shopify-store-optimization-checklist

A free, open-source, interactive Shopify store optimization checklist — 82 concrete checks across 9 categories: pre-launch readiness, conversion rate optimization, site speed & Core Web Vitals, AI/LLM visibility, analytics & tracking, marketing & retention, SEO essentials, trust & policies, and mobile experience. Every item explains why it matters, not just what to click.

→ Rather have this run automatically against your store? Try the free audit — we built this because we kept re-running the same pre-launch and growth review by hand for client stores, so we open-sourced it. No signup, no tracking beyond your own browser.

Use it three ways:

1. Web app (index.html) — open it in a browser, check items off, progress is saved to localStorage, export to Markdown or print to PDF whenever you like.
2. CLI (bin/checklist.js) — print the checklist in your terminal or pipe it into a Markdown file for a PR description or a client report.
3. Data file (data.js) — plain JS array, no dependencies, drop it into your own tooling.

Screenshot / example output

The web app:

Shopify Store Optimization Checklist
1 / 82 checks complete (1%)
[█░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]

▸ Pre-launch readiness                                            1 / 10
  [x] Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Refund/Return Policy, and Shipping   [CRITICAL]
      Policy are all published and linked from the footer
  [ ] A complete test order has been placed end-to-end, including tax and
      shipping calculation and a real payment attempt  [CRITICAL]
      ...
▸ Conversion rate optimization                                     0 / 12
▸ Site speed & Core Web Vitals                                     0 / 10
  ...

The CLI (checklist --category ai-visibility):

$ node bin/checklist.js --category ai-visibility

Shopify Store Optimization Checklist
Free & open source — https://github.com/Ecom-Swift-LLC/shopify-store-optimization-checklist

== AI / LLM visibility (10) ==
  [ ] (IMPORTANT) Product schema (Product, Offer, and AggregateRating where you have reviews) is present and validates in a structured-data testing tool
        why: The same structured data that helps traditional search results also feeds AI answer engines the concrete facts (price, availability, rating) they're most likely to quote.
  [ ] (IMPORTANT) robots.txt isn't blocking known AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended) unless you've deliberately decided to opt out of AI visibility
        why: It's easy to accidentally block these while editing robots.txt.liquid for an unrelated reason...
  ...

10 checks total. Run with --stats for a breakdown by severity.

That output is real — it's what the tool actually prints, not a mock-up.

Features

• 82 checks, 9 categories, each with a plain-English "why this matters" explanation, not just a bare instruction
• Severity levels (critical / important / nice) so you can triage instead of treating every line the same
• Progress persists locally — the web app saves checked state to localStorage; nothing is sent to a server, ever
• Export to Markdown from the web app (for a PR description, a client handoff doc, or your own notes) or from the CLI (--md)
• Print / save as PDF straight from the browser, with a clean print stylesheet
• CLI with category filtering (--category cro) and stats (--stats) for scripting or quick terminal reference
• Zero dependencies — the web app is plain HTML/CSS/JS, the CLI is plain Node.js

Installation

No build step. Clone it and open the file, or install as a CLI.

git clone https://github.com/Ecom-Swift-LLC/shopify-store-optimization-checklist.git
cd shopify-store-optimization-checklist

Web app: open index.html directly in a browser (double-click it, or open index.html / start index.html). No server required — it works from file://.

CLI: requires Node.js 18+.

node bin/checklist.js --help

Or install it as a local package so the shopify-store-optimization-checklist command is on your PATH:

npm install
npm link
shopify-store-optimization-checklist --stats

Usage

checklist [options]

Options:
  --md, --markdown        Print as Markdown checkboxes (- [ ] ...) instead of console text
  --category <id>         Only print one category (see --list-categories for ids)
  --list-categories       List category ids and titles, then exit
  --stats                 Print item counts per category and by severity, then exit
  --out <file>            Write output to a file instead of stdout
  -h, --help               Show help

Examples:

# Full checklist, console format
node bin/checklist.js

# Full checklist as a Markdown file you can check off in a PR
node bin/checklist.js --md --out launch.md

# Just the "cro" (conversion rate optimization) category, as Markdown
node bin/checklist.js --category cro --md

# See what categories exist and their ids
node bin/checklist.js --list-categories

# How many checks, and how many are critical
node bin/checklist.js --stats

Category ids: pre-launch, cro, speed, ai-visibility, analytics, marketing-retention, seo-essentials, trust-policies, mobile.

