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5 min
1

Buy your own subscription

  • Open your storefront and visit your product page. (Dev storefronts are password-gated; find the password in the dev store admin under Online Store > Preferences.) Under Purchase options, pick the subscription and add to cart.
  • Check out with Shopify’s test gateway: card number 1, any name, any future expiry, any CVC. (No test payment option at checkout? Activate the test gateway first: dev store admin, Settings > Payments.)
Purchase options: the subscription selected, headed to test checkout.
Checkpoint: order placed, no real money.
2

See it in both places

  • Find the subscription in the OpenSubs admin.
  • Still signed in as the test subscriber, open /a/account on the storefront; the account area loads with no login screen.
The subscription in the OpenSubs admin.
/a/account: the subscriber portal, no login screen.
Checkpoint: same subscription in both. The subscriber’s receipt is Shopify’s own order confirmation.
No welcome email is not a bug. With no provider connected, the only receipt is Shopify’s order confirmation, same as any order. Once SendGrid or Klaviyo is connected and the event is on, the Subscription created email takes that role (Klaviyo flows arrive as drafts).
3

Look at the health page

  • In the OpenSubs admin, open Settings > Operational health.
You’ll see: five panels: alerts quiet, providers healthy, jobs green, webhooks delivering, queues quiet. The page the machine reports to from now on; reading it each morning is The morning check.
Operational health: jobs green, webhooks delivering, queues quiet.
Checkpoint: green board. It sold once, and you own every piece of it.

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Congratulations: the machine is yours

A shopper subscribed, Shopify wrote the contract, your engine mirrored it, the portal served it: every part lit, and green means proven. The installer left nothing behind but the machine itself: your database, your app, your store. Time spent: about an hour. Percentage owed on every order it ever takes: zero. When you’re ready for your real store, the next rung is Live for New Orders.

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Where next

What runs without you

Billing, retries, and emails on schedule.

Live for New Orders

From the dev store to your real store.
Last modified on November 5, 2026