Commerce for Browser

You are locked into Shopify architectural choices. Customization beyond their patterns requires deeper knowledge. Oxygen hosting limits deployment options.

The mental model shift from SPA patterns takes adjustment. Some React patterns do not translate directly. The ecosystem is smaller than Next.js.

Another service to manage and pay for. The schema learning curve is real. Heavy customization requires understanding Sanity Studio internals.

Occasional bugs with authentication flows. Resource usage can be heavy. Some advanced workflows still require manual setup.

The sandboxed environment limits what is possible. Some desired customizations are not supported by extension points.

Configuration complexity for advanced setups. Build step adds friction to the workflow. Large schemas generate large type files.

Node.js only. Some edge cases require diving into implementation details. Version updates can break existing apps.

Mostly maintained by one person. Shopify is moving to GraphQL-only, so older REST service classes are on their way out. It is the only serious option in .NET, which also means few alternatives.

Algolia is required and is a paid service beyond its free plan. No tagged releases, and commits are occasional. It is a starting template, so you own all updates once you fork it.

Only for theme development, not apps or Hydrogen. It runs alongside the Shopify CLI rather than replacing it, which means two dev processes. A small community.

It is a starter, not a product: no accounts, CMS or checkout of its own (checkout is Shopify's), so expect to build the rest. The README's setup assumes the Vercel CLI and Vercel environment variables, though plain .env works. Only the Shopify version is maintained by Vercel; other providers are community forks of varying freshness. Hydrogen is Shopify's own framework if you would rather stay in their stack.