shopify-admin-discount-cost-trend

name	shopify-admin-discount-cost-trend
role	finance
description	Read-only: tracks total discount dollars given over configurable time buckets (week/month/quarter), broken down by discount type and code.
toolkit	shopify-admin, shopify-admin-execution
api_version	2025-01
graphql_operations	["orders:query"]
status	stable
compatibility	Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI

Purpose

Tracks how much money the store gave away in discounts over time, bucketed by week, month, or quarter, and broken down by discount code and discount type (percentage / fixed amount / free shipping / automatic). Answers: "is our discount spend trending up or down, and which campaigns are driving it?" Read-only — no mutations. Complements discount-roi-calculator (per-discount return) with a longitudinal view of total cost.

Prerequisites

• Authenticated Shopify CLI session: shopify store auth --store <domain> --scopes read_orders
• API scopes: read_orders

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
store	string	yes	—	Store domain (e.g., mystore.myshopify.com)
period	string	no	month	Bucket size: week, month, or quarter
periods_back	integer	no	12	Number of buckets to report
top_codes	integer	no	10	Top discount codes to break out individually; remainder grouped as other
include_shipping_discounts	bool	no	true	Whether to count shipping discounts in the totals
format	string	no	human	Output format: human or json

Safety

ℹ️ Read-only skill — no mutations are executed. Safe to run at any time.

Workflow Steps

1. Compute window from period × periods_back (e.g., month × 12 → last 12 calendar months starting from the first day of the bucket 11 months ago)

2. OPERATION: orders — query Inputs: query: "created_at:>='<window_start>' financial_status:paid", first: 250, select createdAt, discountCodes, currentTotalDiscountsSet, totalDiscountsSet, cartDiscountAmountSet, discountApplications { allocationMethod, targetType, value, ... on DiscountCodeApplication { code }, ... on AutomaticDiscountApplication { title }, ... on ManualDiscountApplication { title } }, shippingLines { discountAllocations { allocatedAmountSet } }, pagination cursor Expected output: All paid orders in the window with discount data; paginate until hasNextPage: false

3. For each order, attribute discount cost:

   • cart_discount = currentTotalDiscountsSet.shopMoney.amount
   • shipping_discount = sum of shippingLines.discountAllocations.allocatedAmountSet (only if include_shipping_discounts: true)
   • total_discount = cart_discount + shipping_discount
   • Attribute by code: prefer first discountApplications.code for code discounts, title for automatic / manual

4. Bucket each order into its period (week-of-year, year-month, or year-quarter) and aggregate:

   • Total discount cost per bucket
   • Per discount code per bucket
   • Per discount type per bucket (percentage, fixed_amount, shipping, automatic)

5. Identify top codes by total cost across the window; aggregate the rest as other

GraphQL Operations

# orders:query — validated against api_version 2025-01
query DiscountCostTrend($query: String!, $after: String) {
  orders(first: 250, after: $after, query: $query) {
    edges {
      node {
        id
        name
        createdAt
        discountCodes
        currentTotalDiscountsSet { shopMoney { amount currencyCode } }
        totalDiscountsSet { shopMoney { amount currencyCode } }
        cartDiscountAmountSet { shopMoney { amount currencyCode } }
        discountApplications(first: 10) {
          edges {
            node {
              allocationMethod
              targetType
              targetSelection
              value {
                ... on PricingPercentageValue { percentage }
                ... on MoneyV2  amount currencyCode 
              
                DiscountCodeApplication  code 
                AutomaticDiscountApplication  title 
                ManualDiscountApplication  title description 
            
          
        
        shippingLines  
          edges 
            node 
              title
              discountAllocations 
                allocatedAmountSet  shopMoney  amount currencyCode  
              
            
          
        
      
    
    pageInfo  hasNextPage endCursor 
  

Session Tracking

Claude MUST emit the following output at each stage. This is mandatory.

On start, emit:

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║  SKILL: Discount Cost Trend                  ║
║  Store: <store domain>                       ║
║  Period: <period> × <periods_back>           ║
║  Started: <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC>             ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝

After each step, emit:

[N/TOTAL] <QUERY|MUTATION>  <OperationName>
          → Params: <brief summary of key inputs>
          → Result: <count or outcome>

On completion, emit:

For format: human (default):

══════════════════════════════════════════════
DISCOUNT COST TREND  (last <periods_back> <period>s)
  Total discount cost:    $<amount>
  Avg per <period>:        $<amount>
  Latest <period>:         $<amount>   (<delta_vs_prev_pct>% vs prior)

  By bucket:
    2025-Q1  $<n>   (cart $<n> / shipping $<n>)
    2025-Q2  $<n>   (cart $<n> / shipping $<n>)

  By discount type:
    code            $<n>   (<pct>%)
    automatic       $<n>   (<pct>%)
    manual          $<n>   (<pct>%)
    shipping        $<n>   (<pct>%)

  Top codes (by total cost):
    "<code>"        $<n>   (<pct>%)
    "<code>"        $<n>   (<pct>%)
    other           $<n>   (<pct>%)

  Output: discount_cost_trend_<date>.csv
══════════════════════════════════════════════

For format: json, emit:

{
  "skill": "discount-cost-trend",
  "store": "<domain>",
  "period": "month",
  "periods_back": 12,
  "total_discount_cost": 0,
  "by_bucket": [],
  "by_type": { "code": 0, "automatic": 0, "manual": 0, "shipping": 0 },
  "top_codes": [],
  "currency": "USD",
  "output_file": "discount_cost_trend_<date>.csv"
}

Output Format

CSV file discount_cost_trend_<YYYY-MM-DD>.csv with columns: bucket, discount_code_or_title, discount_type, orders_count, cart_discount, shipping_discount, total_discount, currency

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Recovery
THROTTLED	API rate limit exceeded	Wait 2 seconds, retry up to 3 times
Stacked discount codes	Multiple codes on one order	Attribute proportionally to each code by their value share, or label as multi-code if equal
Manual discount with no title	Cashier-entered with empty title	Group as manual:untitled
Multi-currency orders	Presentment currency != shop currency	Sum on shopMoney.amount (shop currency) for consistency

Best Practices

• Use period: week for promotional businesses with frequent campaigns; period: month for stores with steady evergreen offers; period: quarter for board reporting.
• A flat or rising trend with no campaign activity often points to automatic discount creep — review automatic discounts that have no end date.
• Cross-reference the latest bucket against discount-roi-calculator to verify the cost increase is producing matching incremental revenue.
• Set include_shipping_discounts: false if your accounting books shipping subsidy separately from product discounts.
• Set up monthly automation: discount spend that drifts above budget should trigger a finance review before it shows up in margin reports.