[Phase 0] Deprecate --force on app deploy and app release by alfonso-noriega · Pull Request #6993 · Shopify/cli

alfonso-noriega · 2026-03-12T16:50:44Z

Summary

Adds a deprecation warning when --force / -f is used on app deploy and app release. The flag will be removed in Shopify CLI 4.0.

Renders a renderWarning in run() immediately after flag parsing on both commands
Covers both explicit --force and SHOPIFY_FLAG_FORCE=1 env var (oclif resolves env vars into flags.force)
Updates flag description to note the deprecation
Adds a changeset (patch)
New command-level test files for both commands (8 tests total, all passing)

Migration path

Before	After
`shopify app deploy --force`	`shopify app deploy --allow-updates --allow-deletes`
`shopify app deploy --force` (CI, no deletes)	`shopify app deploy --allow-updates`
`SHOPIFY_FLAG_FORCE=1`	`SHOPIFY_FLAG_ALLOW_UPDATES=1`
`shopify app release --force`	`shopify app release --allow-updates --allow-deletes`

Test plan

pnpm vitest run src/cli/commands/app/deploy.test.ts src/cli/commands/app/release.test.ts — 8/8 pass
Full @shopify/app test suite — 190 files, 1894 tests, all pass

Tracking

Issue: shop/issues-develop#22362
Tech design: Semantic Versioning, Auto-Upgrade, and --force Deprecation
Phase 3 removal: shop/issues-develop#22370

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

github-actions · 2026-03-12T16:57:51Z

Coverage report

St.^❔	Category	Percentage	Covered / Total
🟢	Statements	82.22%	14975/18214
🟡	Branches	74.7%	7416/9928
🟢	Functions	81.22%	3771/4643
🟢	Lines	82.63%	14162/17140

Test suite run success

3920 tests passing in 1506 suites.

Report generated by 🧪jest coverage report action from 8889ed3

dmerand

Just a couple of testing notes.

packages/app/src/cli/commands/app/deploy.test.ts

packages/app/src/cli/commands/app/release.test.ts

isaacroldan · 2026-03-16T12:29:39Z

packages/app/src/cli/commands/app/deploy.ts

      description:
-        'Deploy without asking for confirmation. Equivalent to --allow-updates --allow-deletes. For CI/CD environments, the recommended flag is --allow-updates.',
+        '[Deprecated] Deploy without asking for confirmation. Equivalent to --allow-updates --allow-deletes. Use --allow-updates for CI/CD environments instead.',
      env: 'SHOPIFY_FLAG_FORCE',
      char: 'f',
    }),


A flag in Oclif can be marked as deprecated natively.

deprecated: true // or deprecated: {message....}

not sure how it looks like, but worth checking it out

Investigated it — oclif's native deprecated flag calls this.warn() which outputs plain text to stderr. Our renderWarning gives the styled box that's consistent with all other deprecation warnings in the Shopify CLI. There's also no existing precedent for the oclif approach in this codebase, so keeping renderWarning felt like the right call for UX consistency.

sounds good, wonder if this is something that can be generalized in the BaseCommand though!

dynamically look if you are using deprecated flags and show a custom message.
It will provide a generic way for other teams to use

+1 This extraction would be a good follow-up.

.changeset/deprecate-force-flag-deploy-release.md

alfonso-noriega · 2026-03-18T10:39:01Z

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Add a deprecation warning when --force / -f is used on app deploy and app release. The flag will be removed in Shopify CLI 4.0. Users should migrate to --allow-updates (for CI/CD) or --allow-updates --allow-deletes (when removals are also needed). The SHOPIFY_FLAG_FORCE env var is covered by the same check since oclif resolves it into flags.force. Closes shop/issues-develop#22362 Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Replace "Shopify CLI 4.0" with "a future major release" across the deprecation warning, tests, and changeset to avoid leaking roadmap details in the public repository. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

…pe, refresh oclif manifests - Rename 'does not show deprecation warning when only --allow-deletes is passed' to correctly reflect its args (--allow-updates --allow-deletes) in deploy.test.ts - Add separate test for --allow-deletes alone in deploy.test.ts - Fix duplicate --allow-updates test in release.test.ts (now tests --allow-updates --allow-deletes) - Fix Organization object literal: remove non-existent fields (website, apps, zeroPartyData, appsNext) and add required 'source' field in both test files - Regenerate oclif.manifest.json and README.md via pnpm refresh-manifests Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

LoadedAppContextOutput requires a specifications field. Added specifications: [] to the mock in both deploy.test.ts and release.test.ts to fix the type-check CI failure. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

alfonso-noriega requested review from a team as code owners March 12, 2026 16:50

dmerand reviewed Mar 12, 2026

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alfonso-noriega marked this pull request as draft March 13, 2026 09:02

alfonso-noriega marked this pull request as ready for review March 13, 2026 16:30

alfonso-noriega requested review from gonzaloriestra and isaacroldan March 13, 2026 16:30

isaacroldan reviewed Mar 16, 2026

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aswamy reviewed Mar 16, 2026

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alfonso-noriega force-pushed the 03-12-deprecate_force_flag_on_deploy_and_release branch from 0f7035f to 22bda3d Compare March 18, 2026 10:38

alfonso-noriega requested review from aswamy, dmerand and isaacroldan March 18, 2026 16:41

isaacroldan approved these changes Mar 18, 2026

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dmerand added the App Platform Theory Big moments in the app platform history, to build historical context label Mar 18, 2026

dmerand approved these changes Mar 18, 2026

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aswamy approved these changes Mar 18, 2026

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EvilGenius13 approved these changes Mar 18, 2026

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alfonso-noriega force-pushed the 03-12-deprecate_force_flag_on_deploy_and_release branch from 22bda3d to b8bd1d7 Compare March 19, 2026 10:54

alfonso-noriega mentioned this pull request Mar 19, 2026

Generalize --force deprecation warning into BaseCommand #7046

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nickwesselman approved these changes Mar 19, 2026

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alfonso-noriega and others added 6 commits March 20, 2026 10:06

Use 'the next major release' in --force deprecation warning

eaed367

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Add missing specifications field to linkedAppContext mock

0861abf

LoadedAppContextOutput requires a specifications field. Added specifications: [] to the mock in both deploy.test.ts and release.test.ts to fix the type-check CI failure. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Add missing specifications field to linkedAppContext mock

8889ed3

LoadedAppContextOutput requires a specifications field. Added specifications: [] to the mock in both deploy.test.ts and release.test.ts to fix the type-check CI failure. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

alfonso-noriega force-pushed the 03-12-deprecate_force_flag_on_deploy_and_release branch from b8bd1d7 to 8889ed3 Compare March 20, 2026 09:06

alfonso-noriega added this pull request to the merge queue Mar 20, 2026

github-merge-queue bot removed this pull request from the merge queue due to failed status checks Mar 20, 2026

alfonso-noriega added this pull request to the merge queue Mar 20, 2026

Merged via the queue into main with commit aae6d16 Mar 20, 2026
30 checks passed

alfonso-noriega deleted the 03-12-deprecate_force_flag_on_deploy_and_release branch March 20, 2026 09:55

alfonso-noriega mentioned this pull request Mar 20, 2026

Restore files accidentally removed from main #7059

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[Phase 0] Deprecate --force on app deploy and app release#6993

[Phase 0] Deprecate --force on app deploy and app release#6993
alfonso-noriega merged 6 commits intomainfrom
03-12-deprecate_force_flag_on_deploy_and_release

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Summary

Migration path

Test plan

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