REMOVE_STANDALONE_VARIANT Strategy is not removing single variant

Shopify Discussion
1

I’m using productVariantsBulkCreate to add variants to a product. I’m including the REMOVE_STANDALONE_VARIANT strategy, but it does not remove the single variant. Any ideas on what I’m doing wrong?

Relevant snippet for the product:

"variants": [
      {
        "id": 45861704564977,
        "product_id": 8729045663985,
        "title": "Default / Default",
        "price": "0.00",
        "position": 1,
        "inventory_policy": "deny",
        "compare_at_price": null,
        "option1": "Default",
        "option2": "Default",
        "option3": null,
        "created_at": "2025-01-09T14:51:03-05:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-01-09T14:51:03-05:00",
        "taxable": true,
        "barcode": null,
        "fulfillment_service": "manual",
        "grams": 0,
        "inventory_management": null,
        "requires_shipping": true,
        "sku": "",
        "weight": 0,
        "weight_unit": "lb",
        "inventory_item_id": 47897818661105,
        "inventory_quantity": 0,
        "old_inventory_quantity": 0,
        "admin_graphql_api_id": "gid://shopify/ProductVariant/45861704564977",
        "image_id": null
      }
    ],
"options": [
      {
        "id": 11009010270449,
        "product_id": 8729045663985,
        "name": "Size",
        "position": 1,
        "values": [
          "Default"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": 11009010303217,
        "product_id": 8729045663985,
        "name": "Color",
        "position": 2,
        "values": [
          "Default"
        ]
      }
    ]

Example request to add variant and remove the single variant:

{
  "query": "mutation ProductVariantsCreate($productId: ID!, $variants: [ProductVariantsBulkInput!]!) { productVariantsBulkCreate(productId: $productId, variants: $variants) { productVariants { id } userErrors { field message } } }",
  "variables": {
    "productId": "gid://shopify/Product/8729045663985",
    "strategy": "REMOVE_STANDALONE_VARIANT",
    "variants": [
      {
        "inventoryItem": {
          "sku": "12345",
          "requiresShipping": true,
          "tracked": true
        },
        "price": 25.99,
        "taxable": true,
        "barcode": "1234512345",
        "optionValues": [
          {
            "name": "REG",
            "optionId": "gid://shopify/ProductOption/11009010270449"
          },
          {
            "name": "BLU",
            "optionId": "gid://shopify/ProductOption/11009010303217"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}
2

Instead of passing the strategy value in the variables, include it directly in your productVariantsBulkCreate GraphQL query.

  "query": "...productVariantsBulkCreate(productId: $productId, variants: $variants, strategy: REMOVE_STANDALONE_VARIANT) ...",
3

Thanks so much @shania_kochauto ! Works perfectly now.

4

Yes, this was a life saver.