Bundle validation makes sure a customer can't accidentally check out with an incomplete bundle. It also keeps your cart tidy: if a customer removes a bundle's main product, the rest of that bundle is cleaned up automatically instead of being left behind as unlinked line items.
Follow the steps below to get started.
Before You Begin
Your bundles must already be created and configured. See Creating and Managing Bundles.
Your store must be on an Online Store 2.0 theme to use app embeds (required for Step 2).
1. Turn On Checkout Validation
This step blocks checkout whenever a customer's cart contains an incomplete bundle, including carts with missing child products or quantities outside the bundle's min/max thresholds.
To turn it on:
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout.
Find the Checkout rules section.
Click Add rule.
Select Stay AI Bundle Checkout Validation from the list.
Click Save.
Note: A store can have up to 25 active checkout validations at once. If you don't see Stay AI Bundle Checkout Validation in the list, confirm the Stay AI app is installed on your store.
2. Turn On Bundle Validation in Your Theme
This step adds customer-facing notices and automatic cart cleanup, building on the checkout protection from Step 1. Both steps together give customers the clearest, most complete experience.
To enable it:
From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store.
Click Edit theme on your live theme.
In the theme editor, click App embeds in the left sidebar.
Find Stay AI in the list and turn on the toggle.
Click into Stay AI to expand its settings.
Under Bundle settings, turn on Enable bundle validation in cart.
Click Save.
Tip: The settings panel includes a link to your Bundle settings in Stay AI if you also need to adjust bundle pricing or selling plans.
3. What Happens When a Customer Removes a Bundle Product
Once bundle validation is turned on in your theme, removing a bundle product from the cart removes the whole bundle at once, not just one item at a time.
If a customer removes the main product, or removes every additional product in the bundle, the rest of the bundle is automatically cleared from the cart in a single step. The customer sees a confirmation message so it's clear what happened.
Note: Removing the main product is enough to clear the entire bundle, even if child products are still in the cart.
4. What Happens When a Bundle's Quantity Is Out of Range
If a customer adjusts quantities so the bundle falls below its minimum or above its maximum — without fully removing it — nothing is automatically deleted. Instead, the customer sees a message explaining that the quantity isn't within the allowed range.
The bundle stays in the cart exactly as the customer left it, giving them a chance to fix the quantity rather than losing their selection entirely.
5. What Happens at Checkout
If a cart reaches checkout with a bundle that's incomplete, missing its main product, or outside its allowed quantity range, checkout is blocked and the customer sees a message describing the issue.
This applies regardless of which theme the store uses and works even if the app embed from Step 2 is turned off. Turning off the app embed removes early cart-page notices and automatic cleanup, but the checkout protection from Step 1 remains in place.
Tip: Steps 1 and 2 work independently, but using both together gives customers the best experience. They'll see helpful messages and automatic cleanup in the cart before ever reaching checkout.