What it does NOT do

• It doesn't check anything automatically. This is a checklist, not a scanner — every item needs a human (or a separate tool) to actually go verify it against a real store. If you want automated checks for a meaningful chunk of the "speed", "analytics" and "AI visibility" sections, that's what the free audit tool linked above does — this repo and that tool are companions, not the same thing.
• It's deliberately light on deep technical SEO. The seo-essentials category covers the basics; canonical tags, full structured-data coverage, sitemap health, and international/ hreflang setup have their own dedicated 69-point pass in the sibling shopify-seo-checklist repo, cross-linked below, rather than being duplicated here at lower depth.
• It's not a ranking or revenue guarantee. Clearing every box here is good store hygiene across launch, conversion, speed, and visibility. It is not a promise of any particular ranking, conversion rate, or revenue number — no legitimate checklist can honestly claim that.
• The AI-visibility section describes an emerging, evolving area. Conventions like llms.txt and how AI answer engines weigh structured data are not standardized the way traditional SEO is — treat that category as good current practice, not settled fact.
• It's not store-specific advice. The items are written to be true for Shopify stores in general; your store's actual priority order depends on your catalog, traffic, and current issues — use the severity tags as a starting point, not a strict order of operations.
• Progress isn't shared or backed up anywhere. localStorage is per-browser, per-device. If you clear site data or switch browsers, use "Export progress as Markdown" first to keep a copy.

FAQ

Does this modify my store, or need any store access? No. It's a static checklist — the web app runs entirely in your browser and the CLI just prints text. Neither ever makes a network request to your store or needs an API key.

How is this different from shopify-seo-checklist? That repo is a deep, 69-item pass on technical and on-page SEO alone. This repo is the broader "is my store actually ready and optimized" pass — pre-launch, conversion, speed, AI visibility, analytics, marketing, a lighter SEO layer, trust, and mobile. Run both if you want full coverage; they're written to complement, not duplicate, each other.

Why include an "AI visibility" category — isn't that just SEO? It overlaps with SEO but isn't identical. Structured data and factual, specific copy help both, but things like llms.txt, not blocking AI crawlers specifically, and spot-checking what ChatGPT or Perplexity actually says about your store are checks a classic SEO checklist wouldn't include.

Can I add or edit items? Yes — it's all in data.js, a plain array. Fork it, edit the array, open a PR if you think an item belongs in the shared version.

Why does the CLI and the web app share one file? So the checklist itself only has one source of truth (data.js). Edit it once; both surfaces update together, and there's nothing to keep in sync by hand.

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→ Want the checkable parts of this run automatically, plus a full SEO + CRO + AI-visibility score? Free, no signup required to see your score.

Related Shopify tools

Also from Ecom Swift LLC, free and open source:

• shopify-seo-checklist — the deep, 69-point technical/on-page SEO pass this repo deliberately doesn't duplicate
• shopify-store-audit-toolkit — a CLI that runs a real, automated version of many of the technical checks in this list against a live store URL
• shopify-theme-performance-auditor — audits theme source files for large assets, unused CSS/JS, and render-blocking resources — a deeper automated pass on the "speed" category above
• Full list: github.com/EcomswiftLLC · github.com/Ecom-Swift-LLC
• More free tools: www.ecomswiftllc.com/free-tools

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome — a missing check, an outdated Shopify platform detail, a clearer explanation for an existing item. Please include:

1. Which category/item is affected (or where a new one should go)
2. Why it matters (a source or a concrete example helps)
3. The change to data.js itself if you're proposing new or edited text

Run the test suite before submitting: npm test. It validates the data file's structure (no duplicate ids, no placeholder text, valid severities) — it doesn't grade the advice itself, just the plumbing.

Roadmap

• Optional shareable/read-only progress link (no account, still no server-side storage)
• A "generate a prioritized punch list" mode that sorts unchecked critical items first
• npm publish so npx shopify-store-optimization-checklist works without cloning
• Track how AI-answer-engine behavior evolves and revisit the ai-visibility category as conventions (like llms.txt) mature or change

Have an item you think belongs on the list? Open an issue.

License

MIT — see LICENSE. Copyright © 2026 Ecom Swift LLC.

Need help?

This project is maintained by Ecom Swift LLC, a Shopify Partner.

• 🛍️ Shopify Partner Directory: https://www.shopify.com/partners/directory/partner/waowy
• ✉️ Email: support@ecomswiftllc.com
• 💬 WhatsApp: https://wa.me/16312511767

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Get more than a checklist

This repo covers the checks that translate cleanly into a checklist format. The full audit at audit.ecomswiftllc.com runs a meaningful share of it automatically against your live store — SEO, speed, CRO, and AI/LLM visibility (can ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI actually see and cite your store) — plus a downloadable PDF, free, no signup required to see your score. For everything else, browse our other free tools at www.ecomswiftllc.com/free-tools, or see what we do at www.ecomswiftllc.com.