Building Conditions (the "when") on Essential Checkout
Every rule acts only when a situation is true — a cart above a certain value, a customer in a certain country, a specific product in the cart. You describe that situation in the Conditions section of the rule builder, and it works the same way for every rule type.
This article covers how condition groups work, how to add and combine conditions, and what's available.
How condition groups work
Conditions are arranged in groups:
- Conditions inside the same group are joined with AND — the group matches only when all of them are true. The group is labelled WHEN … (all apply).
- Separate groups are joined with OR — the rule triggers when any one group matches. The first group reads WHEN; each additional one reads OR.
So "cart over $500 AND first-time customer" is one group with two conditions, while "cart over $500 OR cart under $10" is two groups with one condition each.
Add a condition
The Select condition dialog, grouped by Customer, Cart, Address and more
- In the Conditions section, click Add condition.
- In the Select condition dialog, browse by tab — All, Customer, Cart, Line item, Address, Market — or type in the search box.
- Click the condition you want (some show extra chips underneath, e.g. a product type or a customer type — pick one).
- Click Select.
- Back in the builder, set the operator (is, is above, contains, …) and the value.
To add an alternative group, click Add group (OR) and add conditions to it the same way.
Which conditions you see depends on the rule type. Each type only offers the conditions that make sense for it — a Checkout form validation, for example, focuses on address and customer fields. If a condition you expect is missing, check the rule's type in the right-hand panel.
The condition catalog
| Category | Conditions |
|---|---|
| Customer | Customer email, Customer orders (order count), Customer type (Individual / Business (B2B)), Company name (B2B), Customer tags |
| Cart | Cart total, Cart quantity |
| Line item | Product quantity (units of specific products in the cart) |
| Address | Country, ZIP / Postal code, Address line 1, Address line 2, City, Province / State, Address line 1 length, Address line 2 length |
| Market | Market (the active Shopify Market) |
Operators
The operators available depend on the field. In plain language they read as:
| Operator | Means |
|---|---|
| is / is not | Exact match, or its opposite |
| is above / is below | Numeric or money comparison |
| contains / excludes | Text includes / doesn't include a string |
| starts with / ends with | Text match at the start or end |
| is empty / is not empty | Whether the field has a value at all |
| has any of / has all of / has none of | For tags — match against a list |
Narrow cart totals by product type
Cart total and Cart quantity carry a sub-filter so you can measure only part of the cart. When you pick the condition, choose one of the chips:
- All items (the whole cart)
- Physical
- Digital
- Subscription
For example, "Cart total of Physical items is above $50" ignores digital products entirely.
Combine conditions with AND and OR
AND conditions inside a group; OR across groups
Build up more precise rules by mixing both:
- AND (same group) — narrows the match. Country is United States AND cart total is above $200.
- OR (separate groups) — widens it. Cart total is above $500 OR cart total is below $10.
The summary panel on the right restates the whole thing in a sentence, so you can sanity-check the logic before you publish.
Before you publish
A few condition states will stop a rule from publishing until you complete them:
Watch out: - A dropdown condition (like Country or Customer type) needs a value selected. - A Product quantity condition needs at least one product chosen. - A Customer tags condition needs at least one tag. - A validation rule needs at least one condition — an empty block would apply to everyone.
The app shows a message pointing to whichever one needs attention when you try to save an Active rule.