Bolt Claw's Shopify app connects a shop to a referral program with no code: partner codes become discounts in the shop, paid orders are credited to the partner who sent each customer, and a buyer a partner referred is asked to refer their own friends on the thank-you page. Bolt Claw charges nothing for it.
The app is the recommended way. The webhook way still works with no app at all, and the two never count a sale twice: both file an order under the same id.
Install and connect
- Install Bolt Claw Referrals from the Shopify App Store. Shopify asks you to allow three things, and only these: read orders, manage discounts, and read Shopify Payments disputes.
- Open the app in your Shopify admin and press Connect to Bolt Claw. A Bolt Claw tab opens; sign in, and choose the program this shop belongs to.
- Back in Shopify, reload the app. It shows the program, and how many codes are in your shop.
A shop is linked to one program, and a program to one shop. To move the shop to another program of yours, press Link another program in the app. A shop linked to another Bolt Claw workspace is refused: unlink it there first (the program's Integration tab), or uninstall the app and install it again.
The shop never learns who you are in Bolt Claw, and Bolt Claw's dashboard stays where the program is run.
Codes in your shop
Add the friend's discount first: on the program's Rewards tab, a rule under What the friend gets with a discount, percent or amount off. Then every partner code becomes a Shopify discount for every product:
| The friend's discount | In Shopify |
|---|---|
| Once | Once per customer |
| For N months | Once per customer, and N cycles of a subscription |
| Forever | Every order |
Codes are kept in step: a code you make in Bolt Claw is made in the shop at once, and a
code you switch off is switched off there. A code you had already made by hand in
Shopify with the same text is matched, not made twice, and keeps its own settings. Once
matched, it is kept in step too: switching the code off in Bolt Claw switches it off in
Shopify.
Sync codes now (in the app, or on the program's Integration tab) catches up after
an error, 50 codes at a time; through the API it is
POST /v1/referrals/programs/{id}/shopify-codes, which an AI assistant always asks
you about first.
Credit with no code on your theme
An order is credited from, in order:
- the cart attributes the app embed writes (
boltclaw_ref,boltclaw_click); - the partner's
?via=in the order's landing page address, which needs nothing on your theme; - a partner's discount code on the order.
To keep the code across visits, switch the app embed on: Online Store, Themes, Customize, App embeds, Bolt Claw referrals. It loads Bolt Claw's tag with the settings you choose there (the days a code is kept, and the friend's welcome bar) and puts the partner's code on the cart.
Consent. With Wait for the visitor's consent on (the default), the code is kept only once the visitor accepts marketing cookies in Shopify's own cookie banner (Shopify's Customer Privacy API), and forgotten if they decline. Leave it on if you sell in the EU or the UK.
The thank-you page
Add the Bolt Claw: invite your friends block to your thank-you page in the checkout editor. When a buyer a partner referred finishes their first order, it shows "Give your friends 10% off" (your friend's discount, in words) with the buyer's own link and a copy button. Anybody else sees nothing. It is drawn with Shopify's own components: no iframe, no script on your checkout.
The program's Invite after purchase setting (on the Welcome tab) must be on.
Refunds, disputes, uninstalling
A refund reverses what the sale earned, in full or in part. A dispute reverses the whole sale when it is opened, and once more if it is lost (the second time changes nothing). Uninstalling the app deletes Bolt Claw's access to the shop at once; the program stops hearing from it, and every commission already earned stays.
Privacy requests
Shopify sends every app three privacy requests, and Bolt Claw answers each:
- A customer's data request waits for you on the program's Integration tab, with
everything Bolt Claw holds about them: your customer id, who referred them, their
sales, refunds and rewards, and their referral link. Bolt Claw holds no name, email
address, postal address or phone number. Give it to your customer within 30 days of
Shopify's request, then mark it answered. Through the API:
GET /v1/referrals/programs/{id}/privacy-requests,GET /v1/referrals/privacy-requests/{id}andPOST /v1/referrals/privacy-requests/{id}/answer. - A customer's erasure is done at once: the customer's ids and email fingerprint go, and so does the referral link they were given. The amounts their orders earned partners stay, against an anonymous record, because partners are still owed them.
- The shop's erasure, 48 hours after you uninstall, does the same for every customer the shop's orders brought, and deletes the app's connection to the shop.
Each is listed on the Integration tab with counts only.