Getting started
What is Champ?
Champ is a Shopify app that adds a community forum to your online store. It runs on your own storefront domain, inside your own theme, and your Shopify customers sign in to it with the accounts they already have.
Where does the forum appear on my store?
At a path on your own domain — by default /community/champ, so yourstore.com/community/champ. You can change that path in Settings, and you add a link to it from your theme navigation like any other page.
Do my customers need a separate account?
No. Champ uses Shopify customer accounts. If someone is signed in to your store, they are signed in to the forum. You can optionally allow anonymous posting, or require sign-in even to read.
How long does setup take?
Installing takes a minute. A usable forum — a few forums created, colours matched to your theme, a link in your navigation — is usually under an hour. See the installation guide.
Will it match my theme?
The forum renders inside your theme's layout, and you control the header colour, background, heading and body text colours, link colour, body font and logo. If you need more, there is a custom CSS field that is validated before it saves.
Running a community
Can I have a members-only forum?
Yes. Tag individual customers, then restrict a forum to one or more tags. That covers VIP tiers, wholesale accounts, course members, beta groups and support plans. You can also require sign-in for the whole forum.
How do I stop spam?
Champ checks every post through a layered stack — a blocklist, cross-store IP reputation, content heuristics, a hidden honeypot field and rate limits — before it is saved. You can add your own reCAPTCHA and Akismet keys, require approval on new posts, and set a minimum interval between posts. The anti-spam guide covers what to turn on and when.
Can I appoint moderators?
Yes. Promote any member to moderator and they get approve, edit, hide, lock, move and delete powers directly on the storefront — they never need access to your Shopify admin.
Can members message each other?
Yes, if you enable it. Private member-to-member messaging appears as a docked chat widget on forum pages.
Can members post images?
Yes, once you connect your own Cloudinary account. Images and PDFs are uploaded to your Cloudinary, with size limits you set. See image uploads.
Will forum emails come from my domain?
They can. Point Champ at your own SMTP server in Settings and every notification is sent from your address, through your provider, with your deliverability. Without it, mail is sent from Champ.
What emails does Champ send to members?
Notifications for topics and forums a member subscribed to, @mention notifications, and an optional unread-posts prompt. Each one can be switched off, and the templates are editable.
Data and developers
Can I export my data?
Yes. Request an export from the Data section of the dashboard and Champ generates a JSON file containing forums, topics, posts and users, with the cross-reference IDs needed to rebuild the relationships. Custom avatar images and per-user upvote records are not included; upvote counts are.
Is there an API?
Yes — a JSON API over HTTPS for forums, topics, posts and users, authenticated with a scoped API secret you generate in the dashboard. There are also webhooks that fire a Liquid-templated request whenever a topic or post is created. See the API guide.
Does forum content help my SEO?
That is the main structural argument for running it here rather than on a subdomain. Every topic is an indexable page on your own domain, Champ publishes a forum sitemap, and each topic carries its own meta description and Open Graph tags.
What happens to my data if I uninstall?
Uninstalling stops the forum serving and ends the subscription, but your content is retained rather than destroyed, so reinstalling restores it. If you want it deleted, ask us and we will delete it. See the GDPR page.
Billing
How much does Champ cost?
$29 per month, billed with your regular Shopify invoice. Every feature is included and there are no limits on members or posts.
Can I cancel any time?
Yes, from the Billing section inside the app. The subscription is prepaid monthly and is not prorated, so cancelling mid-cycle keeps access until the end of the paid period.
Why is there a charge after I uninstalled?
Because the Champ billing cycle and your Shopify billing cycle may not line up, a charge already accrued can appear on an invoice issued after you uninstall. If something looks wrong, email us and we will sort it out.