Manage out-of-stock products

Since December 31, 2023, apps can’t modify the code of Shopify themes. For more information, see The Asset API resource in the Shopify documentation. As an alternative, the Algolia AI Search and Discovery app comes with Shopify App Embed and App Blocks to integrate Autocomplete and InstantSearch. To get started, see Quickstart and Algolia configuration.

The Algolia AI Search & Discovery app lets you choose if you want to keep or remove out-of-stock products from the search results.

Out-of-stock policies

Out-of-stock product variants are removed from the search results based on filters. Filtering relies on the inventory_quantity and inventory_policy attributes of the product variants resource. A product variant is out-of-stock if the inventory_quantity attribute is 0. The inventory_policy attribute can be allow if you explicitly decided to continue selling a product when it’s out of stock. Otherwise, this attribute is deny.

For handling out-of-stock product variants in the search results, you can choose between these policies.

Include all out-of-stock products in the search results. No filter is applied. All products are included in the search results.
Remove all out-of-stock products from the search results. A filter inventory_quantity>0 is applied when searching Only in-stock items are included in the search results.
Remove out-of-stock products, except those marked explicitly as available. A filter inventory_available:true is applied when searching. The inventory_available attribute is true, when the inventory_quantity attribute is greater than 0, or when the inventory_policy attribute is set to allow for that product.

Select your out-of-stock policy

To select your policy for handling out-of-stock items in the search results:

In your Shopify admin, open the Algolia AI Search & Discovery app.
On the Search options tab, go to the Additional settings > Out of stock items section.
Select your policy for handling out-of-stock items:
- Show all out of stock items in search results. Out-of-stock items are included in the search results. This is the default.
- Hide all out of stock items in search results. Out-of-stock items are removed from search results.
- Hide out of stock items - except those marked as available. Out-of-stock items are removed from search results, except products with the Continue selling when out of stock option. After selecting this option, you might need to reindex your product catalog.

Continue selling out-of-stock products

To select which products are included in the search results when they’re out of stock:

Go to the Products page in your Shopify admin.
Select a product you want to show in the search result when it’s out of stock.
In the Inventory section, select Track quantity and Continue selling when out of stock.

The selected products are now included in the search results, even when they’re out of stock.

UI updates

The UI widgets of the Algolia AI Search & Discovery app have been updated to support this feature. You can find the Autocomplete and InstantSearch widgets in these files:

Autocomplete updates

In Autocomplete v1, filters are located in the algolia_autocomplete_product_plugin.js.liquid file:

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+   // Filters for stock policy
+   let stockPolicyFilter = '';
+
+  if (algolia.config.stock_policy === 'deny') {
+    // For 'deny', filter out all items based on inventory quantity
+    stockPolicyFilter = 'inventory_quantity > 0';
+  } else if (algolia.config.stock_policy === 'continue') {
+    /**
+     * For 'continue', filter on an `inventory_available` attribute with a
+     * value dependent on:
+     * `inventory_quantity > 0 OR inventory_policy == 'continue'`
+     */
+    stockPolicyFilter = 'inventory_available:true';
+  }

  algolia.productsPlugin = {
    getSources({ query, setContext }) {
      return [
        {
          sourceId: 'products',
          getItems() {
            return getAlgoliaResults({
              searchClient: algolia.searchClient,
              queries: [
                {
                  indexName: config.index_prefix + 'products',
                  params: {
                    query,
                    hitsPerPage: config.products_autocomplete_hits_per_page,
                    clickAnalytics: config.analytics_enabled,
+                   filters: stockPolicyFilter,
                    distinct: algolia.config.show_products
                  },
                },
              ],

In older versions of the Autocomplete widget, the algolia_autocomplete.js.liquid file includes the following changes:

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+    // Filters for stock policy
+    var stockPolicyFilter = null;
+
+    /**
+     * Filters for stock policy are valid only if:
+     * - stock policy has been defined, AND
+     * - we are targeting products search index
+     */
+    if (algolia.config.stock_policy && section === 'products') {
+      if (algolia.config.stock_policy === 'allow') {
+        /**
+         * For 'allow', we don't need to add any filter as we want to continue
+         * displaying all out of stock items.
+         */
+      } else if (algolia.config.stock_policy === 'deny') {
+        // For 'deny' we will filter out all items based on inventory quantity
+        stockPolicyFilter = 'inventory_quantity > 0';
+      } else if (algolia.config.stock_policy === 'continue') {
+        /**
+         * For 'continue' we will filter on `inventory_available` attribute whose
+         * value is dependent on:
+         * `inventory_quantity > 0 OR inventory_policy == 'continue'`
+         */
+        stockPolicyFilter = 'inventory_available:true';
+      }
+    }
+
     return {
       name: section,
       source: function(query, callback) {
@@ -61,6 +88,12 @@
         if (params.distinct) {
           searchOpts.distinct = true;
         }
+
+        // Add the stock policy filter if applicable
+        if (stockPolicyFilter) {
+          searchOpts.filters = stockPolicyFilter;
+        }
+
         index(section)
           .search(query, searchOpts)
           .then(function(answer) {

InstantSearch updates

The algolia_instant_search.js.liquid file includes the following changes:

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@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@
     return;
   }

+  /**
+   * Array which will contain all filters to be applied while initiating the
+   * search API call.
+   */
+  var searchFilters = [];
+
   var collectionFacetFilter = null;
   var collectionRulesContextValue = null;
   if (collectionPage) {
@@ -39,11 +45,40 @@
       collectionFacetFilter = 'collections:"' + handle + '"';
     }

+    // Add the collection filter to the list of search filters
+    searchFilters.push(collectionFacetFilter);
+
     collectionRulesContextValue = algolia.config.collection_id_query_rules
       ? algolia.current_collection_id
       : handle;
   }

+  // Filters for stock policy
+  var stockPolicyFilter = null;
+  if (algolia.config.stock_policy) {
+    if (algolia.config.stock_policy === 'allow') {
+      /**
+       * For 'allow', we don't need to add any filter as we want to continue
+       * displaying all out of stock items.
+       */
+    } else if (algolia.config.stock_policy === 'deny') {
+      // For 'deny' we will filter out all items based on inventory quantity
+      stockPolicyFilter = 'inventory_quantity > 0';
+    } else if (algolia.config.stock_policy === 'continue') {
+      /**
+       * For 'continue' we will filter on `inventory_available` attribute whose
+       * value is dependent on:
+       * `inventory_quantity > 0 OR inventory_policy == 'continue'`
+       */
+      stockPolicyFilter = 'inventory_available:true';
+    }
+
+    // Add the stock policy filter to the list of search filters
+    if (stockPolicyFilter) {
+      searchFilters.push(stockPolicyFilter);
+    }
+  }
+
   var results_selector = collectionPage
     ? algolia.config.collection_css_selector
     : algolia.config.results_selector;
@@ -130,18 +165,18 @@
           searchFunctionHelper.setQueryParameter('distinct', true);
         }

-        // Collection page features
-        if (collectionPage) {
-          // Collection page filtering
-          if (collectionFacetFilter) {
+        // Assign any required filters
+        if (searchFilters.length) {
           searchFunctionHelper.setQueryParameter(
             'filters',
-              collectionFacetFilter
+            searchFilters.join(' AND ')
           );
         }

+        // Assign any required `ruleContexts` which are required for query rules
+        // targeting collection pages
+        if (collectionPage) {
           // Collection page merchandising:
-
           // send rulesContext for promoted results only if no filters active
           if (
             !hasRefinements(searchFunctionHelper, instant.facets.list) &&

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