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The Wire · Showcase

SHOPIFY CLI KILLS THE ENV VAR GATE, EXTENSION-ONLY BECOMES THE DEFAULT

By RepoJournal · Filed · About Shopify

The HOSTED_APPS environment variable is gone, and the extension-only template is now the standard path for `shopify app init`, shipping without friction.

Shopify CLI just removed the experimental gate that was gating the hosted app template [1]. The extension-only template is now the default for the "none" option in `shopify app init` [2], which means developers no longer need to set environment variables to access this workflow. This simplifies onboarding and makes the extension-first pattern the primary path forward. In parallel, the team fixed a critical Windows + pnpm bug in the nightly build [3] where symlinks were dangling after initialization, forcing users to manually reinstall dependencies before shipping. That fix is now in the pipeline and blocks the 0.0.0-nightly release. The label cleanup [4] follows the same consolidation thread.

Action items

References

  1. [1] Merge pull request #7197 from Shopify/remove-hosted-apps-env-var Shopify/cli
  2. [2] Remove HOSTED_APPS env var and make extension-only template the default Shopify/cli
  3. [3] [Fix] Move scaffolded project to its final directory before installing deps in `app init` ↗ Shopify/cli
  4. [4] Remove custom label for extension only apps Shopify/cli

FAQ

What changed in Shopify on May 27, 2026?
The HOSTED_APPS environment variable is gone, and the extension-only template is now the standard path for `shopify app init`, shipping without friction.
What should Shopify teams do about it?
Verify extension-only template works in your local CLI before next app init • If running pnpm on Windows, pull the latest nightly build [ref:4] to avoid dangling node_modules symlinks • Remove any HOSTED_APPS env var references from internal docs and CI/CD
Which Shopify repositories shipped on May 27, 2026?
Shopify/cli

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