Quick answer: Product recommendations fail when the section is disabled, the theme is requesting recommendations incorrectly, the product has no available matches, or the recommendation card code uses the wrong product object. Start with the product template, then test Shopify’s recommendation endpoint and the product-card loop.
The real symptom
- The recommended-products section is empty.
- The editor shows a block but the live product page does not.
- Cards render but images or titles are blank.
- Recommendations appear in one theme but not another.
Likely causes
- The product template has no recommendation or complementary-product section.
- Manual recommendations are not configured in Search & Discovery.
- The theme calls the recommendation object outside the intended recommendation section flow.
- The product-card snippet references the current product instead of the recommended product.
- Recommended products are unavailable, unpublished, or hidden from the current market.
Exact admin path
- Go to Apps → Search & Discovery.
- Open Recommendations and search for the affected product.
- Add manual complementary or related products where needed.
- Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize.
- Open the product template and confirm the recommendations section or block is enabled.
- Test with a clean Shopify theme if the data exists but the current theme is empty.
Simple checks
- If cards show without images, inspect the card snippet for the object name used inside the recommendations loop.
- If
recommendations.performedis false, verify the request URL includes product ID and section context. - Test with products that are published and available in the current market.
Useful code or DevTools check
{{ routes.product_recommendations_url }}?section_id=product-recommendations&product_id={{ product.id }}Do not do this
Do not hard-code a static collection as “recommendations” and call the problem fixed. That hides whether Shopify’s actual recommendation data or the theme’s rendering logic is broken.