Your frontend, Shopify core
YOUR STACK
Your frontend, Shopify core
YOUR STACK
Hydrogen, Next.js, React Router, or the stack that fits your engineering team.
Headless Shopify that stays fast at peak
Custom storefronts on Hydrogen or Next.js with checkout still on Shopify. For brands that outgrew Online Store on UX, content, or traffic.
Checkout stays on Shopify
COMMERCE CORE
Checkout stays on Shopify
COMMERCE CORE
Browse on your frontend. Payments, taxes, and Shop Pay stay native.
Own the experience layer
EXPERIENCE LAYER
Own the experience layer
EXPERIENCE LAYER
Custom UX, content, and personalization without theme constraints.
Shopify brands we've built for
Storefronts and brands we ship with.
Eddi
Plus relaunch
Mobile storefront with bundles, gifting and cart upsells
What we build
Headless storefronts that keep Shopify as the commerce core
We separate the experience layer from the commerce engine so you can ship a custom frontend without rewriting checkout, payments, or order ops.
Custom Shopify storefronts
Hydrogen tooling, React Router, Next.js, or a custom frontend architecture selected around your team, hosting, content, and integration requirements.
Shopify commerce integration
Products, collections, pricing, cart and Markets through Shopify's Storefront API, with checkout handed back to Shopify.
Content without theme constraints
Connect Shopify with your CMS when campaigns, editorial content, localization, or landing pages have outgrown Online Store sections.
Performance you control
Control rendering, caching, data fetching and frontend dependencies instead of inheriting every theme and app script.
Before and after
What changes when Shopify goes headless?
Before
Frontend
Liquid theme
Content
Shopify sections
Commerce
Still Shopify
Deployment
Theme publish
After
Frontend
Custom application
Content
Shopify + CMS
Commerce
Still Shopify
Deployment
CI/CD storefront releases
Our approach
How we build headless without creating another problem
We prove the stack early, then ship against real catalog and checkout flows. Commerce stays on Shopify the whole way.
- 01
Prove headless is necessary
Stress-test the current theme first. If Liquid still covers the requirement, we recommend staying on it.
- 02
Lock the architecture
Frontend, Shopify APIs, customer accounts, CMS, search, analytics, caching, SEO and deployment are defined before development.
- 03
Build and validate
Real catalog, cart, customer, checkout and integration flows are built and tested against production-like data.
- 04
Migrate and launch
URLs, redirects, analytics, SEO, deployment and rollback are handled as part of a controlled cutover.
Fit
When headless Shopify is actually worth it
We will argue against it when Online Store still covers the job. Headless is expensive to operate if the problem was a messy theme.
Stay on a theme when
You are still fighting section layout, not the stack
Bad PDP structure, weak collection UX, or unused apps are theme and CRO work. Headless will not fix that by itself.
Shopify developmentMerchants can run the site from the admin today
If campaigns and pages already ship from Shopify without a separate CMS, you are not outgrowing Online Store yet.
The real leak is checkout, not browse
Upsells, discounts, and validation belong in checkout extensions and Functions, not a new frontend.
Checkout & extensions
Build headless when
Every custom UX fight ends in Liquid limits
Your team keeps hacking themes for interactions a React storefront would own cleanly.
Content and commerce need two systems
Editorial, markets, or multi-surface pages outgrow metafields and Online Store templates.
Your frontend architecture is slowing product teams down
Every new campaign, integration, experiment, or experience requires another workaround inside the theme.
What our customers say
“They did more than deliver on time. Their proactive leadership and technical skill in delivering a really complex design from Figma ensured we launched our premium brand in weeks.
Engagement
How can we work on your headless storefront together?
Whether you are building new, migrating off a theme, or hardening an existing headless stack, that gives three shapes of collaboration.
Headless storefront build
Scoped after architecture review.
Who it is for
New Shopify custom storefronts built around UX, content and technical requirements.
What is included
- Discovery, IA, and conversion-critical templates
- Storefront API frontend with CMS wiring where needed
- QA, performance baselines, and SEO-safe launch plan
How it ends
Ends with a controlled go-live and a handover your team can keep shipping with without us.
Theme → headless migration
Scoped after migration audit.
Who it is for
Incremental or full migration with URL, SEO, analytics and storefront continuity planned before cutover.
What is included
- Priority page migration with shared cart continuity
- URL, redirect, and SEO carry-over plan
- Parallel run of theme and headless surfaces where useful
How it ends
Produces live headless surfaces beside Shopify Admin, with a clear path for the rest of the storefront.
Headless growth partner
From $3,500 per month USD
Monthly. Three months minimum for meaningful results.
Who it is for
Ongoing feature delivery, API maintenance, performance work and experimentation.
What is included
- Sprint planning against campaign and revenue goals
- Storefront API and platform version upkeep
- CRO experiments and same-week fixes when needed
How it ends
Runs as an ongoing partnership with documented releases and a shared roadmap.
Not sure which shape fits? Book a meeting with the team.
Not ready to book?
Complementary services
When headless isn't the only problem
Headless solves the storefront layer. These are the jobs that often sit beside it, or replace it when headless is the wrong lever.
Let's meet
Book directly with Dusan J., Founder at EXTFOX. We'll review where your current storefront is actually limiting the business and whether headless, a better theme, or targeted custom development is the right next move.
Not sure whether headless is worth the complexity?
Pick a time that works for you. You'll get instant confirmation and a calendar invite.
Prefer to call? (862) 259-6969
Not ready to book?
FAQ
Headless Shopify separates the customer-facing frontend from Shopify's commerce backend. Product, collection and cart commerce is typically handled through Shopify's Storefront API, while authenticated customer experiences use Shopify's Customer Account API. Checkout and order operations remain on Shopify.
A theme is enough when presentation and merchandising live comfortably in Online Store 2.0, content can be managed in the admin, and performance targets are reachable without a custom frontend. Headless pays off when brand UX, content systems, multi-surface delivery, or peak traffic clearly outgrow theme limits. if you want a make-or-buy read before you commit.
Yes. The architecture depends on your existing frontend team and infrastructure. Hydrogen provides Shopify's commerce tooling, while the storefront itself can now run across different frameworks and hosting environments, including Next.js deployments on Vercel.
Yes in almost every project we ship. Browse and cart can live on your frontend. Checkout is handed to Shopify so you keep native payments, taxes, Shop Pay, and Plus checkout capabilities without rebuilding a payment flow from scratch.
We plan URL structure, server or edge rendering, meta tags, structured data, sitemaps, and redirects as part of the architecture. Headless can be SEO-safe when crawlable HTML, canonical rules, and migration redirects are designed up front. It fails when those are treated as a post-launch fix.
Timeline depends on catalog complexity, CMS needs, account flows, and how many surfaces you ship. Focused storefronts with a clear scope often land in a matter of weeks to a few months. Larger multi-market or multi-CMS builds take longer. After discovery we share a concrete plan rather than a generic estimate.