Custom stores & themes
Themes built lean with custom sections your team can edit — not a bought template wrestled into shape and left slow.
We build custom Shopify stores, private apps and checkout work for startups — a small senior studio that owns the outcome, not a marketplace of freelancers who vanish after handover. Custom where it counts, fast everywhere.
Every bolted-on app injects scripts until the store crawls and nobody remembers what half of them do. We build custom where a theme setting cannot reach, cut the app bloat that is throttling load time, and measure speed in real numbers — because on Shopify, slow is lost revenue.
Themes built lean with custom sections your team can edit — not a bought template wrestled into shape and left slow.
Public and private apps for the jobs a setting cannot do — custom workflows, integrations with your ERP, CRM or fulfilment, built properly.
On Shopify Plus: checkout extensions, custom validation, upsells and branded flows through the supported APIs — with an honest read on the plan's ceiling.
We audit what each app costs you in load time, cut the dead weight, tune the theme, and prove it against real Lighthouse numbers.
Store, app or checkout — we define exactly what is custom and what the platform handles, with a fixed estimate before any code.
Working previews each week in a live environment, so you steer the build instead of waiting for a launch-day reveal.
Shipped, measured for speed, and handed over clean — with a senior team still here when you need a change months later.
| Custom / private app (Duskel) | Public App Store app | Off-the-shelf app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | One merchant — you — with a workflow no generic app fits | A developer building a product to sell to many stores | Any store willing to bend its process to fit the app |
| Distribution | Installed only on your store, or the stores you choose — no listing | Listed on the Shopify App Store, installable by anyone | Already listed; you install it and configure what it lets you |
| Cost | A one-off build for exactly what you need, then it is yours to run | Higher upfront to build for many merchants, recouped over subscribers | A monthly per-store fee that never stops, forever |
| Shopify review | None — a custom or private app skips the App Store review entirely | Required, and strict — listing, permissions and billing are all vetted | Already passed; you inherit whatever it was approved to do |
| Best for | A bespoke workflow, an integration, or logic a setting cannot reach | A repeatable product you want to sell to the whole Shopify market | A common need a mature app already solves well enough |
A focused private app or a connector that syncs Shopify with one system — your ERP, CRM, fulfilment or a spreadsheet job someone does by hand. One clear integration, built and installed on your store.
A real app for your store — a bespoke admin workflow, a customer-facing feature, or several integrations wired together, with proper auth and error handling. Built for you, owned by you, no monthly per-store fee.
A public App Store product with the billing API and review to match, or Plus-tier work like checkout extensions and multi-store setups. For selling to the whole market, or building at the top of the platform.
Typical ranges, not a fixed menu — the integration and the edge cases are where the real work hides. You get a fixed quote before any code.
A senior team that owns the outcome. Duskel is a small studio, not a marketplace of freelancers who vanish after handover — the person scoping your build is the person who ships it, and we are still here when you need a change six months later.
Yes — public apps for the store, custom private apps for your own workflow, and integrations that sync Shopify with your ERP, CRM or fulfilment. When a theme setting cannot do the job, an app can, and that is where most of our Shopify work lives.
On Shopify Plus, yes — checkout extensions, custom validation, upsells and branded flows through the supported checkout APIs. On standard plans we get as far as the platform allows and are honest about the ceiling before you pay for Plus expecting more.
Usually. Most slow Shopify stores are drowning in third-party apps and unoptimised images injecting render-blocking scripts. We audit what each app actually costs you in load time, cut the dead weight, and tune the theme — measured against real Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals numbers.
A themed store with custom sections is typically a few weeks; a custom app or checkout work adds to that depending on scope. You get a fixed estimate before any code and working previews each week, not a black box until launch day.
A private (or custom) app is built for your store alone and installed straight onto it, no App Store listing and no Shopify review — that is the right call when the app solves your workflow and yours only. A public app is a product you build to sell to many merchants, listed on the App Store, which means passing review and running billing. Most of our Shopify work is private, because most merchants want something that fits their business, not something they can resell. If you are building a product to sell, we build public — we will tell you plainly which one your idea actually is.
For a public app, Shopify reviews the listing, the OAuth flow, the permission scopes you request, and your billing setup before it goes live — and they reject apps that ask for more access than they visibly use, mirror an existing app, or handle data carelessly. It is closer to Apple's App Store than a rubber stamp. We scope permissions tight from the start and build the install and billing flows to their spec, so review is a step you pass, not a wall you hit. A private app skips this entirely.
Yes — a public app charges through Shopify's Billing API, so subscriptions and usage fees appear on the merchant's normal Shopify invoice instead of you chasing card details. We wire up recurring charges, usage-based billing, and free trials against that API, and handle the webhooks that keep a subscription in sync when someone upgrades, downgrades or cancels. Getting billing right is part of passing review, so we build it properly rather than bolting it on at the end.
Yes, when the store genuinely needs it. Hydrogen is Shopify's React framework for headless storefronts, deployed on Oxygen, and it lets you build a fully custom front end over the Storefront API while Shopify still handles the cart, checkout and orders. It is real work and it is not right for every store — a well-built theme is faster to ship and cheaper to run for most merchants. We reach for Hydrogen when a brand needs a storefront a theme cannot express, and we will say so honestly rather than sell you the more expensive path by default.
Tell us where the platform stops and your idea starts. We will scope the custom build to close the gap.
We build software worth keeping — for clients, and for ourselves.
Founded & led by codewithumar