Content rules

Rules decide who sees a block. Everything in the Content app block uses the same rules, under Who sees it: content blocks, and the progress bars, Reviews, What happens next and automations made since the Content block. For an automation, the rules decide when it acts.

Blocks made before the Content block, and functions, use conditions instead.

Add rules

Under Who sees it, choose Every checkout, or Only checkouts that match the rules. Then click Add condition and pick one from the list, by group or with Search conditions. Each condition has its options on its row, such as which amount to compare.

A line above the rules sums them up in words, such as “Shows when the shipping country is US.” Read it to check the block does what you mean.

And, or

Conditions sit in boxes:

• Or… adds a condition to the same box. Any condition in the box can pass.
• And… starts a new box. Every box has to pass.

For example, a free shipping message for buyers in Canada or the US whose subtotal is under $75:

Shipping address · Country · is any of · CA, US
and
Cart amount · Subtotal · is less than · 75

Buyer	First box	Second box	Block shows?
Canada, $50 subtotal	passes	passes	Yes
US, $90 subtotal	passes	fails	No
UK, $50 subtotal	fails	passes	No

Rules always take the shape (A or B) and (C or D). For (A and B) or (C and D), make two blocks, one for each side.

The conditions

Cart

Condition	What it checks
Cart amount	Subtotal, Total, Tax, Cart discounts or Paid by gift cards, compared with an amount: is more than, is at least, is less than, is at most, is exactly or is not. Subtotal and Total can count All items, Only these items or Leave out these items, by product, collection or tag, and Only some kinds of items: not free, free, one-time purchases, subscriptions, not bundles, added by Checkout Buddy or not, or the first line of each product.
Number of items	Items (each unit), Lines or Different products, with the same choice of items. Each product on its own compares each line’s quantity instead of the total. One match is enough: “2 or more of any one product”.
An item in the cart	Any item, Every item or No item, among the items In the cart, Of these products, in the cart, or These variants, in the cart or not, then what to compare: Product or variant, Collection, Product type, Vendor, Product tag, Product title, Variant title, SKU, Line price, Compare-at price, On sale, Quantity, Discount, Line item property, Product metafield, Variant metafield, Subscription, Available for sale, On backorder, Bundle component title or SKU, Added by Checkout Buddy, or Its product is on another line too. The comparison is next to the condition’s name, such as matches any of: it lists only the comparisons the field you picked takes, and picking another field moves it to one that fits. Add each product type or vendor on its own, so a name with a comma like Acme, Inc. stays one name.
Cart weight	Each item’s shipping weight times its quantity, in kg, lb, g or oz
Sale items	In the cart or not in the cart: the items’ compare-at prices add up to more than the subtotal
Cart attribute	An answer saved by a form, an automation or another app, by its Key: is, contains, has a value, is empty, is more than and the like (numbers compare as numbers), or is a date within the next so many Days (today counts; the attribute holds a date like 2026-12-24). Leave Key empty to check every attribute.
Order note	Has text, is empty, contains or doesn’t contain

Discounts

Condition	What it checks
Discount code	Codes the buyer entered: is any of, is none of, contains, any code is used, no code is used, or the number of codes used, optionally Only codes containing some text. Checkout drops codes that don’t exist in Shopify.
Discount applied	Any discount, no discount, or one whose code or title contains your text: a code, or an automatic discount on the order or an item
Gift cards used	How many gift cards the buyer used

Customer

Condition	What it checks
Customer	Is or isn’t Logged in, A guest, On their first order or A returning customer, or has more than, at least, fewer than or exactly a number of Orders before this one. First order and returning customer need a logged-in buyer.
Marketing	Accepts or doesn’t accept Email or SMS marketing, Email marketing or SMS marketing: what a logged-in buyer agreed to receive
Phone number	The buyer’s phone or The shipping address phone is given or isn’t given
Email	The buyer’s email contains, is, is given and the like. Separate several with commas: any of them matches, such as @yourcompany.com, @partner.com.
Customer metafield	The logged-in customer’s custom.field or custom.field_2 metafield: is, contains, has a value, is empty, or more or less than a number. Checkout can read only these two (a Shopify limit). Empty for guests. Fill them with Shopify Flow, by hand or with another app, for example a VIP tier.
B2B	Is a B2B buyer, isn’t a B2B buyer, or the company or location is any of the ones you pick
Company metafield	The B2B buyer’s company’s custom.field or custom.field_2 metafield, only these two (a Shopify limit). Empty for other buyers.

Shopify doesn’t let checkout read customer tags. To sort buyers, use a customer metafield.

Delivery

Condition	What it checks
Shipping address	A Part of the address: Country, Province or state (two-letter codes, such as CA, US or ON, QC, NY), City (accents, capitals and dashes don’t matter), Postal code, Address line 1, Address line 2, Company, or First name is the last name. Compare with is any of, is none of, starts with any of, contains, is filled in and the like: the list next to the condition’s name shows only the ones the part you picked takes.
Billing address	Country, Province or state or Company
Delivery method	Shipping, Local delivery, Pickup in store or Pickup point: the kind the buyer has picked so far
Shipping method	The name of the method the buyer picked: name contains, name is and the like. Accents and capitals don’t matter.

