Automate with Shopify Flow
STOQ integrates with Shopify Flow so you can build automated workflows around your preorder and back-in-stock activity. STOQ fires triggers when key events happen (a customer places a preorder, a payment fails, an offer turns on), and it exposes actions you invoke from a Flow workflow (release fulfillment holds, capture a pending payment, notify a waitlist, and more).
Use this integration when you want to: tag or notify customers automatically at preorder time, chain STOQ actions with other Shopify apps, or orchestrate multi-step fulfillment sequences without manual intervention.
Before you begin
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Shopify Flow installed | Flow is a free Shopify app available in the Shopify App Store. It must be installed on your store before you can build workflows. |
| STOQ app open in Shopify admin | Open it from Apps > STOQ in your Shopify admin. |
| Paid STOQ plan (recommended) | Some Flow features need a paid plan. On a free plan you can still enable triggers, but an Upgrade prompt appears and full access is limited. |
What customers will see
Some Flow actions notify the customer directly:
- Collect pending payment: emails a payment confirmation unless you set Send notifications to no.
- Send shipping update notification: emails the customer a shipping update, using your default STOQ notification text unless you override the subject, header, or body.
- Notify customers in waitlist: sends back-in-stock notifications by email, SMS, or both to everyone waiting on the variant.
Other actions, such as tagging orders, holding or releasing fulfillments, splitting fulfillments, and changing offer membership, don't notify the customer.
Set it up
Enable Flow triggers in STOQ
Open the Shopify Flow integration in STOQ
- In the left menu bar of STOQ, click Preorders.
- Open the Settings tab.
- Open the Integrations sub-tab.
- Click the Shopify Flow card to expand it.
Turn on the Flow triggers master switch
On the Triggers tab, toggle Flow triggers on.
If your store is on a free STOQ plan, an Upgrade prompt appears below the toggle. You can still turn the toggle on; the prompt is a reminder to upgrade for full access.
Check the triggers you want to send
Each trigger is a separate checkbox. Enable only the events you intend to use in a Flow workflow: unnecessary triggers generate extra API calls with no benefit.
| Trigger label in STOQ | When it fires | Key payload fields |
|---|---|---|
| Customer signed up | A customer registers for a back-in-stock alert | Customer name, email, phone, locale; product, variant name; Signed up at; Market |
| Customer notified for email back in stock alert | STOQ sends a back-in-stock email notification | Customer name, email, phone, locale; product, variant name; Market; Checkout link, Product page link, Unsubscribe link; Notification type |
| Customer placed preorder | A customer completes a preorder purchase | Order Number, Order Name |
| Product variant restocked | A tracked variant's inventory is replenished | Product, Variant, Markets |
| Product added to offer | A variant is added to a preorder offer | Product, Variant, Offer Name, Offer Order Tags |
| Product removed from offer | A variant is removed from a preorder offer | Product, Variant, Offer Name, Offer Order Tags |
| Preorder offer enabled | A preorder offer is activated | Offer Name, Offer Internal Name, Offer Order Tags |
| Preorder offer disabled | A preorder offer is deactivated | Offer Name, Offer Internal Name, Offer Order Tags |
| Payment collection failed | A payment capture attempt on a preorder fails | Order Number, Order Name, Error Message |
Save your settings
Click Save at the bottom of the page. STOQ registers each enabled trigger with Shopify and starts firing them as events occur.
Available Flow actions
STOQ's Flow actions are available in Shopify Flow without any additional setup in STOQ. You select them when building a workflow inside the Shopify Flow app. Switch to the Actions tab in the STOQ Shopify Flow card to see a quick reference of all available actions grouped by category.
Preorders, Payments
| Action | What it does | Key inputs |
|---|---|---|
| Collect pending payment | Captures the remaining balance on a preorder that used partial payment or a deposit. Optionally suppresses the payment-confirmation notification. | Order; Send notifications (yes/no, defaults to yes) |
Preorders, Fulfillments
| Action | What it does | Key inputs |
|---|---|---|
| Hold all fulfillments | Places a fulfillment hold on every fulfillment order for a preorder. Optionally adds a reason note visible in Shopify admin. | Order; Reason notes (optional) |
| Release all fulfillments | Releases all held fulfillments and moves them to Unfulfilled status so they can be picked and shipped. | Order |
| Open scheduled fulfillments | Converts Scheduled fulfillments to Unfulfilled, useful when you use STOQ's scheduled fulfillment setup and want to trigger that transition via Flow. | Order |
| Split preorder fulfillments | Splits preorder line items into their own fulfillment order, separate from any in-stock items on the same order. The split runs even if the offer's built-in split setting is off. | Order |
| Send shipping update notification | Sends a shipping-update email to the customer. You can override the subject, header, and body; if you omit them, the email uses the text configured in STOQ's notification settings. | Order; Subject, header, description (all optional) |
Preorders, Offers
| Action | What it does | Key inputs |
|---|---|---|
| Add product variant to offer | Adds a variant to a STOQ preorder offer and syncs the change to Shopify. | Product variant; Offer identifier (internal name or Shopify selling plan) |
| Remove product variant from offer | Removes a variant from a STOQ preorder offer and optionally sets the inventory policy to Deny so the variant cannot be oversold. | Product variant; Offer identifier; Disable continue selling (yes/no) |
Back in stock
| Action | What it does | Key inputs |
|---|---|---|
| Notify customers in waitlist | Triggers back-in-stock notifications (email, SMS, or both) for all customers waiting on a specific variant. Optionally scoped to a single market. | Product variant; Channel (email or SMS, omit for both); Market |
Build a workflow in Shopify Flow
Open Shopify Flow
- In Shopify admin, go to Apps > Flow.
