# App distribution

Source: https://developers.swell.is/apps/distribution

An app reaches a store in one of two ways. You can install it yourself into any store you have access to, which needs nothing more than a version — this is how private apps and client work are distributed. Or you can publish it to the Swell App Store, where any merchant can find it and install it themselves. Publishing is where a partner account, a release and a review come in.

### Installing with the CLI

Use the `swell app install` command to install an app into any store you have user-level access to. Without a store specified, the app is installed in the Live environment of the current store; without a version, the latest version is installed.

**App installation**

```txt
swell app install [-s store-id] [-e env] [-v version]
```

A version is all this requires. The app doesn’t have to be released, and it doesn’t have to belong to a partner account. See [App development](https://developers.swell.is/apps/app-development) for versioning and release notes.

If you are updating an installed app in a live store, the CLI requires incrementing the app version as part of your workflow.

### Publishing to the App Store

Publishing lists your app in the [Swell App Store](https://www.swell.is/apps), where merchants browse and install it themselves. It runs through the partner dashboard, and every release is reviewed by Swell before it goes live.

#### 1. Connect the app to a partner account

Partner accounts are self-serve — sign up at [partners.swell.store](https://partners.swell.store). In the partner dashboard, open Apps and choose Connect app to link an app you have already built in a development store. An app has to belong to a partner account before it can be released.

#### 2. Release a version

Releasing marks a version as a candidate for publishing. Swell validates your listing details at this point, so a release fails if something a listing needs is missing. See [App Store submission](https://developers.swell.is/apps/app-store-submission) for the full list.

**Release a version**

```txt
swell app release 2.0.0 --release-notes releases/v2.0.0.md
```

#### 3. Submit the release for review

Open the app in the partner dashboard and submit the release. While it’s being reviewed the app page shows Reviewing release, and the Review tab carries the conversation with your reviewer — reply to comments there. For what to prepare and check beforehand, see [App Store submission](https://developers.swell.is/apps/app-store-submission).

#### 4. Swell reviews and publishes

A reviewer publishes the release, asks for changes, or rejects the app. When changes are needed, the reviewer's comments stay in the Review tab; make the changes, then release and submit a new version. A rejected app won't be published, and Swell does not accept new versions of it. Once published, your app appears in the App Store.

### Your App Store listing

What merchants see is drawn from your `swell.json`, your app assets and your `DESCRIPTION.md`: `name`, `description`, `images`, the `price` fields, `support_url`, `documentation_url`, `support_email` and `preview_video_url`. The icon comes from `assets/icon.*`, and the long description from `DESCRIPTION.md` in the app root. Categories are assigned by Swell. Storefront and theme apps also use `preview_src`, `preview_mobile_src`, `use_cases`, `purchase_options` and `features`; other app types cannot set those. See [the swell.json reference](https://developers.swell.is/apps/swell-json) for every field.

You don’t have to publish to see how it will look. Preview release, on the app page in the partner dashboard, opens the App Store filtered to your app, so you can check the listing and its detail page before anyone else can.

### App IDs

Every app carries a private ID and a public ID. Private apps deliberately share IDs — that’s what lets the same app be installed privately in more than one store — but only one published app can hold a given public ID. Both releasing and approving a release will fail if a published app already holds yours, so rename the app before you release it.

### Updating a published app

Release a new version and submit it for review the same way. The newly approved version becomes the published one, and your release notes are what merchants read when deciding to update.

You can also unpublish a release from the partner dashboard. The app falls back to the previously published version if there’s one, and otherwise leaves the App Store.

### How merchants install

From a listing, Install app takes a merchant through signing in, choosing which store to install into, and reviewing the app details and permissions before anything is installed. Linking someone straight to your listing is enough — the flow handles the rest.

There’s no shareable install link for an app that isn’t published. Private installs go through the CLI, as above.

### Next steps

For what to prepare before submitting, see [App Store submission](https://developers.swell.is/apps/app-store-submission). For the development workflow behind a release, see [App development](https://developers.swell.is/apps/app-development). For what reviewers look for, see [best practices](https://developers.swell.is/apps/best-practices).