Addingwell

1Role / Purpose

Addingwell is the infrastructure plugin that automates the entire technical layer of Shopify tracking:

• Automatic GA4 DataLayer injection (11+ e-commerce events)
• Custom Pixel for checkout events (begin_checkout, purchase)
• GTM injection on every page of the store
• Adblocker bypass through a first-party CDN proxy
• Cookie restore to work around Safari ITP
• Hosting for the sGTM server (server-side GTM)

2Architecture

What Addingwell installs automatically

Shopify Store
├── GA4 DataLayer (every page)
│   └── 11+ standard e-commerce events
├── Custom Pixel (checkout)
│   └── begin_checkout + purchase
├── GTM Web Container (injection)
│   └── Script injected on every page
├── CDN Proxy (adblocker bypass)
│   └── First-party domain for the scripts
├── Cookie Restore (Safari ITP)
│   └── First-party cookie restoration
└── sGTM server
  └── Custom domain + configurable region

Where it sits in the stack

Shopify
→ Theme layer
  → Cookiebot bridge → Shopify Privacy API
→ Addingwell
  → GA4 DataLayer + DataLayer Monitor (custom pixel)
  → GTM Web
    → Cookiebot CMP (Consent Mode v2, EEA + UK)
    → GA4 tag → sGTM
    → Meta Pixel → sGTM
    → Google Ads tag → sGTM
  → sGTM (Addingwell server)
    → GA4 (server)
    → Meta CAPI (server)
    → Google Ads Enhanced Conversions (server)
    → Attribution cookies (fbp, fbc, gclid, wbraid, gbraid)

Benefits

• Zero theme configuration — everything is automatic
• Works with every Shopify theme
• No custom Liquid code needed for tracking
• Updates itself when Shopify changes its APIs
• Native support for multi-currency markets

3Installation

Create an account and install

1. 1Create an account on addingwell.com (active billing required)
2. 2Install the Shopify plugin from the Addingwell App Store
3. 3In the plugin settings, enable the features below

Features to enable

Configure the checkout custom pixel

1. 1Shopify Admin > Settings > Customer Events
2. 2Add custom pixel > paste the code Addingwell provides

Configure the sGTM server

1. 1Create the server in the Addingwell dashboard
2. 2Custom domain: tags.my-store.com (your subdomain)
3. 3Recommended region: Europe multi-region

Configure DNS (custom domain)

The custom domain (e.g. tags.my-store.com) serves as both the sGTM endpoint and the CDN proxy for GTM. It is what makes first-party tracking possible (adblocker bypass, Safari ITP).

4GA4 DataLayer

Injected e-commerce events

Structure of an event

dataLayer.push({
event: "view_item",
ecommerce: {
  currency: "EUR",
  value: 49.90,
  items: [{
    item_id: "SKU-001",
    item_name: "Premium T-Shirt",
    price: 49.90,
    quantity: 1
  }]
}
})

Quick check

1. 1Open the browser console on the store
2. 2Type dataLayer and inspect the events
3. 3Browse: page → collection → product → cart
4. 4Check page_view, view_item_list, view_item, add_to_cart

5Checkout Custom Pixel

The Shopify checkout is isolated (iframe). Addingwell uses a Custom Pixel to capture the checkout events.

Captured events

• begin_checkout — the purchase process starts
• purchase — purchase confirmed, with transaction_id, value, items

Checkout event flow

Shopify Checkout (iframe)
      ↓
Addingwell Custom Pixel
      ↓
dataLayer.push({ event: "purchase", ... })
      ↓
GTM Web Container
      ↓
GA4 → sGTM → Destinations

GTM injection

Addingwell injects the GTM Web snippet automatically on every page of the Shopify store.

• No need to edit theme.liquid
• Optimised injection (async, non-blocking)
• Works with every theme
• The snippet updates itself
• Supports the CDN proxy for adblocker bypass

Adblocker bypass

Normal request (blocked)
browser → googletagmanager.com ✗ (adblocker)

Request through the CDN proxy (passes)
browser → cdn.mystore.com → googletagmanager.com ✓

• First-party CDN proxy on the store domain
• GTM/GA4 scripts are served from the same domain
• Adblockers do not block first-party requests
• Recovers 15-30% of otherwise lost data

6Cookie Restore / Attribution

The Safari ITP problem

Safari ITP caps JavaScript first-party cookies at 7 days (or 24h in some cases). Tracking identifiers (_ga, _fbp, _fbc) expire far too quickly.

The Cookie Restore solution

• Addingwell intercepts the cookies before they expire
• The cookies are rewritten through a server-side endpoint
• Server-side cookies are not affected by ITP
• Lifetime restored to its normal value (2 years for _ga)

Attribution cookies (1P)

Attribution cookies are persisted first-party by Addingwell (cookie restore). They survive Safari ITP and browser purges, which is what makes attribution reliable.

7DataLayer Monitor

The DataLayer Monitor is a Shopify Custom Pixel that adds an observability layer over the tracking. It instruments dataLayer.push() and gtag(), loads the Addingwell snippet, and provides real-time debugging tools.

Features

Installing the Custom Pixel

1. 1Shopify Admin > Settings > Customer Events > Add custom pixel
2. 2Name: "AW × BE. DataLayer Monitor"
3. 3Permission: "Not required" — the pixel uses Google Advanced Consent Mode through GTM
4. 4Data sale: "Not a data sale"
5. 5Paste the DataLayer Monitor script (v3.0.0)
6. 6Connect the pixel > Save

8Configuration

Prerequisites

• Active Addingwell account (billing required)
• Shopify store connected
• GTM Web Container ID (GTM-XXXXXXX)
• Custom domain configured for the CDN proxy and sGTM (recommended)

Configuration steps

1. 1Install the Addingwell app from the Shopify App Store
2. 2Connect the store in the Addingwell dashboard
3. 3Enter the GTM Web Container ID
4. 4Enable the CDN proxy (adblocker bypass)
5. 5Enable Cookie Restore (ITP bypass)
6. 6Create the sGTM server + configure the custom domain DNS
7. 7Verify the GTM injection on the store

sGTM configuration

9Verification

Phase 1: Addingwell infrastructure

1. 1Addingwell plugin active in Shopify (Apps > Addingwell)
2. 2GA4 DataLayer present — type dataLayer in the console
3. 3Checkout custom pixel configured in Addingwell
4. 4Cookie restore active — shopify_y field present in the DataLayer
5. 5First-party sGTM requests visible in Network (custom domain)
6. 6sGTM custom domain answers with status 200

Verify the DataLayer

1. 1Open the browser console on the store
2. 2Type dataLayer and inspect the events
3. 3Browse: page → collection → product → cart
4. 4Check page_view, view_item_list, view_item, add_to_cart
5. 5Complete a test checkout → check begin_checkout and purchase

Verify GTM

• Open GTM Preview Mode
• The events must appear in the debug panel
• Check that the ecommerce variables are populated

Verify the CDN proxy

• Open the browser's Network tab
• GTM/GA4 requests must point to the custom domain
• No direct request to googletagmanager.com

Verify the attribution cookies

• DevTools > Application > Cookies
• Check that _fbp, _fbc and _gcl_aw (gclid) are present
• The cookies must carry the store domain (first-party)

10Troubleshooting