- Click Create workflow.
Select a trigger
Choose STOQ from the app list and pick the trigger that should start your workflow (for example, Customer placed preorder or Payment collection failed).
Add conditions and actions
- Add any Shopify Flow conditions you need (for example, filter by order tag or order value).
- Add a STOQ action or any other app action.
Pass the order or variant from the trigger into the action inputs. Shopify Flow surfaces the available fields from the STOQ trigger as variables you can insert.
Activate the workflow
Click Turn on workflow. From this point, every matching STOQ event fires the workflow automatically.
Example automations
Tag orders and send an internal Slack notification when a preorder is placed
- Trigger: Customer placed preorder (STOQ)
- Action 1: Add order tag "preorder" (Shopify)
- Action 2: Send Slack message with the order name and customer email
Automatically collect payment when an order is marked as fulfilled
- Trigger: Order fulfilled (Shopify)
- Condition: Order tag contains "preorder"
- Action: Collect pending payment (STOQ)
Release fulfillment holds on a specific date
- Trigger: Scheduled time (Shopify Flow)
- Action: Release all fulfillments (STOQ), one action per order, or chain with a Shopify For each loop over a saved order list
Add new inventory arrivals to a preorder offer automatically
- Trigger: Inventory level updated (Shopify)
- Condition: Inventory quantity greater than 0
- Action: Add product variant to offer (STOQ)
Notify waitlist customers when stock is received
- Trigger: Product variant restocked (STOQ)
- Action: Notify customers in waitlist (STOQ) with channel set to email
Check your setup
- In Shopify Flow, open your workflow and click Run history to see recent executions and any errors.
- In STOQ, go to Reports → Preorders → Orders and check that the order you tested has the expected status (fulfilled, held, payment captured, etc.). You can also check just one offer's orders: Preorders in the left menu → Offers tab → open the offer → its Orders tab.
- For the Notify customers in waitlist action, go to Reports to confirm notifications were sent.
Troubleshooting
The "Customer placed preorder" trigger is not firing
Check these:
- The Flow triggers master switch is on in STOQ's Integrations settings.
- The Customer placed preorder checkbox is checked.
- If both are on, check the Shopify Flow Run history for your workflow to see whether Shopify received the event.
STOQ also prevents duplicate delivery, so a trigger won't fire again for an order it already fired for.
"Release all fulfillments" fails on an order
It most likely has no active holds. Shopify's release-hold API returns an error when there's nothing to release, which fails the Flow action run. Add a Shopify Flow condition before this action (for example, checking an order tag or metafield) to confirm the order is still on hold.
A Flow action fails with a not-found error
Order-level actions (collect payment, hold/release fulfillments, split fulfillments, send shipping update) only work on orders in STOQ's preorder records. If the order wasn't placed through a STOQ preorder offer, the action fails.
The "Customer notified for email back in stock alert" trigger does not fire
It requires a Shopify customer record. STOQ tries to sync the customer first; if that sync fails, the trigger is skipped for that customer.
Limitations
- Order-level actions (collect payment, hold, release, split, send shipping update) run one order at a time. Use a Shopify Flow loop or separate workflow runs for batch processing.
- The Notify customers in waitlist action supports email or SMS only; push notifications aren't available via this action.
FAQ
Do I need to configure anything in Shopify Flow before STOQ actions appear?
No. STOQ's Flow actions require no setup in Shopify Flow: they're registered with Shopify automatically when STOQ is installed, and they appear in the Shopify Flow action picker under the STOQ app. You only need to enable triggers in STOQ if you want STOQ to fire events into Flow; actions are always available regardless of your trigger settings.
Does the 'Collect pending payment' action send the customer a payment confirmation email?
Yes, by default. The action includes an optional Send notifications setting. If you set it to no, STOQ captures the payment silently without emailing the customer. Leave it at the default (yes) if you want the customer to receive a confirmation.
What is the 'offer identifier' field on the add/remove variant actions?
It's a flexible lookup key that accepts either the offer's internal name (set in STOQ when you create the offer) or the Shopify selling plan it corresponds to. Using the internal name is usually the most readable option in a Flow workflow.
Will 'Split preorder fulfillments' work even if I haven't enabled split fulfillment on the offer itself?
Yes. When you invoke Split preorder fulfillments via a Flow action, STOQ skips the offer-level enabled check and performs the split regardless of the offer's built-in split fulfillment setting. This lets you trigger a one-off split from Flow without changing your default offer configuration.
Related guides
Preorders overview
Learn how STOQ preorders work end-to-end before building automations.
Collect remaining preorder payments
Manually collect pending payments or use this as background for the Flow action.
Release held preorder fulfillments
Manually release fulfillment holds, or delegate this step to a Flow workflow.
Split fulfilment for preorders
Understand the built-in split fulfillment setting and how the Flow action differs.
Set up payment for preorders
Configure partial payment and deposit options that feed into the collect-payment Flow action.
Scheduled preorder fulfillments
Learn about the Scheduled status that the 'Open scheduled fulfillments' Flow action transitions from.
Preorder shipping update email
Configure the default shipping update email content used when no override is passed in the Flow action.
Preorder API
Explore STOQ's REST API for custom integrations that go beyond what Flow actions cover.
