Shopify AssetLink admin guide

The Shopify AssetLink app allows you to link product assets in your Cloudinary Media Library to your Shopify stores, attaching them to products based on metadata matching. This guide is for account administrators, walking you through the installation and configuration of the required components, the Shopify and Cloudinary app setups.

Prerequisites

• A Cloudinary account with access to the Assets product???Is a free account sufficient? Where should I link to here? The sign-up page? Support?
• At least one Shopify store where you want to sync assets
• Admin-level access to both your Cloudinary account and Shopify store(s)

Installation

Enable the Shopify AssetLink app in Cloudinary Assets

You'll need to enable the Shopify AssetLink app in the Cloudinary Assets product environment containing the images and videos you want to sync to Shopify.

To enable the AssetLink app in Cloudinary:

1. Log into your Cloudinary account.
2. In the Console, use the Product Navigation menu on the left:
   1. In the dropdown at the top of the menu, select the product environment that contains the images you want to use on your storefront.
   2. Select Assets to navigate to the Assets product.
   3. Select App Marketplace.
3. In the App Marketplace, find the Shopify AssetLink app and set it to Enabled.

Install the Cloudinary AssetLink Shopify app in your stores

Install the Cloudinary AssetLink app from the Shopify App Store on every Shopify store that you intend to link assets to.

Configuration

In order to use your Cloudinary assets in your Shopify stores, you'll need to open the Shopify AssetLink app. Use the Setup tab to link them to Cloudinary.

Open the Shopify AssetLink app in Cloudinary

To open the AssetLink app in Cloudinary:

1. In the Console, from the Product Navigation menu on the left, make sure the right product environment is selected from the dropdown at the top of the menu, and make sure Assets is selected.
2. Click Assets or Folders under Media Library.
3. Select at least one asset.
4. From the (3-dots) option menu in the assets toolbar, select Shopify AssetLink. This opens the AssetLink app in Cloudinary Assets dialog box, with the Setup tab open.
   Note

   The Setup tab opens for Master Admins only. If the Setup tab is disabled, you'll need to log into Cloudinary as a user with the Master Admin role.

Link your Shopify stores to Cloudinary

To link your Shopify store to Cloudinary:

1. Once you've opened the Shopify AssetLink app, click the Setup tab
2. Click Connect new store. The Connect Cloudinary AssetLink to Shopify Store dialog box opens.
3. Click Cloudinary AssetLink app to access your AssetLink app within your Shopify store.??What if I have a few? Does that button send me to only one?
4. In the Shopify admin for every store you want to add:
   1. Go to the Cloudinary AssetLink app on the app menu.
   2. Select Settings on the app menu.
   3. Select the AssetLink App in Cloudinary tab.
   4. Copy the connection code. ???I don't have access to a Shopify store, so I can't confirm this step.??Could you please provide a screencap?
5. Paste the connection code in the Connect Cloudinary AssetLink to Shopify Store dialog box.
6. Click Connect.

Setup

Once you've connected Cloudinary to your Shopify stores, you can use the Setup tab of the AssetLink app in Cloudinary Assets dialog box to configure your basic asset synchronization settings, such as which metadata fields to use for grouping assets.

Default Image Transformation

Define the transformation string applied to all image uploads to Shopify. Use this setting to ensure consistent image dimensions and cropping.

Example: w_1200,h_1200,c_fill

Alt Text Source

Select which Cloudinary field provides the alt text when uploading assets to Shopify. This determines how alt text is populated in the Link to Products tab.

Examples: Display Name or Structured Metadata: Description

Shopify Filename Format

Choose how filenames are generated when uploading to Shopify. This setting affects how assets appear in Shopify’s product media library.

Options: Use Public ID only for filename or Include all metadata in filename

Video Upload Behavior

Configure how video assets are handled when syncing to Shopify products.

Options:

• Upload video placeholder: Uploads a thumbnail with a play button.
• Upload full video to Shopify: Uploads the actual video (coming soon).
• No upload: Skips uploading to Shopify but updates the Product Media metafield.

Advanced settings

• Asset Type Metadata Field: Allows you to select a single or multi-select metadata field that contains asset type information such as product or swatch. Swatches are displayed differently and written to the cloudinary.swatch metafield.???Not sure I understood.

• Product Sync Completed Webhook: Specifies a webhook URL to receive a notification when a product sync operation completes.

• Enable Cache Busting: Adds today’s timestamp as a version prefix to the public_id in the productmedia_v1 metadata.

Using the AssetLink app

After you configure the basic synchronization settings in the Setup tab, users can work with assets in the other two tabs. These tabs provide the main interface for daily operations with AssetLink.

For complete details on using these tabs, including step-by-step instructions and workflow procedures, see the User guide.

Link to Products tab

The Link to Products tab is where users organize selected assets and configure how AssetLink links them to Shopify products. Users can:

• Group assets based on metadata matching (e.g., by SKU or product ID)
• Set alt text for each asset
• Choose link modes (overwrite, append, prepend, or reset)
• Control asset ordering within product listings
• Preview and exclude assets before syncing

Upload to Store Files tab

The Upload to Store Files tab allows users to upload assets directly to a Shopify store's file library without linking them to specific products. This is useful for general assets like logos, banners, or other store-wide content that doesn't belong to a specific product.