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From the Trenches: Shopware & E-Commerce.

Practical lessons on Shopware 6 plugin development, e-commerce architecture, and performance optimization from real DACH projects, updated monthly.

  1. 01 / 18 5 min read
    shopwareshopware-6e-commercemigrationplugin-developmentphp

    Shopware plugin compatibility check before a major update

    A Shopware plugin compatibility check before a 6.4 to 6.7 update: list every plugin, sort it, then replace or rebuild. What breaks at each version and why.

    A small creature with a clipboard stands at the edge of a large board laid out as a grid of connected sockets, about half of them filled with blue blocks, while several loose blocks with mismatched pegs lie beside it
  2. 02 / 18 5 min read
    shopwareshopware-6e-commercesecuritymaintenancephp

    Who patches your Shopware shop when a security fix drops?

    Shopware security patches only protect a shop if someone installs them. Who owns the Security Plugin, PHP and plugin updates, and what I do on a retainer.

    Two small creatures look puzzled on the pavement around a glowing parcel in front of a shop with a cracked window, while a third creature carries a parcel through the open door
  3. 03 / 18 7 min read
    shopwareshopware-6e-commercehiringbusinessdebugging

    Shopware Store Audit: Check Who Wrote the Repair Plan

    A Shopware store audit plan is easy to copy and hard to carry out. What a safe audit covers before Black Friday, and 5 questions that show who wrote it.

    A middleman at a shop counter presents a repair plan on tracing paper, while the original plan it was copied from hangs on the wall behind him
  4. 04 / 18 5 min read
    google-playandroidplatform-riskfreelancing

    Google Play Removed My App in India: What I Know So Far

    Google Play removed my app in India and rejected my appeal as a local law violation, with no detail. What I know, what Google's rules say and platform risk.

    A small keeper with a lantern watches a curved row of glowing archways that visitors walk into, while one archway is shut behind a padlocked shutter and three puzzled visitors shrug in front of it
  5. 05 / 18 8 min read
    shopwareshopware-6shopware-coretheme-developmentopen-sourcephp

    Shopware theme:create: Scaffold More Than a Skeleton

    theme:create wrote a bare skeleton and named every theme swag/theme-skeleton. What the new --full and scaffold flags fix, shipped in Shopware 6.7.14.0.

    A builder cranks a machine that raises one bare house frame and one house furnishing itself as it rises
  6. 06 / 18 9 min read
    shopwareshopware-6agentic-commercemcpautomationb2b

    Shopware Merchant Agent: What Stops It Breaking Your Shop

    Shopware's Admin MCP lets a merchant agent stage price, stock and promotion changes with server-side dry-run previews. Here is what actually stops it writing.

    Shopware merchant agent approval flow: staged change with before and after values, server dry-run preview, and an approve or discard gate
  7. 07 / 18 16 min read
    shopwareshopware-6agentic-commerceucpplugin-developmentcheckout

    Shopware Universal Commerce Protocol: Setup and Limits

    I installed Shopware's Universal Commerce Protocol plugin on a real shop. Three things blocked the first agent request, and payment is not what it looks like.

    Shopware Universal Commerce Protocol setup: UCP profile, agent checkout flow, and payment status
  8. 08 / 18 9 min read
    shopwareshopware-6shopware-corepromotionscheckoutopen-sourcedebugging

    Shopware Promotion Bug: lineItemNotFound on Discount Removal

    Removing one discount line item threw lineItemNotFound in Shopware 6.7. The re-entrant event loop behind it, the fix, and the affected versions.

    Code diff of the lineItemNotFound guard in Shopware's promotion discount removal loop
  9. 09 / 18 7 min read
    freelancingsecurityclient-managementwordpressfiverr

    The Fiverr Brief That Asked Me to Run a Stranger's Database Locally

    A Fiverr brief asked for an ERP integration, then sent a WordPress folder and database dump to run locally. Why that goes into a container first.

