We recently caught up with Jatto, one of Fera engineers, right after his experience at Shopify Dev Editions 2025. We were excited to hear about what he learned, the event itself, new ideas, and the future of Shopify development. Here’s what he had to share!
Q: How was your experience at Shopify Dev Editions?
A: My experience at Shopify Dev Editions was incredibly energizing and insightful. The event provided a perfect balance of technical deep dives, hands-on workshops, and networking opportunities. What stood out most was seeing the rapid pace of innovation across Shopify's ecosystem, particularly in AI integration .
From watching live coding demonstrations of the new Horizon theme to participating in workshops on setting up Storefront MCP widgets, the event offered valuable practical knowledge that I'm eager to implement. Despite the rooms being somewhat small, which limited participation in some popular sessions, the overall experience was exceptional and well worth the trip to Toronto.
Q: What was the biggest difference compared to last year's event?
A: The biggest difference this year was the significant emphasis on AI integration across every aspect of the platform. While AI was present last year, this edition showcased how it has matured from experimental features to deeply integrated, practical tools that transform how merchants operate their businesses . Sidekick has evolved dramatically with multilingual support, image generation, and voice interaction capabilities.
Another notable difference was the return of the commercial "Biz" track alongside the technical sessions, creating a more comprehensive event that addressed both development and business strategy aspects of the ecosystem. This dual approach made the event feel more complete and reminiscent of the earlier. Unite conferences that many veterans in the community appreciated.
Q: Was there anything new for you as a developer?
A: Absolutely! The next-generation local development tools were a revelation for me as a developer. The elimination of tunneling headaches and the ability to preview changes locally without complex setups will significantly streamline my workflow. The AI block generation in the theme editor was another game-changer—being able to describe what you want and have Shopify generate storefront blocks is going to radically improve development efficiency.
I was also impressed by the new App Intents feature, which enables apps to plug directly into merchant workflows inside the admin interface. Additionally, the unified SQLite file approach for staging and deployment will make it much easier to safely edit, preview, and deploy store changes. These tools collectively represent a major leap forward in the developer experience.
Q: Any speaker or session that really inspired you?
A: The session that truly inspired me was the live demonstration of the new Horizon theme by Brenda Storer, Trudy MacNabb, and Anne Thomas . Watching them code in real-time on stage and showcase how the theme's architecture and performance sets a new benchmark for theme development was eye-opening. Their presentation highlighted how Horizon combines aesthetic flexibility with performance optimization in ways I hadn't thought possible.
I was equally impressed by Toby Lütke's AMA session, where he shared his reflections on the past, future, and AI-driven commerce. His vision for how AI will transform not just Shopify but the entire e-commerce landscape was both thought-provoking and inspiring. His perspective on embracing innovation rather than "taking shelter" resonated strongly with me and reinforced the importance of staying at the cutting edge of technology as developers.
Q: How does this affect Fera as a review collection and display app on the Shopify app store?
A: The Shopify Editions announcements have several significant implications for Fera as a review collection and display app:
AI-Enhanced Capabilities: The expansion of AI across Shopify's ecosystem presents opportunities for Fera to integrate with Sidekick for more intelligent review analysis, sentiment detection, and automated responses to customer feedback. This could allow Fera to offer merchants deeper insights from their reviews without manual analysis.
App Store Evolution: Shopify explicitly discussed AI disruption in the app store ecosystem during the event. They identified categories that are ripe for disruption, and review apps need to consider how to build defensible moats through domain expertise and unique features. The shift toward app recommendations in Sidekick makes organic ranking even more critical—as one partner noted, "App store is winner-takes-most. Sidekick is winner-takes-all."
Customer Account Enhancements: The all-in-one customer accounts feature announced at Editions enables merchants to add functionalities like loyalty programs and wishlists without coding. This opens opportunities for Fera to integrate review collection directly into these enhanced customer accounts for a more seamless post-purchase experience.
Reduced Built for Shopify Requirements: Partners mentioned that Shopify has reduced BFS requirements from over 100 to just 19, making it potentially easier for Fera to maintain compliance and the coveted Built for Shopify badge.
Semantic Search Improvements: Shopify's new semantic search capabilities could be leveraged to make reviews more discoverable based on the content within them, rather than just keywords, enhancing the value of Fera's review display features.
International Expansion Opportunities: With Shopify's increased focus on Markets and global commerce, Fera has an opportunity to enhance its multilingual review capabilities to serve merchants selling internationally, ensuring reviews display appropriately across different market contexts.
Q: Any other noteworthy things from the event and the trip in general?
A: Several additional noteworthy aspects from the event and trip stand out:
Community Engagement: The sheer energy and collaborative spirit among Shopify partners was remarkable. Many attendees mentioned that Editions helped them find their "home" in the community and build valuable relationships that extend beyond business transactions.
Side Events Value: Some of the most valuable connections happened at side events like Techtonic by Mantle, the Gadget hosted dinner, and events from teams like Judge.me and Zapiet. These unofficial gatherings often led to deeper discussions and partnership opportunities.
Partner Co-Marketing: Shopify is scaling its investment in co-marketing tools and initiatives, creating more opportunities for apps like Fera to collaborate with Shopify on marketing campaigns and increase visibility.
Toronto as a Tech Hub: The city itself showcased its position as a growing tech hub, with many Canadian tech companies having a strong presence at and around the event.
B2B Focus: There was a notable emphasis on B2B features, with Shopify Markets now including B2B capabilities. This opens potential new use cases for review collection in B2B contexts, which typically have different review requirements than B2C.
Mobile App Experience: Several sessions highlighted improvements to the mobile shopping experience, suggesting that review apps should continue optimizing their display for mobile interfaces.
Post-Purchase Experience: There was significant discussion around enhancing the checkout and post-purchase experience, including customization of thank-you and order status pages—prime real estate for review collection prompts.
Developer Wellness: Interestingly, several events included wellness components (like the Pre-Editions Pilates session mentioned in the LinkedIn posts), reflecting the community's recognition of the importance of developer well-being alongside technical advancement.
The trip demonstrated that Shopify is firmly committed to its partner ecosystem despite the AI revolution, actively creating opportunities for apps and agencies to thrive alongside—rather than be replaced by—advancing technology.
Jatto had an awesome time at Shopify Dev Editions and came back with lots of exciting insights. As an engineer, the new tools from Shopify will make his work easier and better. This means new features for Fera to help our customers even more!
