Set up Sprinkle's metafields — Sprinkle docs

Sprinkle's features read three kinds of data, none of which needs an app:

Product and variant metafields in the custom namespace (the one Shopify admin uses when you create a definition): a product's lead time, dietary claims, allergens, ingredients and storage, and each size's servings.
Theme settings in Theme settings › Order ahead, Cake builder and Allergens and dietary (chapter 2).
Product tags for the cake builder, pre-orders and two seals.

Sprinkle doesn't use metaobjects, so there is nothing to set up under Content › Metaobjects. You only need the data for the features you use, and nothing breaks while you fill it in. The one exception to think about is custom.allergens: a product without it shows your fallback line, not a blank (chapter 11).

In Shopify admin, metafield definitions live under Settings › Custom data (called Metafields and metaobjects in newer versions of the admin).

The metafields Sprinkle reads

Name (yours to choose)	Namespace and key	Owner	Type	Example	What it does
Lead days	`custom.lead_days`	Product	Integer, One value	3	The days of notice this product needs: the card's lead line, the Lead time note, and the first date in the bag (chapter 8). 0 means it needs no notice.
Servings	`custom.servings`	Variant	Single line text, One value	Serves 10–12	Beside the price, on the variant's option card, in the cake builder's Size step and in Compare
Dietary	`custom.dietary`	Product	Single line text, List of values	Gluten free, Vegan	The chips on cards and on the product page, the dietary filter (chapter 13) and Compare
Allergens	`custom.allergens`	Product	Single line text, List of values	wheat, egg, milk	The statement "Contains: wheat, egg, milk." in the Allergens and dietary panel, and Compare
Ingredients	`custom.ingredients`	Product	Multi-line text	Flour, butter, brown sugar…	The Ingredients row in the panel. Rich text works too.
Storage	`custom.storage`	Product	Multi-line text	Keeps for 5 days in a sealed tin.	The Storage and shelf life row in the panel. Rich text works too.
Back note	`custom.back_note`	Product	Single line text, One value	Back Saturday	On a sold-out or pre-order card, in place of the lead line. "Back Saturday" or "Baking from 14 Nov".

Two more metafields are filled in by review apps, not by you: reviews.rating and reviews.rating_count give the rating under the product title. And a Spec row block (chapter 6) can show any other product metafield you create in the Spec table, such as custom.box_contents.

The product tags Sprinkle reads

Capitals don't matter in any of these.

Tag	What it does
`custom-cake`	Turns the product into a cake builder product: the Cake builder block shows, the card reads Start your cake, quick view links to the product page, and Buy it now is hidden (chapter 9). This is the default: change the tag itself in Theme settings › Cake builder › Cake builder tag.
`mix-box`	Sells the product only through the Mix-and-match box: no variant picker or buy buttons on its page, Choose flavours on its card, and quick view links to its page (chapter 10). This is the default: change the tag itself in Theme settings › Mix-and-match box › Mix box tag.
`pre-order`	Cards and seals only: a Pre-order seal on the card and pill on the product page, Pre-order on the card's button, and `custom.back_note` in place of the lead line. It changes nothing on the product page's button, the bag or the order (chapter 6). `preorder` works too.
`new`	A New seal
`best-seller`	A Best seller seal

A card shows one seal, so Sold out, Pre-order, Save and Only 3 left come before New and Best seller (chapter 2).

Step 1: create the product metafield definitions

In admin, go to Settings › Custom data › Products and click Add definition for each metafield you need:

Type the Name (yours to choose; it's what you see when you edit a product).
Check the Namespace and key under it and change it to exactly the key in the table above. Shopify suggests custom. plus the name, so "Dietary" gives custom.dietary, but "Lead time" would give custom.lead_time and "Allergen list" would give custom.allergen_list, which the theme won't find. Keys are case-sensitive.
Click Select type and choose the type in the table:
- Lead days: Integer, One value. Under Validations you can set a minimum of 0.
- Dietary and Allergens: Single line text, then List of values (not One value), so a product can hold several and the dietary filter can offer each one on its own. For Dietary, turn on Limit to preset choices and add your labels (Gluten free, Vegan, Nut free, Egg free, Dairy free, Halal). Choices keep every product spelled the same, which the filter relies on.
- Ingredients and Storage: Multi-line text.
- Back note: Single line text, One value.
Save.

Step 2: create the variant metafield definition

Each size of a cake serves a different number, so servings live on the variant. Go to Settings › Custom data › Variants and click Add definition:

Name: Servings. Key: custom.servings. Type: Single line text, One value.
Save.

This is a variant metafield: a definition under Products with the same key won't be read.

Step 3: fill in your products

Open a product in admin and scroll to Metafields: every product definition you created is listed there. For servings, click the variant and scroll to its Metafields.

Lead days: a whole number of calendar days. Leave it empty to use Default lead time. Set 0 for something on the shelf every day: the card then reads "No need to order ahead".
Servings: as shoppers should read it. Sprinkle prints it exactly as you type it, so write "Serves 10–12", not "10–12".
Dietary: one value per claim. Spell them as they are in Theme settings › Allergens and dietary › Dietary labels so they sort in your order. Only claim what's true of the whole product.
Allergens: one value per allergen, in the words you want shoppers to read: "wheat", "egg", "milk", "tree nuts". They print in the order you enter them, joined with commas, so "wheat, egg, milk". Don't add "Contains" or a full stop: Sprinkle does that.
Ingredients and Storage: plain text. Line breaks are kept.
Back note: a short line. It shows only on a card that's sold out or tagged pre-order, so you can leave it there between batches.

To fill many products at once, use Bulk edit from the products list and add the metafield columns. Add tags in the product's Tags field.

Note

If you created Dietary or Allergens as One value by mistake, Sprinkle still splits a value like "Gluten free, Vegan" at its commas for the chips and the statement. Search & Discovery doesn't: it would offer "Gluten free, Vegan" as one filter value. Change the definition to List of values before you set up the filter.

What shows without the data

Missing	What happens
`custom.lead_days`	The product uses Default lead time on its card, in its note and in the bag
`custom.servings`	No servings beside the price. The option shows as pills, or in the cake builder as cards with the name and price only.
`custom.dietary`	No chips on the card or the product page
`custom.allergens`	The panel shows your When no allergens are listed line, never a blank. A flavour's row in the Mix-and-match box shows no Contains line.
`custom.ingredients`	No Ingredients row
`custom.storage`	No Storage and shelf life row
`custom.back_note`	A sold-out card has no line under the price. A pre-order card shows its normal lead line.
All of the above	The product still sells. Its allergens panel shows the fallback line and the kitchen statement.

In the theme editor, features with no data show a sample so you can see the design: two dietary chips from your labels, sample Ingredients and Storage rows tagged Sample, the cake builder on an untagged product and the mix box before it has a product. Shoppers never see them. The allergen statement never shows a sample, so what you see in the editor is what shoppers will read.