    An incident-timeline card showing a Fiverr brief requesting an ERP integration, a Dropbox zip containing a WordPress folder and database dump with instructions to run it locally, and the account being reported and blocked without a reply
  10. 10 / 18 10 min read
    shopwareshopware-6migrationsymfony-flexe-commercephp

    Shopware 6 Major Version Upgrade: A Real Story

    A Shopware 6 major version upgrade is never just composer update. Here's what broke on a shop stuck on 6.3, and the schema-check script that fixed it.

    Shopware 6 major version upgrade audit: pre-Flex 6.3 template, manual Flex migration, collided core migrations, and the schema-check script that shipped
  11. 11 / 18 9 min read
    shopwareshopware-6compliancelegale-commercegermany

    Shopware Withdrawal Button: Compliant Setup After June 19, 2026

    Germany's withdrawal button became mandatory on June 19, 2026. Here's how to activate the native Shopware 6.7.9.0 solution or build it for custom templates.

    Withdrawal button in a Shopware 6 storefront footer with a form page and automatic confirmation email
  12. 12 / 18 8 min read
    shopwareshopware-6hiringtheme-developmentinternationalizatione-commercebusiness

    Hiring a Shopware Developer: What the Cheapest Option Really Costs

    A true 5-year story about hiring a Shopware developer: why the cheapest quote costs the most, and how to choose one who won't make you pay twice.

    Two build approaches across changes to a Shopware shop: a tightly-coupled build breaking on every change, a standard-built one absorbing them
  13. 13 / 18 8 min read
    shopwareshopware-6agentic-commerceai-searchb2b

    Shopware Agentic Commerce: Is Your Store AI-Ready?

    Shopware quietly added an AI shopping channel in version 6.7.10. Most DACH B2B stores aren't set up to use it. Here's what that's costing you.

    Shopware 6.7.10 Agentic Commerce readiness: native AI shopping channel, AI traffic up 393% YoY in 2026
  14. 14 / 18 11 min read
    shopwareshopware-6supplier-rotationdropshippingmanufacturingfulfillmente-commerce

    Shopware 6: Split Orders Across Suppliers

    How I built supplier rotation in Shopware 6 to split orders fairly across suppliers. A practical guide for dropshippers and manufacturers.

    Diagram of Shopware 6 supplier rotation: order #42 routed to SUP_01 with four supplier nodes showing fill quotas around a central order
  15. 15 / 18 9 min read
    shopwareshopware-6shopware-coreplugin-developmentopen-sourcedebugging

    Shopware Date Filter Bug: 15 Months vs 3

    Two date filter bugs in a client's Shopware 6 admin turned out to live in Shopware itself. Here's how they hid for so long, and what shop owners should know.

    Code diff showing the one-identifier fix to a Shopware 6 date filter bug
  16. 16 / 18 12 min read
    shopwareshopware-5shopware-6migratione-commerce

    Shopware 5 End of Life: Migrate in 2026

    Shopware 5 reached end-of-life in July 2024. Two years on, security, PHP, and plugin risks compound monthly. The honest 2026 picture for merchants.

    Featured image marking the Shopware 5 end-of-life in July 2024 and the case for migrating to Shopware 6 in 2026
  17. 17 / 18 8 min read
    shopwareshopware-6e-commercephpshippinglogistics

    Custom shipping logic in Shopware 6

    Shopware 6 shipping rules cover most shops, but real logistics need bin-packing and geographic rules. Here is how to build a custom shipping engine.

    Diagram of Shopware 6 custom shipping calculation showing bin-packing across multiple package types
  18. 18 / 18 8 min read
    shopwareshopware-6plugin-developmente-commercephp

    166 Shopware 6 Plugins: What I Learned

    Most Shopware plugins break on the next update. After 166 builds, here's what owners and agencies should know about making plugins that survive.

    Illustration of the Shopware 6 decoration pattern that keeps plugins working through core updates