Order flow — what happens after checkout

From paid order to a print-ready file on the order — the tags, metafields and artwork links your fulfilment can build on, and what to do when a render fails.

Pixel Wrangler stays quiet until an order is paid. The moment it is, the print-ready files start rendering. Here's what shows up on the order, and what you can build automations against.

On the order itself

Every customized line item carries line item properties — hidden _pw_* values that include:

  • A thumbnail of the customer's design (_pw_thumbnail)
  • A link to the full-resolution preview of every side (_pw_preview)
  • The text they typed, and the images they uploaded
  • One artwork link per print file (_pw_artwork__front, _pw_artwork__back, …)

You see these on the Shopify order detail page without any setup. The same order appears inside Pixel Wrangler under Orders, with every file and a Retry Failed button if anything goes wrong — see Orders and order files.

The _pw_artwork__* links are written at add-to-cart, before the order is paid and before the print file has rendered. They point at a Pixel Wrangler page that:

  • shows "Your artwork is being generated" and refreshes itself every 20 seconds while the file renders — usually a few minutes after checkout;
  • redirects straight to the file once it exists;
  • shows "This artwork needs attention" if the render failed, so whoever follows the link knows to check the order.

The link is stable for the life of the order and always serves the current file, including after a design edit. Share it with fulfilment or paste it into a packing slip — it never goes stale.

Order tags

The order carries exactly one of three artwork tags at any time:

  • px-artwork-pending — render jobs are queued
  • px-artwork-ready — every file is ready
  • px-artwork-failed — at least one file failed; the order needs your eyes

When the status changes, the old tag is replaced. These tags are how most fulfilment automations hook in. Wire Shopify Flow or your own tool to watch for px-artwork-ready, then fetch the files from the metafield below or the Artwork Export API.

Two more tags you might see: px-design-edited marks orders where you've edited the customer's design after purchase (it stays on the order even if you later restore the original), and Reorder marks orders a customer placed from the Reorder design button in their account — see Custom Reorders.

Order metafields

Three metafields under the px_customization namespace:

  • artwork_status — pending, ready or failed, matching the tag
  • artwork_files — a JSON list of the print files, each with name, url and type. These are direct file URLs, so they only open once artwork_status is ready.
  • design_edits — an audit trail of any post-purchase design edits and restores

If your fulfilment automation reads metafields rather than tags, that's where to look.

Where the files end up

Pixel Wrangler hosts your print-ready files; the metafield URLs, the artwork links and the app's download buttons all point at them. To pull files into your own storage — for fulfilment integrations that expect a specific path, or for a longer retention policy — use the Artwork Export API; its incremental feed is built exactly for this. File specs and naming are in Print-ready files.

When a render fails

It happens occasionally. Common reasons:

  • A sticker, background, mask or font used in the design was deleted from Design Assets after the customer used it
  • A custom font's file went offline at its URL
  • The customer's upload was corrupt

Every failed order shows in Orders with a Failed badge and the px-artwork-failed tag. Fix the cause, then click Retry Failed on the order (or Regenerate in Order files), and it re-renders with the settings it was ordered with. When it succeeds the tag flips to px-artwork-ready.

If it keeps failing, the Artwork Jobs card on the Order files page shows the specific error. Send it to hey@pixelwrangler.io with the order number.

How long files stick around

  • 90 days from the order: the design's source data is kept, so files can be regenerated and the design edited.
  • 180 days from the order: the rendered print files stay downloadable. After that they're removed.

Pull what you need into your own system promptly after fulfilment. The Artwork Export API is the supported way to do this in bulk, and the Source Images Export API covers the customer's original uploads.

What's next