Switching Shopify Developers Without Losing Your Store
Switching Shopify developers is usually a decision made after months of slow replies, missed deadlines or a relationship that simply ran its course. The switch itself is where stores get hurt. Lost theme code, a custom app nobody can update, a domain registered to the old agency. This checklist covers what to collect, in what order, and what to check before you remove anyone's access.
It is written for founders and ecommerce managers on Shopify who are about to change developer or agency, or who have already decided and want the handover to go cleanly. None of it needs technical skill. Most of it needs a list and a couple of hours.
Should you tell your current developer before you have everything?
Collect what you can yourself first, then tell them. That is not about distrust. Most developers hand over professionally. The point is that some things only you can check, and it is much easier to ask for the missing pieces when you already know exactly what is missing.
Start with what you can see from your own Shopify admin without asking anyone:
- Settings, then Users. Every staff account and every collaborator account, with what each one can access.
- Apps. Every installed app, including any custom apps, and which ones you actually pay for.
- Online Store, then Themes. Which theme is live, how many copies sit in the theme library, and whether any are connected to GitHub.
- Settings, then Domains. Which domains are connected and whether they were bought through Shopify or elsewhere.
Write it all down in one document. That document becomes the handover checklist you share with both the old and the new developer.
Are you actually the owner of your Shopify store?
Check this before anything else, because it decides who controls everything else. The store owner has the widest control over the account, including transferring ownership, and Shopify's ownership documentation is clear that only the current store owner can change or transfer ownership.
Stores built by an agency are sometimes created from the agency's own account and handed over later, or not handed over at all. If the owner listed on your store is a developer, an agency email or a former employee, sort that out first, while everyone is still on good terms. The same Shopify page notes that a custom domain bought for the store has to be transferred to the new owner as well.
Beyond the Shopify account itself, confirm who owns the accounts the store depends on:
- the domain registrar account, if the domain was not bought through Shopify
- the email address the store sends from, and its DNS records
- payment gateway accounts such as Razorpay or Cashfree
- Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Merchant Center and Meta Business accounts
- shipping, WhatsApp and email marketing platforms
Each of these should be registered to a company email you control, not to a developer's personal address. If any are not, ask for them to be moved, or for admin access to be added to your email, before the switch.
What should you collect from your old Shopify developer?
Four things, in this order of importance.
1. The live theme, as a file. Your theme lives in your admin, so you are not dependent on the developer for it. Even so, download a copy of the published theme on the day you start the switch. Shopify's guide to downloading themes explains where the option sits, and points out an important limit: a theme download does not include your products, collections, menus, pages, blog posts or the files in Content, then Files. It is a copy of the code and settings, not a backup of the store.
If your developer worked through GitHub, ask for access to the repository, or for it to be transferred to your company's GitHub account. A connected theme shows its repository and branch on the theme card in your theme library, so you can see whether this applies to you.
2. Custom app code and where it runs. This is the item most often lost. If a developer built a custom app for your store, whether for a special discount, an ERP sync or a checkout rule, the code and the hosting usually sit in the developer's accounts, not in your Shopify admin. Ask three questions: where is the code, where does it run, and which account manages the app itself. Shopify's help pages on custom apps note that apps are now created and managed from the Dev Dashboard, and that older custom apps created in the admin before 1 January 2026 are still managed from the admin. Either way, you need to know which it is.
3. Integration details. For every connection to an outside system, such as an ERP, warehouse, marketplace, WhatsApp provider or accounting tool: which app or service handles it, which account it runs under, and any API keys that were created for it.
4. Notes on anything unusual. Metafields that power parts of the theme, scheduled jobs, Shopify Flow workflows, redirects added for SEO, and any workaround that a new developer would not guess. Even a rough list from the old developer saves the new one days.
How should access be handed over without breaking the store?
Overlap first, remove last. The new developer gets access and reviews the store while the old developer can still answer questions. Only when the new team has confirmed they can see, understand and change everything do you remove the old access.
