← All guides · By Agents4Ecom · Published Oct 14, 2026

Shopify Flow for Beginners: 3 Workflows You Can Build on Shopify Basic

The easiest way to start with Shopify Flow is to build three internal workflows: a low-stock alert (trigger: inventory quantity changed), a weekly KPI email (trigger: scheduled time, then Get order data, Count and Sum), and a daily stuck-orders digest. All three are free on Shopify Basic, use only built-in actions, and take 15 to 20 minutes each.

Flow is already available for your store, and most owners never open it. This tutorial explains the three building blocks, then walks through the three workflows, with the weekly KPI email in full detail.

What are the building blocks of Shopify Flow?

• Triggers start a workflow. Some are events (an order is paid, a variant's stock changes). One is time: Scheduled time runs a workflow on a schedule you set, as often as every 10 minutes or as rarely as once a year.
• Conditions check something and branch to True or False.
• Actions do the work. For beginners, the most useful are Send internal email, Add product tags, Add order tags, Get order data, Count and Sum.

One plan note: Send HTTP request is only on Grow, Advanced and Plus. Everything in this tutorial avoids it, so it works on Basic. More background: What is Shopify Flow?

Workflow 1: How do you build a low-stock alert?

Trigger Product variant inventory quantity changed. Condition: new quantity at or below your reorder point and prior quantity above it. Actions: Add product tags (low-stock) and Send internal email.

The full walkthrough, including how to choose a reorder point and test in a minute, is in How to set up a low-stock alert in Shopify.

Workflow 2: How do you build a weekly KPI email?

This one shows how scheduled workflows work, because a Scheduled time trigger brings in no data by itself. You fetch it with a "Get" action.

1. Create workflow and choose Scheduled time. Set the start to next Monday at 8:00, check the time zone (it defaults to your store's), then Add repeat rule → every 1 week, Monday.
2. Add Get order data. Sort by created date, set max results to 100, and use a query for orders created in the last 7 days. Shopify's documentation for this action shows how to make a relative date using the scheduledAt variable with date_minus.
3. Add Count and point it at the Get order data list. That's your order count.
4. Add Sum, point it at the same list, and choose the order total amount. That's your revenue.
5. Add Send internal email. In the message, include the count, the sum and average order value (sum divided by count, which you can compute with a Liquid filter). Paste the Liquid in one go.
6. Name it "Weekly KPI brief," Turn on workflow, and confirm Turn on.

Testing: Shopify suggests setting the first run shortly after you turn the workflow on. Set the start a few minutes ahead, confirm the email, then set it back to Monday 8:00. Compare the count and revenue with Analytics → Reports for the same 7 days. Small differences usually come from refunds or taxes.

Limit to know: Get order data returns at most 100 orders per step. If you get more than 100 orders a week, this email will undercount. Use Shopify's built-in reports or a tool like Make instead.

Where AI comes in: each Monday, paste the email into ChatGPT or Claude and ask, "What changed versus a normal week, and what are 3 things I should do?" It takes 30 seconds and gives you a weekly review you'd otherwise skip.

Our Weekly KPI Brief recipe has the exact query, email template and prompt.

Workflow 3: How do you build a stuck-orders digest?

Trigger Scheduled time (daily, 7:00). Get order data for paid, unfulfilled orders older than 2 days → Count → condition count > 0 → For each order Add order tags (stuck) → Send internal email.

Shopify has a template for this, and our step-by-step is at How to get a stuck-orders alert in Shopify.

How do you test a Flow workflow before trusting it?

1. Write a "done when" sentence first. "Done when I get one email listing the test order, and the order has the stuck tag."
2. Use test data. A test product, or a test order through Bogus Gateway or a manual order marked paid.
3. Shorten the clock. For scheduled workflows, start a few minutes from now. For age-based queries, temporarily use minutes instead of days.
4. Read Recent runs. Each run shows which branch the condition took and whether each action succeeded.
5. Put the real settings back. It's easy to forget, and then you get an email every 10 minutes.

What mistakes do beginners make in Flow?

• Not confirming "Turn on." Clicking Turn on workflow opens a dialog. If you don't confirm, the workflow stays off.
• Not saving inventory edits. Inventory changes on a product page aren't applied until you click Save, so your test doesn't fire the trigger.
• Duplicate low-stock alerts. Missing the "prior quantity above threshold" condition.
• Typing Liquid. The editor auto-closes braces. Paste whole blocks instead.
• Broken queries. Shopify warns a failed query may return all results. Test bulk-tagging workflows carefully, with straight quotes.
• Building five at once. Build one, let it run a week, then add the next.

What should you build after these three?

Once these run reliably, look at Shopify Flow examples for small stores for seven more, including high-risk order holds and VIP customer tagging. If you want AI steps that run automatically, read Make vs Zapier vs n8n for Shopify.

FAQ

Is Shopify Flow free?

Yes. It's a free app on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus.

Can Flow send emails to customers?

Not generally. Send internal email is for you and your staff. A few actions send specific Shopify emails, such as an order invoice.

What's the most a "Get order data" step returns?

100 orders per step.

How often can a scheduled workflow run?

No more than once every 10 minutes.

Do I need Sidekick or any other app?

No. Everything here is built by hand in Flow with menus and copy-paste text.

Next step

Run the free AI audit to see which of these workflows fits your store first. It checks your public catalog, stock and visible apps in seconds, with no login.

Related guides

• Make vs Zapier vs n8n for Shopify: Which Should a Beginner Use?
• What Is Shopify Flow (and Is It Free?)
• What Can You Automate in a Shopify Store? 8 Jobs Worth Handing Off
• All automation recipes