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For a new Shopify checkout UI extension, use Shopify’s Polaris web-component model and the framework Shopify recommends for the current API version, Preact. React-wrapped UI components remain relevant when you must maintain an extension on API version 2025-07, the last version Shopify documents as supporting them. From API version 2025-10 onward, Shopify uses web components by default. Treat an upgrade as a platform migration—not a markup-only rewrite—because dependencies, TypeScript settings, hooks, metafields, and extension APIs may all need review.
What changed, and what should you choose?
Shopify has moved checkout UI extensions from a React-component model to custom elements based on Polaris web components. The practical choice is now governed first by your extension’s API version, then by how much existing code you need to preserve.
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- Starting a new extension: target the latest API version supported by Shopify, use Polaris custom elements, and follow Shopify’s current recommendation to use Preact for UI extensions on API versions 2025-10 and later.
- Maintaining a legacy extension: React wrappers can remain appropriate while the extension is pinned to API version 2025-07, provided that version still meets your operational needs.
- Upgrading from an earlier version: plan a migration that covers code, dependencies, hooks, metafield access, TypeScript, and local testing before you publish.
Do not start a new project on a legacy React example merely because its syntax is familiar. Shopify’s versioned documentation and migration guidance should determine the API version and authoring model you adopt at implementation time.
React support is tied to the API version
Shopify’s 2025-07 UI-component reference identifies that release as the last API version supporting React-based UI components. That is a version boundary, not a promise that React components will continue to work on later versions. An extension pinned to 2025-07 and an extension targeting 2025-10 or newer are making different platform choices.
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Shopify’s migration guidance says API version 2025-10 and later use web components by default. Because Shopify can revise supported versions and deadlines, check the current extension documentation before setting a new project’s api_version. The latest supported version at the time you create or upgrade the extension is the safer starting point than copying an older tutorial.
| Decision axis | React-based components | Polaris web components with Preact |
|---|---|---|
| Documented version support | API version 2025-07 is the last version Shopify documents as supporting React-based UI components. | Web components are the default from API version 2025-10 onward. |
| Authoring model | Shopify React component wrappers and a React extension entry point. | Shopify custom elements such as <s-checkbox> and <s-button>; Shopify recommends Preact for newer UI extensions. |
| Best fit | Maintaining an extension that must stay on an older API version. | New extensions and upgrades that can move to the current API version. |
| Migration impact | Existing React markup and React-specific dependencies. | Markup conversion plus review of dependencies, hooks, APIs, metafields, and TypeScript configuration. |
| Styling and rendering boundary | Runs inside Shopify’s checkout-extension environment. | Runs inside the same environment; custom elements do not provide unrestricted checkout DOM or CSS access. |
| Performance and accessibility evidence | Shopify describes the newer model as offering benefits, but no controlled head-to-head benchmark is supplied. | Shopify describes native elements with built-in accessibility and better performance; treat those as Shopify’s claims rather than independent measurements. |
How the two authoring models differ
React wrappers and the React entry point
The older pattern lets you import Shopify-provided components into React and start the extension through Shopify’s React extension entry point. Your component tree, state handling, event wiring, and any React hooks follow the conventions your team already uses. This can reduce short-term change for an existing codebase, but it ties the extension to the legacy API-version path.
React familiarity does not remove Shopify’s runtime restrictions. The extension still renders only at an approved target, receives only the APIs granted to that target, and cannot reach into the surrounding checkout page as if it were an ordinary React application.
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Polaris custom elements
The newer model exposes Shopify elements directly in the extension markup. A checkbox, button, text field, banner, or layout element is represented by a Shopify custom element—for example, <s-checkbox> or <s-button>—rather than a React wrapper. Shopify’s component-specific migration material covers more than 60 component pages, including Button, Checkbox, TextField, Banner, and View; Shopify reported that count on May 13, 2026. It is a count of guides, not a count of supported components, merchants, or extensions.
Shopify recommends Preact for UI extensions on 2025-10 and later. Preact provides a component-oriented way to compose the custom elements without requiring the older React component package. Shopify also documents a JavaScript route, so Preact is a recommendation rather than the only possible implementation language.
What does not change
Changing the renderer does not turn checkout extensions into unrestricted web pages. Shopify supplies the elements and controls their presentation. Your extension cannot override a UI component’s CSS, access the real checkout DOM, or render arbitrary HTML. You can render the custom HTML elements Shopify makes available and use the APIs exposed for the selected target.
Eligibility and extension targets matter before framework choice
Checkout extensions for the information, shipping, and payment steps are available only to Shopify Plus stores. A framework decision cannot make those targets available on a store that does not meet Shopify’s eligibility rules.