Agencies and freelancers who are Shopify Partners normally request access as collaborators. Shopify's collaborator account documentation covers the details that matter here:
- You can require a collaborator request code, set in the Security section of the Users page, so nobody can request access without it.
- Generating a new code stops any old code from working, which is a simple step to take when you change developers.
- Collaborators do not count towards your store's staff limit, so giving the new team access does not mean paying for extra seats.
- Removing a collaborator is permanent and cannot be undone. That is another reason to remove old access last, once you are sure you no longer need it.
Give the new developer only the permissions the first phase of work needs. You can add more later. That is far easier than working out afterwards who changed what.
What should you check after the old developer's access is removed?
Removing access is not the last step. Some things keep running under the old developer's name after their account is gone, and some stop working because they depended on it.
Work through this list in the days after removal:
- Custom apps and API keys. Any app or key the old developer created should be reviewed. Keys that are no longer needed should be removed, and keys that are still needed should be rotated so only the new team holds them.
- Integrations. Place a test order and follow it through every connected system: payment, inventory, shipping, ERP, WhatsApp notifications and email.
- Staff accounts. Some developers use staff accounts rather than collaborator accounts. Check the full Users list again, not just collaborators.
- Theme editor access. Make sure the person on your team who edits banners and sections can still do so. Some stores quietly relied on the developer for every change.
- Billing. Look at your Shopify bill and app charges. Apps installed for a project that ended often keep billing.
If you have not reviewed your installed apps recently, the switch is a good moment to do it. Our guide to auditing your Shopify app stack walks through what to keep and what to cut.
What if the old developer will not cooperate?
It happens, usually over an unpaid invoice or a disagreement about scope. Separate what you control from what you need from them.
What you control, without their help, if you are the store owner: your theme, which you can download from your admin; your store data, which stays in Shopify; staff and collaborator access, which you can remove; and the collaborator request code, which you can regenerate.
What you may need from them: custom app code, the hosting account for that app, a GitHub repository, and any third party accounts registered to their email. If they will not hand these over, the practical route is usually to rebuild what cannot be recovered rather than to wait. A custom app with no available code can be rebuilt from how it behaves, and it is often a chance to simplify it. Our breakdown of custom app development costs in India covers how that work is scoped.
If you are not the store owner and the owner will not transfer the store, contact Shopify Support. That is an account question, not a development one.
How do you brief the new Shopify developer?
Give them the handover document and ask them to read the store before they change anything. A good new developer will spend the first days reviewing, not building. Expect questions about:
- which parts of the theme are custom, and which are the original theme
- what every installed app does and whether it is still used
- which integrations are business-critical and cannot go down
- what the brand team edits themselves, and what always needed a developer
- what broke recently, and what has always been fragile
Then ask for a short written review before any new work starts: what they found, what is risky, and what they would fix first. That review tells you more about the new developer than any proposal did, and it becomes the baseline for everything they do next.
If the reason for switching was that the store kept breaking, or that small changes took weeks, say so plainly. The new developer needs to know which problem they are being hired to solve. Our list of signs a Shopify store needs an agency may help you put a name to it.
How long should a Shopify developer handover take?
For most stores, the collection and access steps take days, not weeks. What takes longer is the new developer understanding the store well enough to change it safely, and that depends on how much custom work exists and how well it was documented.
A store running a standard theme with light customisation and well-known apps is quick to take over. A store with custom apps, an ERP connection and years of undocumented theme changes needs a proper review period before anyone should be editing code on the live theme. Build that review time into your plans, especially if the switch lands close to a sale or festive season.
Want a second pair of eyes on your handover?
When we take over a Shopify store from another developer or agency, we start the same way every time: a review of what exists before we touch anything.
Free handover review. Get in touch or email hello@exactwhy.com with the subject "Developer handover", and tell us what your store runs on and why you are switching. We will reply within 4 hours with what to collect before you change anything, and what to watch for once you do.
Store takeover. If you want us to take over, we begin with a written review of your theme, apps, integrations and access, then agree what to fix first. No changes to your live store until you have seen that review.