What Happens to My Shopify Scripts After April 15, 2026?
After April 15, 2026, you can no longer edit or publish Shopify Scripts. Existing published Scripts keep running, but whatever state they're in on April 14 is the state they're locked in until they stop executing entirely on June 30.
Most of the deprecation coverage focuses on June 30. That's the date Shopify uses in its official changelog and help center, and it's the one showing up in most migration guides. But April 15 is the date that matters for live stores. Here's why.
What's the difference between April 15 and June 30?
The deprecation runs on two cutoffs that do different things.
April 15, 2026 — the edit cutoff. You can no longer modify or publish Scripts. Deployed Scripts continue to run, but the Script Editor goes read-only. No fixes, no updates, no new Scripts.
June 30, 2026 — the execution cutoff. Scripts stop running entirely. Discount logic, shipping rates, line item adjustments, and payment method controls. None of it fires after this date unless you've migrated to Shopify Functions.
The reason April 15 matters more in practice: if a Script breaks between April 15 and June 30, you can't fix it. You can deactivate it or let it run wrong. That's it. No documented exception, no support path back into the editor.
For any store with active Scripts tied to a promotional calendar, that's a real window of exposure.
What does the April 15 edit cutoff mean for live stores?
Scripts live in the Script Editor, a Plus-only app in your Shopify admin where you write Ruby code that runs at checkout and on cart-related events. After April 15, that app goes read-only for deployed Scripts.
What you can still do after April 15:
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View your Scripts
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See which are active vs. inactive
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Watch them execute at checkout until June 30
What you can't do after April 15:
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Save any changes to an existing Script
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Fix bugs or logic errors
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Update thresholds, conditions, or discount amounts
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Publish new Scripts
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Respond to any promotional need that requires Script changes
That last item is where stores run into real trouble. If your Scripts handle tiered discounts and you have a promotion planned for May with different thresholds than what's currently deployed, you can't update the Script to match. Your choices at that point: run the promotion with the wrong discount logic, skip it entirely, or migrate to Functions on a tight timeline with no room for error.
Which Scripts carry the most risk between April 15 and June 30?
All four Script types share the same April 15 edit cutoff and June 30 execution cutoff. The risk level for each depends on how often the underlying conditions change.
Discount Scripts are the highest-risk category. These control percentage discounts, BOGO logic, tiered pricing, and bundle pricing at checkout. If you have promotional events between now and June 30, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, a summer sale, and those promotions require different discount logic than what's currently deployed, you can't adapt after April 15.
Shipping Scripts control which shipping rates show at checkout based on cart contents, customer location, or weight thresholds. A frozen Shipping Script showing wrong rates, or no rates at all, is a checkout blocker. This is lower risk if your shipping logic is stable, but there's no safety net if something needs to change.
Line Item Scripts handle free gifts, quantity enforcement, product restrictions, and cart-level adjustments. Stores running loyalty programs or gift-with-purchase promotions tied to a schedule are exposed if the Script logic doesn't match the promotion window.
Payment Scripts are the most stable of the four. But if you're hiding a payment method based on cart contents or customer tags and that condition changes after April 15, you're stuck.
What does migrating to Shopify Functions actually involve?
Functions are the replacement architecture. They run as WebAssembly modules on Shopify's servers, they're faster than Scripts, and they're subject to Shopify's input/output size limits and timeout constraints.
Here's the part that trips up most teams: Functions aren't editable in the Shopify admin the way Scripts are. You can't make a change and hit save. Functions live inside a Shopify app, public or custom, and any change requires a code deployment through that app. If your Scripts are currently managed directly in the admin, you're adding a deployment layer that didn't exist before.
For simple discount logic, a Functions-based app from the Shopify App Store handles it. For complex custom logic, tiered pricing with multiple conditions, conditional free gift triggers, and per-product shipping override, you need custom Functions development.
Migration is not a copy-paste job. Scripts use Ruby and have access to the full cart object. Functions use a defined GraphQL input query and are constrained to what that query returns. Complex Script logic needs to be restructured, not just rewritten. Stores that have layered conditions onto a Script over several years usually discover two or three edge cases during migration that weren't documented anywhere.
How do I figure out where I stand before April 15?
Start with this: open the Apps → Script Editor screen in your Shopify admin. If you're on Shopify Plus and Scripts have ever been used on your store, it'll be there. Any Scripts showing as active are running at checkout right now.
One thing to note on inactive Scripts: you can still publish an inactive Script before April 15 if you need to. After April 15, that option closes too. Any inactive Scripts you leave unpublished will stop being an option on that date.
If you have no active Scripts, the April 15 risk doesn't apply to you directly. The June 30 cutoff is still relevant if you have inactive Scripts you planned to reactivate, but the edit-window exposure isn't your problem.
If you do have active Scripts, four questions determine your urgency:
1. What does each Script control? Discount logic, shipping rates, line items, or payment methods? Map each one against your promotional calendar through June 30.
2. Is the logic stable? A Script applying a flat 10% discount to all orders doesn't need changes. A Script applying tiered discounts by customer tag during promotional windows is exposed.
3. How complex is the logic? Simple Scripts can migrate to Functions in a few days. Scripts with multiple branching conditions, edge cases, and years of accumulated logic take longer and require testing time you may not have budgeted.
4. Do you have developer resources available? Between now and April 15, there are 19 days from the date of this article. That's enough time to understand your exposure and make a plan. It's not enough time to be slow about starting.
How to get clarity on your exposure this week
The Scripts Triage Report is a $500 fixed-price service. I go into your Shopify admin, review every active and inactive Script, map each one against the Functions migration paths, and deliver a plain-English report: which Scripts need to migrate before June 30, which are simple versus complex to migrate, and a realistic timeline and cost estimate for each.
If you move forward with a Done-for-You Migration, the $500 is credited toward that work.
The report takes 3 business days. April 15 doesn't move. If you haven't checked your Scripts yet, that's where I'd start.