# Connect Shopify with a token

Canonical URL: https://support.optiqube.ai/en/articles/connect-shopify-with-a-token

Use this when your store is password-protected, or if you prefer an Admin API token over reading the storefront. You create a small custom app in your own Shopify admin that can only read products.

## Create the token in Shopify

1. In your Shopify admin, open **Settings → Apps and sales channels → Develop apps**. If Shopify asks, allow custom app development. Only the store owner can do this.
2. Create an app and name it, for example, **OptiQube**.
3. Under **Configuration → Admin API integration**, tick **read_products** and save.
4. Click **Install app**, then reveal the **Admin API access token**. It starts with `shpat_`.

> **Watch out:** Shopify shows the token only once. Copy it right away.

## Connect it in OptiQube

1. Click the store name in the top-left corner → **Connections** → **Connect catalog**.
2. Choose **Shopify**, then click **Connect with a token instead** under the form.
3. Under **Shop domain**, enter your `.myshopify.com` domain. It is the address in your Shopify admin's address bar.
4. Paste the token under **Admin API access token**.
5. Click **Connect shop**.
6. If OptiQube asks **Use one of your feed slots?**, confirm.

> **Note:** Nothing is published to the Shopify App Store, and the app can only read products. Uninstalling the app in Shopify revokes the token.

## What OptiQube reads

Active products; variants stay inside their product. They are read again on their own: every hour if the store has an active campaign or a live product group, otherwise once a day.

> **Tip:** Already syncing your products to Facebook through Shopify's Meta channel? Then you can use the Meta catalog option instead, without a token. See [Connect a Meta catalog](https://support.optiqube.ai/en/articles/connect-a-meta-catalog).

> **Done when:** your products show up under **Products** in the sidebar.