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Commerce Foundations is our pre-built Craft Commerce store. See what it includes

Craft CMS plugins

Variant Manager

A Craft CMS plugin for managing Craft Commerce variants as combinations of attributes and options.

Variant Maker

Generate a product’s variants in the control panel, one for every combination of the attributes and options you pick.

Permissions#

The preview, Generate variants, New attribute, and New option all require Commerce’s commerce-saveProductType permission for the product’s type and, on a multi-site install, permission to edit the product’s site.

Turning it on#

Disabled by default for every product type.

Go to Variant Manager -> Settings and check the product types that should offer it. Setting variantMakerProductTypes in config/variant-manager.php overrides what that screen saves.

The product type also needs a Variant Attributes field in its variant field layout. Without one the tab stays hidden, even when the product type is checked.

A saved product then shows a Variant Maker tab, last in the row. A new product, or a duplicate you have not saved yet, shows the tab with a note to save first.

Attributes to combine#

One row per attribute. Pick the attribute, then pick as many of its options as you want.

The attribute and option lists come from the registry. New attribute and New option, in the pickers, register a record from the product’s edit page. See creating attributes and options.

A store whose variants predate the plugin starts with an empty registry, so the pickers start empty. To register every attribute in the catalog at once, import a CSV, run the Utilities -> Variant Attributes utility, or run ./craft variant-manager/attributes/backfill. See variant attributes.

Load attributes from existing variants adds a row for every attribute this product’s variants store, with those values selected. The button registers a value the registry has no record for, skips an attribute that already has a Variant Maker row, and reports when every attribute already has one. The rows are not saved until you save the product.

Every option in a row is combined with every option in every other row. Three sizes, four colors, and two finishes make 24 combinations.

The options list is limited to the attribute chosen in that row, so changing a row’s attribute clears the options under it.

Every row needs both an attribute and at least one option. If either is empty, the product does not save, and the error names the row number. A product with no rows saves.

Row order sets the order the Variant Maker assembles SKU partials in, for the default SKU format below.

Two rows can’t use the same attribute. The Variant Maker leaves out an option that was deleted or moved to another attribute, and removes a row whose attribute was deleted or whose options were all deleted or moved.

What to do with existing variants#

The mode sets whether existing variants are rewritten.

Mode What it does
Add missing only Creates the combinations that do not exist yet. Leaves every existing variant unchanged.
Add and update existing Also rewrites existing variants with every included property.
Replace: add, update, and delete Does both, and deletes any variant whose combination is not in the generated set, or that repeats another variant’s combination.

Replace deletes variants. The preview lists each one as Delete before you generate.

Variant properties#

Each property is a row in the table with two controls:

  • Include: whether the Variant Maker sets this property. Off means a new variant gets Commerce’s default and an existing variant keeps what it has. A new variant is always titled either way, falling back to its combination.
  • Value: a format, a number, or a switch, depending on the property.

SKU and price are always included, so their switches are on and disabled. Commerce requires both on every variant.

Property Value
Title Format. Hidden where the product type builds variant titles from its own format.
SKU Format.
Price The price each combination starts from, before its options’ price modifiers. A number in your Formatting Locale, such as 1299.00, or 1299,00 in a locale with a decimal comma, where a period is read as a thousands separator. No currency symbol. Left blank, it’s the default variant’s price less its own options’ modifiers.
Track inventory Switch.
Stock Number. Shown only while Track inventory is included and on.
Allow out of stock purchases Switch. Shown on the same condition as Stock.
Available for purchase Switch.
Free shipping Switch.
Promotable Switch.

The Variant Maker does not set dimensions, weight, tax and shipping categories, minimum and maximum quantity, promotional price, or custom fields. Edit those on the Variants tab after generating.

Where the store has more than one inventory location, an Inventory location menu appears under the table. Stock is written to the location you pick. While Stock is set and the product isn’t saved with a location the store has, Generate variants does not run. This includes after a location is removed or a second one is added.

Title and SKU formats#

In a format, {Attribute Name} becomes the option chosen under that attribute. Any other text is used as typed, so a product code goes in literally.

TEE-{Size}-{Color}

Under the properties table, the Variant Maker lists the tokens for the attributes on your rows.

The Variant Maker uses each option’s SKU Partial, or the option’s own value where it has no partial. Set SKU partials at Variant Manager -> Variant Attributes, or from the slideout that opens when you click an option chip.

Leave a format blank for the default:

  • A title is the combination joined by a slash: Small / Red.
  • A SKU is the product slug followed by each option, joined by dashes. Spaces become dashes.

Each format field’s placeholder shows the format that reproduces the default.

A SKU format collapses spaces and dash runs in each token’s value to a single dash, the way a blank format does. A title format leaves the values as they are.

Price modifiers#

Each option can have a Price Modifier, set in the same place as its SKU partial. A combination’s price is the base price plus the modifier of every option in it. The modifier is a decimal amount in the store’s primary currency, to two decimal places, typed in your Formatting Locale.

Preview#

The table below the form updates as you change the rows. It lists every combination and what generating would do to it.

Status Meaning
Create No variant has this combination yet.
Update A variant exists, the mode allows updates, and at least one included property would change it. A stock count that differs from the on hand quantity at the inventory location is enough on its own. A blank Stock value leaves stock alone.
Unchanged A variant exists and no field the Variant Maker manages would change.
Delete Replace mode only. The variant’s combination is not in the generated set, or another variant already has it.

A column shows old -> new only where the run would write that value. An excluded property shows Commerce default on a Create row, and Kept on every other row. The Stock column instead shows Unlimited where the Variant Maker’s Track inventory is not included and on, even for a variant that tracks stock. On a Create row it shows None where inventory is tracked with no count set. Where Stock is included and Track inventory is on, an Update or Unchanged row shows the variant’s on hand quantity at the inventory location. Every other row shows Kept.

The preview reads the rows as they stand on screen, not what was last saved.

SKU warnings#

Each SKU must be unique across the store and no longer than 255 characters. A row that breaks either rule is flagged in red under its SKU, and Generate variants reports the problem instead of running.

Warning Cause
Another row builds this same SKU Two combinations resolve to the same SKU. Usually a format with no {Attribute Name} token, or two options sharing a SKU partial.
A variant this run keeps already uses this SKU A variant on this product that the run leaves alone, or updates without changing its SKU, has this SKU.
This SKU is already used elsewhere in the store Another product, or another kind of purchasable, has the SKU. Comparison ignores case.
Longer than 255 characters The assembled SKU is over the limit Commerce enforces.

Saving and generating#

Saving the product saves the rows and properties. The save does not create variants.

The settings are stored per product, so each product keeps its own attributes, mode, and properties.

Generate variants runs the job in the background and returns you to the page. Watch Variant Manager -> Dashboard for the result. It records how many variants were created, updated, and deleted, or the error if the run failed.

Generating uses the saved settings, so Generate variants is disabled as soon as you edit the builder or another field on the product, and stays disabled until the product is saved. It is also disabled on a named draft, because the run reads the published product. Apply the draft first.

The run uses the settings as they were when you clicked Generate variants, even if the product is saved again before the job runs. Imports and Variant Maker runs write one at a time. A run that waits more than a minute for another fails, and the activity log records why.

Where the product type sets a maximum number of variants, the preview shows an error for a run that would leave more than that, and Generate variants does not run.

The whole run is one transaction, including the stock writes. If any variant fails to save, no variant is written, no stock level changes, and the activity log records why.

The preview does not refresh itself when the job finishes. Reload the page to see the new variants.

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