Goal: Learn how to use the Altera command line tool to upload local files to your Shopify store and download files from Shopify to your local machine.
Video walkthrough: Watch the 4-minute video
Prerequisites:
You have Altera installed on your Shopify store
You have Node.js and npm installed on your computer
You have access to the command line/terminal
Step 1 - Create an API Key
In your Shopify admin, go to Apps and open Altera. Navigate to Settings → API Keys.
Enter a contact email address. This email is used to reach out in case there are any issues with your API calls.
Click Create API Key. Copy the installation command shown (it will look like npx altera shop add mystore.myshopify.com).
Keep this page open as you'll need to copy the API key in the next step.
Step 2 - Install and Configure the CLI Tool
Open your terminal and paste the installation command you copied in Step 1.
When prompted for your API key, go back to the Altera settings page, copy the API key, and paste it into the terminal.
To verify the connection is successful, run:
npx altera shop test
You should see a success message confirming the connection to your store.
Step 3 - Upload Files to Shopify
Navigate to the directory containing the files you want to upload, or note the path to that directory.
Run the upload command with the path to your files:
npx altera files upload --source-path ./images
Replace ./images with the path to your files or directory.
The CLI will:
Start uploading your files to Shopify
Show progress in the terminal
Generate a CSV summary file when complete
Provide a URL to view the job details in Altera
Step 4 - Download Files from Shopify
To download files from your Shopify store, use the download command with optional filters:
npx altera files download --media-type image --filename snowboard
Available filter options:
--media-type- Filter by media type (e.g.,image,video)--filename- Filter by text in the filename
The CLI will:
Create a list of all matching files
Download them to a local directory
Generate an Excel summary file with details (file names, sizes, URLs, etc.)
Outcome
You can now:
Upload local files to your Shopify store's content files from the command line
Download files from Shopify with filters to get exactly what you need
Access summary files in Altera's standard format for tracking uploads and downloads
To verify uploads, go to Content → Files in your Shopify admin to see your newly uploaded files.