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The target also determines where the extension appears and which APIs it receives. Before converting a component, verify the target’s current documentation and the API version you intend to use. A migration that compiles but moves a component to a target with different capabilities can still fail at runtime or produce an unusable checkout experience.
- Confirm that the merchant’s store is eligible for the checkout step you need.
- Confirm the extension target and its supported APIs.
- Confirm the API version before selecting examples or dependencies.
- Design within Shopify’s supplied elements and styling boundary.
When React is still a reasonable choice
React is a maintenance choice, not the forward-looking default. Keeping an existing extension on 2025-07 can be sensible when a release must be stabilized before a larger migration, when a dependency has not yet been replaced, or when the business cannot accept a coordinated API-version change. Document that decision and monitor Shopify’s support guidance rather than treating it as a permanent exemption.
React is not a drop-in option for a new extension on API versions after 2025-07. If your project requires a later API version, plan for web components and adapt the component tree accordingly. Do not mix assumptions from a 2025-07 React example with a 2025-10-or-later configuration without checking the matching documentation.
How to migrate a React checkout extension
Shopify’s migration guidance covers upgrades from versions earlier than 2025-10. The sequence below keeps the version change, code conversion, and behavioral verification separate so that failures are easier to diagnose.
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- Choose the destination API version. Set the extension to the latest supported version you have verified in Shopify’s current documentation. If the destination is 2025-10 or later, plan to adopt web components rather than carrying forward the React component package.
- Read the component-specific migration material. Identify the guide for each component you use. Shopify’s migration pages can differ by component, so avoid assuming that converting one wrapper establishes the correct attributes, events, or value handling for all others.
- Update dependencies. Remove or replace packages that exist only for the React component model, add the dependencies required by the selected newer setup, and regenerate the lockfile. Review peer-dependency warnings instead of suppressing them.
- Adjust TypeScript configuration. Where the project uses TypeScript, apply the configuration changes required by the newer extension setup. Check JSX or custom-element typing, module resolution, and build output as one change; a successful type check alone does not prove that the extension can render in checkout.
- Replace the entry point. Move away from the React-specific extension entry point when the destination model requires it. In a Preact implementation, mount the Preact tree that renders Shopify custom elements; in a documented JavaScript implementation, follow Shopify’s current bootstrap pattern.
- Convert component markup. Replace React wrappers with the corresponding Shopify elements. For example, a wrapper representing a checkbox becomes an
<s-checkbox>element, and a button wrapper becomes an<s-button>element. Recheck each element’s attributes, event names, value types, disabled state, and accessibility-related properties against its current guide. - Rewrite hooks and data access. Audit every convenience hook. Shopify notes that simple read and write operations may use the global
shopifyobject in the newer model. Do not mechanically rename hooks: verify the current API, permissions, target support, and asynchronous behavior for each operation. - Handle metafields explicitly. Shopify’s guide calls out the 2026-04 change from the deprecated
metafieldsproperty toshopify.appMetafields. Search the entire extension—including types, helpers, tests, and documentation—for the old property and update code to the current API before you test. - Review extension APIs. Compare every API call with the destination version. A component migration can expose unrelated version changes, so verify that checkout data, validation, navigation, and any target-specific capability are still available and authorized.
- Review the generated diff. Shopify recommends reviewing automated migration changes. Have a developer who understands both the old behavior and the new custom-element model inspect the diff for accidental attribute changes, event loss, removed error states, or altered loading behavior.
- Run the extension locally. Exercise the actual target in a development checkout. Test initial rendering, user input, validation, loading and disabled states, API errors, navigation, and any data persistence. A build that passes locally outside checkout is not enough.
- Publish only after a target-level check. Confirm the merchant eligibility, target placement, API version, and production configuration. Keep the previous release and a rollback plan available until the upgraded extension has completed its first production checkout tests.
Markup conversion is not a mechanical search-and-replace
React props and custom-element attributes can look similar while behaving differently. During conversion, verify the contract for each component rather than translating camelCase names by guesswork.
- Values: check whether the element expects a string, boolean, number, or structured value, and how an unset value is represented.
- Events: confirm the event type and payload exposed by the custom element. A React callback prop is not evidence that the native event has the same name or shape.
- Controlled state: test both user changes and programmatic updates. A field that appears correct on first render can still fail when checkout data changes.
- Validation: preserve error, warning, and loading states and verify that they are announced and displayed at the intended target.
- Composition: check nesting and slot or child-content rules for the custom element. Layout elements may impose constraints that a React wrapper previously hid.
Use Shopify’s component-specific pages as the source of truth for each element’s current attributes and events. The existence of a similarly named React component does not establish API compatibility.