Postal codes: with is any of, end a code with * to match its start, so 90* matches 90210. With starts with any of, the start is enough: 90 matches 90210. Spaces and dashes don’t matter.

Payment

Condition	What it checks
Payment method	The kind of payment the buyer picked: Credit card, Wallet (Shop Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal…), Gift card or store credit, Cash on delivery, Manual payment (bank deposit, money order), Pay later (payment terms), Local payment method, Offsite payment, Custom payment method or Other

Store

Condition	What it checks
Language	The buyer’s checkout language, by code. fr also matches fr-CA.
Country	The country checkout prices for, by two-letter code. It follows the shipping address.
Market	The buyer’s market, picked from your markets. It follows the shipping country. For a market inside another, tick both.
Date	Is between, is on or after, is on or before, is on or is not on the days you pick, in your store’s time zone. The days you pick are included.
Day and time	Is during or is outside the weekdays and hours you pick, in your store’s time zone. An end before the start runs past midnight, such as 10 PM to 6 AM.

Under each item, shipping method or pickup location

These only pass in a Content app block under each item, shipping method or pickup location. Anywhere else they never match, and the block’s editor reminds you.

Condition	What it checks
This item	The item the block sits under, with the same choices as An item in the cart: its product, tag, SKU, price, a metafield and so on
This shipping method	The method the block sits under: its name contains or name is your text, or it is the one chosen
This pickup location	The location the block sits under: its name (the location’s, or its option’s), or it is the one chosen

Other

Condition	What it checks
Blocks the buyer has seen	Other Checkout Buddy blocks that have shown in this checkout, by ID: include any of or include none of

How rules are checked

• Live. Rules are checked again whenever checkout changes: items, amounts, discount codes, the address, delivery, payment, cart attributes and the order note. A block appears or goes away while the buyer is on the page, without a reload.
• On the minute. A Date or Day and time rule changes the block at its minute, even if the buyer does nothing: an “Order by 2 PM” banner goes away at 2:00.
• In your store’s time zone. Dates and times use your store’s time zone wherever the buyer is. It’s saved with the block: if you change it in Shopify, save your blocks again.
• Money in the buyer’s currency. Type amounts in your store’s currency. Buyers paying in another currency are compared at Shopify’s rate, the same rate your discounts use, so one block covers every currency. B2B buyers are compared as typed, because company prices can’t be looked up by country.
• Numbers as numbers. A cart attribute of 10 is more than 9. Text ignores capitals: VIP matches vip.
• “Has a value” needs a value. An attribute or property that’s there but empty doesn’t count.
• “Every item” fails on an empty cart.

When checkout doesn’t know yet

A rule about something checkout doesn’t know yet waits, and the block stays hidden until it knows. So nothing shows and then vanishes.

• No shipping address yet. A Shipping address rule waits until the buyer enters one. For example, “Country is none of US” doesn’t show a block before there’s an address. A pickup order has no address, which counts as known.
• No billing address yet.
• Product tags, collections, stock and metafields load from your store when a rule needs them. Each item waits for its own, so an item that decides doesn’t wait for one still loading.
• The currency rate, for buyers paying in another currency.
• A market or country checkout doesn’t report.

Payment method rules are the exception: before the buyer picks one, nothing is chosen, so “is none of Cash on delivery” passes.

An automation acts only when its rules surely pass, and undoes only when they surely fail. While checkout is still loading, it does nothing.

In Shopify’s checkout editor, the Content app block shows a note only you see when blocks are hidden because their rules don’t match the editor’s preview checkout.

Examples

You want	Rule
A free shipping nudge under $75	Cart amount · Subtotal · is less than · 75, with {{ toMoney(remaining(75)) }} in the text
A pre-order notice	An item in the cart · Any item · In the cart · Product tag · matches any of · preorder
“Order by 2 PM, ships today”	Day and time · is during · Monday to Friday, 12 AM to 2 PM
A fee note for cash on delivery	Payment method · is any of · Cash on delivery, with the block before or after the payment methods
A note under the Express shipping method only	This shipping method · name is · Express, with the block under each shipping method
A message for VIP customers	Customer metafield · custom.field · is · VIP
A wholesale notice	B2B · is a B2B buyer
A holiday deadline	Date · is between · November 1 and December 15

Coming from older conditions

Blocks made before the Content block have conditions, over 120 of them. Content rules group them into about 30, with the old variations as options on the row. A few to find:

Older condition	Content rule
Cart total, Cart subtotal	Cart amount → Total or Subtotal
Cart total excluding selected variants, or line item tags	Cart amount → Leave out these items
Quantity of items with product tags	Number of items → Only these items, by tag
Line item tags, Cart products, Cart collections	An item in the cart → Product tag, Product or variant, Collection
Target line item conditions	This item
Target shipping method title	This shipping method
Selected shipping method title	Shipping method
Selected delivery option type	Delivery method
Selected payment option type	Payment method
Customer account exists	Customer → Logged in
Customer metafield checkout_buddy.field	Customer metafield, which reads custom.field or custom.field_2 only
Date, Day, Time	Date, Day and time, in your store’s time zone
Block IDs	Blocks the buyer has seen
The Markets setting	Market
The devices setting on Image blocks	Show on, in the block’s Look

There’s no Export or Import on Who sees it. To reuse a block’s rules, Duplicate the block and change its parts.