Sync Shopify Orders to Xero Invoices w/ Slack & Email Alerts (n8n)

Automatically sync new Shopify orders into Xero as AUTHORISED invoices—with Slack & email alerts when something goes wrong

This n8n workflow listens for new Shopify orders, matches (or creates) the corresponding Xero Contact, generates an AUTHORlSED accounts receivable invoice with line items and shipping, and—if the order is marked paid—records the payment in Xero. Any failure is promptly reported to Slack and via SMTP email.

What this workflow does

• Triggers on new Shopify orders when an order is created in Shopify.
• Loads configuration for your Xero tenant, account codes, tax type, and how line amounts should be handled (inclusive/exclusive).
• Searches Xero Contacts by the Shopify customer email, and creates a new Contact in Xero if none is found.
• Maps order details into an invoice payload:
  • Shopify line items
  • Discounts
  • Shipping lines
  using your configured sales/shipping account codes and tax type.
• Creates an AUTHORISED ACCREC invoice in Xero via the Xero Accounting API.
• Optionally records payment when the Shopify order financial status is paid, applying the configured bank/clearing account code against the invoice.
• Error handling & alerts: if any Xero or API step fails, it formats error details and sends notifications to Slack and email.

Use cases

• Reduce manual invoicing by turning every Shopify order into a Xero invoice automatically.
• Keep accounts receivable accurate by creating invoices and recording payments when orders are paid.
• Catch failures early with Slack + SMTP email alerts for API/config issues.

Technical details

• Shopify: orders/create trigger; requires credentials with scopes like read_orders and read_customers.
• Xero: OAuth2 with scopes including accounting.transactions and accounting.contacts; uses the Xero Accounting API to create AUTHORISED ACCREC invoices and optional payments.
• Nodes used: if, set, code, xero, slack, and email send (SMTP).

Built for n8n automation engineers and SaaS operators who want reliable Shopify → Xero invoicing with production-ready alerting.