The April release includes two breaking changes to how Hydrogen handles the Storefront API proxy and consent tracking. We've also updated the Storefront API and Customer Account API to 2026-04.
Mandatory Storefront API proxy
The Storefront API proxy is now always enabled. The proxyStandardRoutes option has been removed from createRequestHandler.
Previously, proxyStandardRoutes defaulted to true but could be disabled, and a missing storefront instance in your load context would log a warning:
// Before (v2026.1)
createRequestHandler({
build,
getLoadContext,
proxyStandardRoutes: true, // optional, defaulted to true
});
// Missing storefront in context → console warning, proxy skipped
Now the proxy is always on, and if your load context doesn't include a storefront instance, the request handler throws:
// After (v2026.4)
createRequestHandler({
build,
getLoadContext,
// proxyStandardRoutes is gone — proxy is always enabled
});
// Missing storefront in context → throws Error
If you're using createHydrogenContext() to build your load context, no changes needed. It already provides the storefront instance. If you have a custom getLoadContext that doesn't always return a storefront, you'll need to update it.
Backend consent mode
Hydrogen now sets window.Shopify.customerPrivacy.backendConsentEnabled to true before the Customer Privacy API script loads. This tells the consent library to use server-set cookies via the Storefront API proxy instead of the legacy _tracking_consent JavaScript cookie.
The flag is installed through a property interceptor on window.Shopify that survives the CDN's window.Shopify = {} reset cycle, so it's readable before the full Customer Privacy API is assigned.
If you're using Hydrogen's ShopifyCustomerPrivacy component (or the analytics provider that wraps it), this is automatic. There's no new config to set. The old _tracking_consent cookie path is being deprecated in favor of this server-side approach.
Other changes
For the full list of API-level changes, including a 128KB limit on JSON metafield writes and a new MERCHANDISE_LINE_TRANSFORMERS_RUN_ERROR cart error code, see the Storefront API 2026-04 changelog and Customer Account API 2026-04 changelog. The full release notes also cover a fix to React Router peer dependency ranges.
To take advantage of all the latest features and improvements in Hydrogen, run npx shopify hydrogen upgrade.
