After the clone: the apps and settings no app can copy

A clone copies your catalog and content into staging. A few things only you can do in Shopify, and Cartsella Studio tells you exactly which ones, so staging behaves like your live store.

· 4 min read

You clone your live store into staging, open the storefront, and the product page looks almost right. The reviews widget is missing. The subscription option isn't there. Prices show in the wrong currency. Nothing went wrong with the copy: these are the parts no app is allowed to copy.

Why some things can't be copied

Shopify keeps a short list of things that only the store's owner can change:

That's a good rule: no app, ours included, can quietly change how your store takes money. But it does leave a few steps after a clone, and they're easy to miss.

Apps to install

After each clone, the run's page lists the apps your store relies on: the ones your copied theme uses, and the ones behind your subscriptions and pre-orders, each with a link to its App Store page. Install them in staging, check again, and the list shrinks as you go.

The data those apps keep in product fields and content entries is already in staging: it's copied with your products.

Store settings check

The same page compares the settings that change how a store behaves, side by side: currency, taxes, express checkouts, customer accounts, time zone, languages, markets and more. Each difference says where to change it in Shopify.

Some differences are on purpose. Your staging store might use test payments, for example. The check doesn't change anything: it shows you what's different so you can decide.

A ten-minute checklist

  1. Open the clone's run page and install the apps listed under "Apps to install".
  2. Check again until the list is empty, or only shows apps you chose to skip.
  3. Go through the store settings check and fix the differences that matter for your test.
  4. Place a test order in staging, from product page to checkout.
What's never copied

Customers, orders and draft orders stay in your live store, always. Staging is for building and testing, not for storing your shoppers' details.

A staging store that behaves like the real one.

Join the waitlist: 50% off your first year

Read next: How clone & sync works · How to create a Shopify staging store