Shopify stops running script tags on 1 March 2027: what store owners need to check

John Singh · 4 October 2026

On 1 March 2027, Shopify stops loading the scripts that apps add to storefronts through script tags. If an app on your store still works that way and hasn’t moved by then, whatever it does on your storefront stops working. You can usually see which apps are affected from your store’s own page source in a few minutes, without signing in to anything.

What’s changing

Shopify told app developers on 24 August 2026, in a developer changelog post: Script tags are deprecated and will stop running on March 1, 2027. In Shopify’s words, on that date “Shopify will stop injecting script tags into storefronts.”

Since 1 October 2026, apps can’t create or update script tags. The ones already on your store keep running until 1 March 2027. After that, according to Shopify’s documentation for developers, the script no longer loads, and any feature that depends on it stops working for that store.

The same documentation says Shopify had planned a banner warning store owners who install an app that still uses script tags, and has “decided not to show this banner for now”. When this was written there was also no post about it in Shopify’s changelog for merchants. Unless your apps tell you, you may not hear about it.

What a script tag is

A script tag is an older way for an app to add its JavaScript to your storefront without touching your theme’s code. It never appears in your theme editor, which makes it hard to see and control, and that’s Shopify’s stated reason for retiring it.

The replacement is an app embed. The app ships it in a theme app extension, and you switch it on in your theme editor, under App embeds, where you can see it and turn it off. An app that only collects analytics or conversion data can move to a web pixel instead, which needs nothing in your theme editor (the app may ask you to approve updated permissions).

Code pasted straight into your theme’s files isn’t a script tag, and neither are the pixels under Settings → Customer events. This change doesn’t touch them.

What stops working

Whatever the script does on your storefront: a reviews widget, a pop-up, a chat bubble, a size chart, an upsell, a tracking or affiliate tag. It depends entirely on the app.

Script tags have already stopped on one page. Shopify’s timeline for the Order status page ended them there on 28 August 2025 for Plus stores and on 26 August 2026 for every other store. If something disappeared from your Thank you or Order status page around then, such as tracking or an upsell, an app’s script tag is one possible cause. Another is the upgrade of those pages: 26 August 2026 was the deadline for stores below Plus, and the new pages don’t run Additional Scripts.

How to check your own store

Shopify doesn’t document this method, and says that part of a page’s code can change, but today a store’s public page source lists the scripts that apps load through script tags. You need a computer for this, and your home page is enough, because these scripts load on every page.

Open your store’s page source. In Chrome, Edge or Firefox, type view-source: in front of your store’s address, as in view-source:https://yourstore.com, and press Enter. In Safari, turn on Settings → Advanced → “Show features for web developers”, open your store, then choose Develop → Show Page Source.
Search the page (Ctrl+F, or Command-F on a Mac) for asyncLoad. If it isn’t there, your storefront most likely has no script tags left, and you’re done.
Just below it is a line starting var urls =, followed by a list of addresses. Each one is a script an app loads through a script tag. In the source, the slashes appear as \/, and each address usually ends in ?shop= and your store’s myshopify.com name. It looks like this:
```
function asyncLoad() {
  if (isLoaded) return;
  isLoaded = true;
  var urls = ["https:\/\/cdn.example-reviews.com\/widget.js?shop=yourstore.myshopify.com","\/\/app.example-popups.com\/load.js?shop=yourstore.myshopify.com"];
```
The addresses above are made up.
Match each address to an app. The address usually carries the app’s or its maker’s name; compare it with Settings → Apps in your Shopify admin. If one doesn’t match anything you recognise, it may be a custom app someone built for your store.
Open your theme editor (Online Store → Themes → Customize) and choose App embeds. Apps listed there already use the newer method. An app can appear in both places while it moves over.

What to do about each one

Ask the app. A short message is enough: “Your app still loads on my storefront through a script tag. Will it move to an app embed or a web pixel before 1 March 2027, and is there anything I need to do?”
Switch the embed on. When an app moves to an app embed, it stays off until you turn it on in your theme editor. It’s switched on per theme, so if you publish a different theme, for a sale for example, turn it on there too.
Check it shows once. Shopify warns that while an old script tag and its replacement both run, the script loads twice, which can count analytics events twice or show the app’s widget twice. Once the app removes its script tag, its address drops off the list.
Plan for the quiet ones. If an app is no longer updated, or nobody answers, plan to replace it before March. A custom app built for your store depends on how it was made: one built with Shopify’s developer tools can move to an app embed or a web pixel, but one created directly in your Shopify admin can’t use either, so Shopify’s advice is to move its script into your theme’s code, or for whoever maintains it to build a proper app. If a service had you create an app in your admin and paste a token into their dashboard, that service needs to release a real app.
Don’t rush it into Black Friday week. The date is 1 March, so December or January, after your sale, is a calm time to make the changes. The useful thing now is knowing what’s on the list.

If you’d like a hand

I take on selected work through freelance platforms, such as Upwork, with the scope, price and deadline agreed in writing on the platform before I start. I’m not taking direct orders or bookings through this site.

Sources

Shopify developer changelog, 24 August 2026: Script tags are deprecated and will stop running on March 1, 2027
Shopify developer documentation: Storefront script tags
Shopify developer documentation: Order status script tags

Checked against Shopify’s documentation on 4 October 2026. Not affiliated with Shopify.