Gadget, a development platform used widely for Shopify apps and integrations, is shutting down. Apps on the platform keep running until March 31, 2027. After that, they stop.
If your store depends on anything built on Gadget, you have a migration ahead of you. This guide covers what happened, what it means for your business, how to choose a Gadget alternative, and how to plan the move without breaking orders along the way.
What happened and what it means for you
Gadget was popular for a reason. It synced a store's Shopify data into its own database and handled the hard parts of building on Shopify: authentication, webhooks, data sync and nightly reconciliation, background jobs, and hosting. Agencies used it for client back-ends. App developers used it for public apps. Brands used it for custom integrations with ERPs, POS systems, warehouses, and internal tools.
All of that now needs a new home.
What you need to know
Your apps won't break today. Nothing changes until March 31, 2027. There's no reason to panic, but there's no reason to wait either.
The real deadline is earlier than March 31. Count backward. You need time to rebuild, test against real orders, run old and new systems side by side, and cut over. For most stores, that means building has to start in January, and planning has to start now.
January 1, 2027 is a separate deadline. Shopify requires public apps to use expiring offline access tokens by January 1, 2027. After that, requests made with non-expiring tokens get authentication errors. Gadget has been migrating shops automatically, but if you're rebuilding a public app elsewhere, your new build needs to handle expiring tokens from day one.
Gadget handled things your new setup must handle. When you leave, you're not just moving code. You're taking back responsibilities Gadget ran for you:
- Shopify authentication and token refresh → your own OAuth flow and token management (including expiring tokens)
- Webhook registration and delivery → webhook subscriptions, retries, and handling for missed events
- Syncing Shopify data into a database → a data store, sync logic, and nightly reconciliation to catch gaps
- Background jobs and queues → a queue system with retries and alerting
- Hosting and scaling → infrastructure, monitoring, and someone on call when it fails
In my experience, that last one is the one most teams underestimate. Code is the easy part. Operating it is the hard part.
How it impacts your business
The impact depends on what you built. Here's how to think about it.
Integrations (order, inventory, fulfillment, customer sync). Highest risk. If an ERP or 3PL sync stops, orders stop shipping and inventory drifts. These are business systems, not side projects. Move them first.
Custom apps and admin tools. Medium risk. Product quizzes, bundle builders, custom admin screens, and internal dashboards stop working on March 31. Some can be replaced by an existing Shopify app. Others need a rebuild.
Public apps (if you sell an app on the Shopify App Store). High risk for your revenue. Your merchants depend on you. A rebuild also needs to meet App Store requirements, including expiring tokens.
Agency-built client back-ends. If an agency built something for you on Gadget, ask them today what their plan is. If they don't have one, you need one.
The hidden costs to plan for:
- Data you can't get back. Export what lives in Gadget's database before you need it.
- Undocumented logic. Apps built fast, including AI-assisted builds, often hold business rules nobody wrote down. Read the code before you rebuild.
- Double running costs. You'll pay for old and new systems during the overlap. Budget for it.
- Peak-season risk. A cutover that slips into a sale period is a bad cutover.
Your Gadget migration plan
1. Inventory everything (this week). List every app, integration, and back-end on your Gadget account. Note who built it, who owns it, and what it does. Include the ones nobody has touched in a year.
2. Export your data and code (this week). While everything still works, pull your code and data out. Don't wait for Gadget's migration tools to start this.
3. Rank by business risk (next two weeks). Anything touching orders, inventory, payments, or fulfillment goes to the top. Internal tools go to the bottom.
4. Pick a path for each piece.
- Replace with an existing Shopify app. Best for common features: reviews, bundles, quizzes, loyalty. Trade-off: less control, ongoing subscription.
- Move to a managed integration platform. Best for order, inventory, and fulfillment syncs with ERP, POS, or 3PL. Trade-off: less custom code to own, someone else operates it.
- Rebuild on your own infrastructure. Best for unique logic, public apps, and things that differentiate you. Trade-off: you own the operations, monitoring, and on-call.
5. Rebuild and test (January to February). Test against real order volume, including edge cases: partial fulfillments, refunds, B2B orders, and multi-location inventory.
6. Run in parallel, then cut over (by mid-March). Run old and new side by side, compare outputs, then switch. Leave a buffer before March 31 for anything that goes wrong.
Gadget alternatives: three ways ehouse can help you migrate
There's no one-size-fits-all replacement for Gadget, because teams used it for very different jobs. The right move depends on what each piece does. My team helps brands and agencies migrate in three ways. We'll recommend the path that fits each piece, not the one we'd rather sell.
1. VL OMNI: managed integrations, operated by ehouse. For Shopify ERP integration (including NetSuite), POS, and 3PL syncs covering orders, inventory, and fulfillment. ehouse runs the platform, so you aren't left operating it yourself.
- Integrations run in a private AWS environment, in the region you need (Canada, US, or EU)
- The processing layer has no public access, and connections are encrypted and token-authenticated
- SLA monitoring flags failed syncs, and many are replayed automatically
- Live status is public at ehouse.statuspage.io
2. Celigo: a leading iPaaS your team can manage. ehouse is Celigo certified. If your team wants prebuilt connectors and flows it can see and adjust, we'll design and build your Celigo Shopify integration, migrate your existing flows onto it, then support them.
3. A custom Shopify app: for what nothing else covers. If Gadget ran unique business logic, admin tools, or app-like features, our Shopify Plus development team can rebuild them through custom Shopify app development. That includes current Shopify requirements such as expiring access tokens.
Most stores will use more than one path. A typical move might put the ERP sync on VL OMNI or Celigo, swap a product quiz for an existing app, and rebuild one custom admin tool. That's what the assessment sorts out.
Get a Gadget migration assessment
ehouse is running Gadget migration assessments. You get an inventory of what runs on Gadget, a risk ranking, and a recommended path for each piece. Contact the ehouse team and we'll give you an answer on what your migration looks like.
Chris Aziz is the Director of Technology at ehouse. Connect with Chris on LinkedIn.
