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Overview

Channels segment a single Store into distinct selling surfaces. A channel represents where an order originates from — the online storefront, an in-person point-of-sale till, a marketplace integration (Amazon, eBay), a B2B wholesale portal, a mobile app — and which subset of the store’s products is available there. Every store ships with one default channel named Online Store. You can add more from Settings → Sales channels in the admin dashboard.

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Channel Attributes

AttributeDescriptionExample
nameHuman-readable name, displayed in the admin and reportsPoint of Sale
codeURL-safe slug, stable identifier sent via the X-Spree-Channel headerpos
activeWhen false, the channel stops accepting orderstrue
defaultExactly one channel per store is the default. Used as a fallback when no channel header is present and as the auto-publish target for new productstrue
preferred_order_routing_strategyOptional per-channel override of the store’s Order Routing strategyRules
code is normalized to a URL-safe slug on save — POS becomes pos, Point of Sale! becomes point-of-sale. Leaving code blank derives it from name.

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How Channels Work

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Resolution at request time

Every incoming Store API or storefront request resolves to a channel:
  1. If the X-Spree-Channel header is present, the value is matched against channels.code — or channels.id when the value looks like a prefixed ID (ch_…) — scoped to the current store.
  2. Otherwise, the store’s default channel is used.
The resolved channel is then available to controllers, models, and serializers throughout the request.

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Selecting a channel from the Store SDK

The Store SDK sends X-Spree-Channel on every request when configured. The value can be either the channel code (merchant-meaningful, recommended) or the prefixed ID (ch_…). 
// Client-level default
const client = createClient({
  baseUrl: 'https://api.mystore.com',
  publishableKey: 'pk_xxx',
  channel: 'pos',
})

// Sticky setter (mirrors setLocale / setCurrency / setCountry)
client.setChannel('wholesale')

// Per-request override
const products = await client.products.list({}, { channel: 'pos' })
The Admin API does not consume X-Spree-Channel — admin endpoints return data across all channels for the current store. Filter by channel on the admin side via Ransack (q[channel_id_eq]=ch_xxx for orders, q[channels_id_in][]=ch_xxx for products).

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Product visibility

A product is visible on a channel only when it has a publication record joining the two. Each publication carries an optional window:
Publication stateWhat customers see
No publication existsProduct is not on this channel — invisible
Publication has no dates setLive now and indefinitely
published_at is in the futureScheduled — not yet visible
unpublished_at is in the pastHidden — was visible, now sunset
Within the windowLive
Product status (draft / active / archived) is the outer gate: a Draft or Archived product is hidden on every channel regardless of its publication window. The dashboard’s Publishing card renders this as a “Not available” badge on every channel row when status isn’t active.

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Order attribution

Every order is attributed to one channel. The channel is set from the X-Spree-Channel header on cart creation, from the merchant’s selection on the “New order” form, or defaults to the store’s primary channel. This attribution drives reporting (best-selling by channel, revenue per channel) and per-channel order routing — see Order Routing.

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Publishing Products on Channels

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Dashboard

The product edit page has a Publishing card with one row per channel the product is on. Click Manage to attach or detach channels via checkboxes. Each row expands into a per-channel schedule editor. Bulk operations from the product list: Add to sales channels… and Remove from sales channels….

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Admin API

Three endpoints cover the publishing surface:
EndpointUse case
POST /api/v3/admin/channels/:id/add_productsPublish one or more products on a specific channel
POST /api/v3/admin/channels/:id/remove_productsUnpublish products from a specific channel
POST /api/v3/admin/products/bulk_add_to_channelsPublish many products across many channels in a single request
await adminClient.channels.addProducts('ch_xxx', {
  product_ids: ['prod_aaa', 'prod_bbb'],
  // Optional window — when omitted, existing schedules are preserved
  published_at: '2026-07-01T00:00:00Z',
  unpublished_at: '2026-12-31T23:59:59Z',
})
channels.addProducts is idempotent: re-publishing an already-published product is a no-op for its window unless published_at / unpublished_at are explicitly passed. Cross-store onboarding is allowed when the caller’s key has update permission on the product. For per-product updates, use PATCH /api/v3/admin/products/:id with a product_publications array: 
await adminClient.products.update('prod_xxx', {
  product_publications: [
    { channel_id: 'ch_online' },
    { channel_id: 'ch_pos', published_at: '2026-07-01T00:00:00Z' },
  ],
})
The write contract is full-set: the array represents the complete desired state. Channels absent from the payload are detached.

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Auto-Publish Behavior

  • Dashboard — new products are auto-published on the store’s default channel. The merchant can untick channels via the Publishing card post-create.
  • Admin API — new products are not auto-published. The caller supplies product_publications: [{ channel_id }] on create, or calls POST /admin/channels/:id/add_products afterwards.
  • Sample data (bin/rake spree:load_sample_data) — all loaded products are explicitly published on the default channel.
  • Stores — Channels belong to a store
  • Markets — Different from channels: markets segment geography/currency, channels segment selling surfaces
  • Products — Product catalog and publication
  • Order Routing — Channels can override the store’s routing strategy