source adds products or variants to a collection. Sources can include products with automated conditions, manual selections, exclusions, other collections, and shareable app-owned sources. That means a merchant can build a collection from conditions, refine it by hand, exclude specific products or collections, and layer in app-owned sources without maintaining separate lists.
Variant targeting. Collections can now target specific variants, not just whole products. Merchants can feature exact variants in a collection instead of entire products.
Collections as building blocks. A collection can reference another collection as a source, so parent collections stay in sync as source collections change.
Shareable app-owned sources. Apps can publish shareable sources that merchants add to native Shopify collections. This gives partners a cleaner way to bring app intelligence and workflows into Shopify’s merchandising model while leaving merchants in control of the final collection.
Build collections that match merchant intent
Good merchandising is rarely fully automated or fully manual. Merchants want conditions that keep collections current as their catalog changes, plus control over what appears first, what gets featured, and what should be excluded.
The new source-based model lets partners build workflows that combine both. A June Sale collection can include products with a sale price, exclude a certain category, and still include a few specific products by hand. A campaign builder can generate a collection from conditions, then let the merchant curate hero products. An AI-assisted merchandising tool can suggest a source that merchants review and add to a collection they control.
This gives partners a stronger foundation for campaign builders, merchandising tools, and AI-assisted collection creation.
Target exact variants, not just products
Many merchandising moments happen at the variant level. A merchant may want to feature certain color variants, extended sizes, clearance variants, in-store-only variants, or products made from a specific material. Showing the full product when only one variant belongs can create a confusing shopping experience: wrong swatches, misleading price ranges, inaccurate filters, and too many choices on the page.
With variant targeting, partners can help merchants create more precise experiences. A Valentine’s Day collection can only include red variants. An extended-size promotion can target only XS and XXL variants. A POS-only collection can include only the variants staff need to find quickly in store.
For storefront, search, filter, and theme partners, variant-aware collections create new opportunities to make collection pages more accurate and useful.
Use collections across the business
Collections are not only storefront merchandising tools. Merchants also use product groups in discounts, tax overrides, shipping workflows, catalog operations, and other parts of the business. When those workflows depend on separate product lists, merchants have to maintain the same logic in multiple places. That creates drift.
The new collections model makes collections more useful as shared business primitives. A collection built around specific variants can support a storefront campaign and a discount. A collection used for an internal workflow can stay unpublished to buyers. A collection built from conditions can keep downstream workflows aligned as products change.
For partners building discount apps, Functions apps, shipping apps, catalog management apps, and enterprise integrations, collections can now carry more of the merchant’s intent.
App sources in collections
Apps have always had merchandising intelligence merchants wanted to use. A reviews app knows which products are highly rated. A subscriptions app knows which products are eligible for Subscribe and Save. A search app knows what is trending. Previously, apps had no clean place to put that intelligence inside a Shopify collection.
With the new model, partners can create and update shareable app-owned sources. Merchants decide where to use those sources, and can combine them with their own conditions, manual selections, exclusions, collection references, and sort order.
Shopify evaluates the combined sources, exclusions, collection references, and variant targeting as catalog data changes, so apps don’t need to continuously rewrite merchant-owned product lists. That frees your app to focus on the intelligence, workflows, and experiences you build on top.
What partners should do next
The new collections model is available in GraphQL Admin API 2026-07. Existing custom and smart collections continue to work, and apps can migrate incrementally.
Important: API versions before 2026-07 can’t represent new-model collections, and these collections are filtered out. If your app reads, writes, renders, syncs, or checks collection membership, update to 2026-07 so your app can stay aligned with collections merchants create going forward.
Start with the developer docs:
What’s next
Collections are becoming a more flexible merchandising foundation for Shopify.
For merchants, that means more ways to build collections that match their strategy, stay current as their catalog changes, and connect to the workflows that run their business.
For partners, it means a new opportunity to build smarter collection tools, bring more intelligence into native collections, support variant-aware storefronts, and help merchants drive business workflows with collections.
Build with the new model, tell us where you need more flexibility, and show us what you create.