Hooks, APIs, and metafields deserve their own migration pass
Hooks often combine rendering with access to checkout data or extension capabilities. When the newer model favors the global shopify object for simple reads and writes, separate those concerns: keep rendering in the component layer and verify data access against the target’s current API contract.
Make a checklist of every hook and API call, then record its replacement, required permission, target availability, and error behavior. This catches failures that a visual component review misses, such as a button that renders correctly but no longer submits a change.
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Performance and accessibility: what can safely be claimed?
Shopify describes the later web-component model as using native elements with built-in accessibility and better performance. Those statements explain Shopify’s design rationale, but the available material does not provide a controlled, head-to-head benchmark against React wrappers. Do not publish a numeric speed improvement, a measured bundle reduction, or an accessibility score unless you have independent, reproducible measurements.
You can still test meaningful outcomes in your extension:
- Measure initial render and interaction timing in the actual checkout target you support.
- Exercise keyboard navigation, focus movement, labels, validation messages, and disabled states.
- Test on the devices and network conditions relevant to the merchant’s customers.
- Record the API version, target, build, and test conditions so a future Shopify version change can be compared fairly.
Keep the distinction clear: Shopify supplies accessibility behavior in its elements, while your extension remains responsible for correct labels, state, content, and event handling.
Common migration failures and how to recover
The extension still imports React components
Cause: The code was converted partially, or the project is targeting a version whose default model no longer matches the imported package.
Fix: Confirm the API version, replace the React entry point and wrappers as required, update dependencies, and rebuild from the matching component guides.
The build passes, but a control does nothing
Cause: An event name, payload, or controlled-value pattern was carried over from the React wrapper.
Fix: Inspect the custom element’s documented event contract, log the received value in a local checkout, and test both user and programmatic updates.
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Cause: A convenience hook or target-specific API was assumed to have an equivalent replacement.
Fix: Map the operation to the current shopify API or documented capability, verify permissions and target support, and handle rejected or delayed operations explicitly.
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Metafields are empty or undefined
Cause: Code still reads the deprecated metafields property after moving to a version that uses shopify.appMetafields.
Fix: Update runtime code, types, fixtures, and tests together, then verify the app metafield configuration in the development store.
The UI cannot be styled as designed
Cause: The design assumes access to checkout’s real DOM or the ability to override Shopify component CSS.
Fix: Rework the design using the styling and layout options exposed by the supplied elements. Arbitrary HTML, unrestricted CSS, and direct checkout-DOM manipulation are outside the extension boundary.
The extension appears on the wrong checkout step
Cause: The target or store eligibility was not checked during the upgrade.
Fix: Verify the target configuration, the merchant’s Shopify Plus eligibility where required, and the APIs available to that target before changing component code again.
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Choose web components and Preact when
- You are creating a new checkout UI extension.
- You can target API version 2025-10 or later.
- You want to follow Shopify’s current component and framework guidance.
- Your team can budget time for dependency, hook, API, and test updates.
Keep React temporarily when
- The extension is stable on API version 2025-07.
- A short-term release must avoid a coordinated migration.
- You have documented the support and upgrade risk and scheduled a review of Shopify’s current version policy.
Plan a migration immediately when
- You are starting work from an older tutorial or template.
- Your extension must move beyond API version 2025-07.
- You rely on deprecated properties, undocumented hooks, or styling assumptions that conflict with Shopify’s extension limits.
For a technical lead, the key planning unit is not “number of components.” Count the behavioral surfaces: targets, APIs, hooks, metafields, validation paths, asynchronous actions, and production test scenarios. That inventory gives a more realistic migration estimate than counting JSX files.
Testing checklist before release
- Destination API version is recorded and supported by the current Shopify documentation.
- React-only entry points and component dependencies have been removed or intentionally retained for a documented 2025-07 deployment.
- Every converted custom element has verified attributes, events, values, labels, and disabled or loading states.
- Hooks and direct API calls have been mapped to the destination model and target.
- Metafield access uses the property required by the destination version, including the 2026-04 change where applicable.
- TypeScript and build configuration pass in a clean install.
- Local checkout testing covers successful input, validation errors, API failures, slow responses, navigation, and reloads.
- Keyboard and assistive-technology checks cover every interactive control.
- The extension is tested at its real information, shipping, or payment target.
- Production rollback and post-release monitoring are ready.
Bottom line for Shopify developers
Shopify’s current direction is clear: build new checkout UI extensions with Polaris web components, using Preact where Shopify recommends it for API versions 2025-10 and later. React remains a legacy maintenance path tied to API version 2025-07. If you migrate, change the API version and rendering model together, then audit dependencies, TypeScript, hooks, metafields, target APIs, and behavior in a real checkout. The result should be judged by compatibility and tested user outcomes—not by an assumed benchmark or by how closely the new markup resembles the old React tree.
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